>
>
> >monoxalete strips
> >who cares?


Obviously, me.  Early-used names, even if entirely incorrect, often stick.

>Do they work?

Yes.  This delivery method of oxalic acid could revolutionize varroa
management, yet also comes with its own problems.

 >How to improve them?

The bees presumably need to make physical contact with the strips, in order
to get the oxalic acid to stick to their bodies.  But they avoid the strips
as currently formulated, and chew them away very slowly, if at all.  This
creates two problems:

1.  The beekeeper now has oxalic acid laden leftover strips in his hives,
which creates a somewhat toxic trash problem (with a great deal of oxalic
acid on the surface).

2.  We want the strips to be removed by the bees over a roughly 3-week
period.  Otherwise, continuous exposure to OA will simply breed for
OA-resistant mites.  Since there is such a small margin of safety between
the toxicity level of OA to varroa and the honey bee, any amount of
resistance by the mite could ruin this wonderful treatment for us all.

I've found that the bees respond to various cellulose carriers
differently--chewing some away, or leaving some untouched.  I'm looking for
a substrate/oxalic combination that the bees will completely remove from
the hive once the oxalic has done its job.

In addition, the cardboard strips are a pain to insert in the hive.  I'm
testing alternate delivery methods.  I'd be happy to hear the results of
experimentation by others.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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