Good morning, Karen -
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I do not consider the "Magic T" Formula to be worth the paper it took to print it. The hyperbole on the beesfordevelopment.org website clinched it for me. Take, for example, their statement that "Due to the natural (as opposed to man-made) nature of the active control ingredient, the risk of obnoxious contamination of hive products is negligible." This demonstrates a fundamentally flawed understanding of basic science. For the active ingredient to work, it must be a toxin - that is, something that kills or drives away the mites. There is nothing inherently different about toxins coming from a plant or from a factory. Both can have unintended consequences, variable purity and either can result in "obnoxious contamination".
The next paragraph states as an assumption that "Essential oil treatments for parasitic arthropod control in honeybees does not negatively affect colonies or individual bees, in their physiology or exchange of pheromones." If there is evidence to support that sweeping statement, I can't find it.
Complicating matters, that recipe was optimized for the Carribean nation of Grenada and for use before a honey flow (that is, springtime). From your post, you are in Maine and thinking about controls very late in the season. Very different temperature patterns. Essential oils need moderate to high temperatures to volatilize. So even if the "Magic T" recipe worked perfectly in their environment, there is no guarantee that it would do anything in yours.
All that we really know for sure is that if you use those essential oils, they're unlikely to hurt you, the beekeeper/consumer. (If peppermint oil were a toxin to humans, Altoids would have to be illegal.) It probably won't hurt the bees either but there's nothing more than anecdotal evidence that it might help.
So what are your options? This late in the season, I'm not sure that you have many. The bees that will go into winter have already been born. They've already been raised and fed by bees who were stressed by varroa. The evidence I've seen all suggests that in temperate North America, the optimal time to treat for varroa is July or August. Kim Flottum likes to talk about taking care of the bees who will raise the bees who will raise the bees that go into winter. I believe him.
Chemicals might still work. Mites are proving resistant to Apistan in many areas but maybe you've still got susceptible mites. As long as you follow the label instructions, there's not much downside to trying it. ApiLive Var is getting good reviews but if you only have enough for three colonies - well, if you have confirmed mites in two hives, the likelihood is extremely high that they are in the others, at least within the infected beeyards.
Next year, you have a number of cheap IPM options. Personally, I am a fan of drone brood culling. A few special frames per hive and some freezer space are all it takes. (As a hobbyist, my time is essentially free - I'd be in the hives anyway.) Sugar dusting and vinegar sprays have their proponents. Or you could gradually switch over to more resistent bees. The archives are full of IPM suggestions, most very reasonable.
Mike Rossander
www.medinabeekeepers.com
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L
|
