The whole range of essential oils has already been worked on throughout the 1990s, culminating in an article in Apidologie

> Use of essential oils for the control of Varroa jacobsoni Oud. in honey bee colonies. by Anton Imdorf, Stefan Baogdanov, Rubén Ibanez Ochoa, Nicholas W. Calderone. Apidologie Volume 30, Number 2-3, 1999 

About that time I began working at the Dyce Lab under Dr. Calderone. Tests with essential oils were winding down. We had freezers full of a wide range of oils, some in litre bottles. Dr. Marla Spivak also collaborated on many of these tests. I believe it is the wrong path for several reasons:

1) the effect of oils while promising, was ultimately marginal. Products like formic and oxalic are far more effective.

2) many essential oils are toxic in large quantities, and are not benign just because they are natural. They can cause serious injury. 

3) most essential oils are produced by plants to repel or kill insects. The dosages that are toxic to mites can in some cases kill bees.

4) insects use many of the chemicals contained in essentials for the purpose of communication and behavioral regulation. Even oils that are highly attractive to bees can cause confusion and disorganization when used in abnormal amounts. 

An article in ABJ advises against using Queen Substance in the hive. 

> Honey Bee Pheromones Do Not Improve Requeening Success. by Winston, M. L. Marceau, J. Higo, H. Cobey, S. AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 1998, VOL 138; NUMBER 12, pages 900-903 

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