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Date: | Sun, 6 Nov 2022 11:07:54 -0500 |
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I desire information about the optimal (or non-optimal) timing of OAV for
colonies in the fall/winter in relation to two temperature-related issues.
One question relates to the ambient temperature at the time that OAV is
performed. If bees are tightly clustered (bees occupying empty cells to
maintain an optimal temperature at the center of the hive), will OAV reach
the phoretic mites? Will this treatment be as effective at 32F (0C) or 40F
(4.5C) as it might be at 60F (15.5F)? Has this been the subject of any
investigation that renders information that would answer this question?
The second question ties to this and the longer-term local temperatures.
Here at my home apiary, we've had frost on the grass one time, but this
week has been pushing daytime highs of 70F (21C), and I see pollen from
late-blooming asters and goldenrod coming in. I am uncertain what
brood-rearing activity might be underway under these conditions in double
deep 10 frame Langstroth colonies, but I do see several hand-sized areas of
brood in double-stacked deep 4 frame nuclei that I've inspected.
The protracted warmth my apiary is experiencing this fall makes me think
that deferring OAV a while longer is prudent, so that there will be fewer
varroa under cappings, but if I will miss a window of opportunity to
deliver an effective OAV (because I waited until it was later and colder,
and bees began to form a tighter cluster), that's something that makes me
think I should be performing OAV now to make sure the sublimed OA coats
every bee...
Are there studies that would help definitively answer either of these two
interrelated questions?
Jonathan Knisely
New Haven, CT USA
USDA 6a
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