>Funny, I heard about this a long time ago, and I was told that
it was  Max's work at Vita-Europe, who will soon be getting a
new label approved by the EPA for Apiguard with lower doses
and 3 treatments rather than two.

To be honest the first i have heard of a new label coming is now from you!
News travels slowly during the busy season!
( of course while you were sitting in the EAS, HAS or WAS summer meetings I
was in the bee yard with a sweatband trying to keep the sweat from burning
my eyes! Hopefully one of these days the work load will drop to a level I
can attend!)

><Just about everyone has known about this for months and months
and months, ever since the first few people to follow the
label "as is" found way too many dead bees after treatment.

dead brood is not the issue! You can get a small amount of dead brood from
both thymol and formic acid. control is the issue in my opinion.

The amount of brood killed by thymol & formic has always been minor in my
opinion and actually an indicator of kill level AND is directly related to
the temperature at time of treatment. My experiments and treatments with
apiguard are over now but I would bet I could get some brood kill with a 25
gram treatment at 95-100 temp (which is common during our Missouri normal
August treatment period).

Bill R. (mitegone) has always said:
When the dose for formic acid is correct (proper varroa control with
efficacy above 90%) you will see *some* brood kill. Surely with all the
clinics Bill has done ( U.S. and around the world) some of you remember Bill
saying the above?

In my opinion the same goes as an indicator for efficacy for thymol
products.

 Apiguard s label read 2 treatments to give it a market edge over the
competition in my opinion (which it did!) but resulted in a loss of varroa
control over the 3 treatments from my testing(which  could be 50 gram
without a big problem if temps are below 80F. but 25 gram produced decent
results).  In fact 25 gram *might* in my opinion be too light a dose .

The problem with coming up with an exact dose for every hive on the planet
with formic and thymol should be evident to all.

A proper label in my opinion for the U.S. would read "3 treatments of 25
grams with a max of  50 grams at each application of product depending on
temperature. Using higher amounts of product can produce some brood kill
when combined with high temperatures"

With miteaway 2 the maker says to pull the pads at 90+ and higher temps to
prevent brood kill. Similar advice could be given for Apiguard or api life
var but what the hell you going to do with any of the three treatments until
the temps go down? Some brood kill is going to happen with all three if the
temps go high enough.

Lack of varroa control with two treatments of apiguard IS the issue. Was the
issue with Api Life Var when first released as 2 treatments.

Think about you can STILL buy apistan & checkmite from the bee supply houses
and the label says they provide 98% varroa control. NOT IN MY AREA THEY
DON'T! Varroa resistant to fluvalinate and coumaphos are in most areas of
the U.S. now yet if you are not informed and read the advertisement for the
products many new beekeepers are still trying to use those products.

My opinion also is that miteaway two might need two treatments. The maker
has taken a different approach to the issue by saying.'
Quote from ABF meeting:
" when brood rearing is heavy treat every four months"
I ran experiments and found at 5 months high varroa load and some deformed
wings. I agree with what David V. said. David and I have been friends for
many years and David wants beekeepers to use his product with success. Too
provide the best control you need to *plan* Miteaway  treatments (using a
single pad) after every 4 months of heavy brood rearing.

All I am saying here is to realize that all three of the above treatments
are effective tools for varroa control but beekeepers need to understand
their limitations. I am on a first name basis with the makers of all the
above products and hate to have to share the above as we need all the
products in our varroa weapon arsenal but hopefully the above will help
beekeepers use the above products to better advantage!

I recommend all three products but caution beekeepers to be aware of their
limitations and not blame the makers if you do not get control but instead
use another control later to keep the varroa level low in your hives.

Labels are limited so I suggest beekeepers visit Randy Olivers articles.
Like myself Randy has tested all the above and you can trust his
recommendations.

Unlike chemical strips (apistan & checkmite) the above treatments give *top*
control only when the person doing the application uses care. treatments
need timed. Doses correct, timing between doses correct  and mite load
monitored before and after treatment. Holes in boxes plugged.

Why is a control above 90% needed instead of simply being happy with
knocking back some varroa?

parasitic mite syndrome

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison


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