>I keep looking for the "no-treat" option and so far have tried just about
>every one of the proposed solutions and every one has failed. I have given
>up on Oxalic.

Oxalic had worked for me this far, I thought.  I had great survival previously.
My mistake was not verifying.  I was somewhat lax, since I wanted to push 
the envelope a bit and did not expect a total wipeout.

>Allen- did you use formic this year?

No.  I probably should have.  Many up here do and it hits tracheal as well as 
potentially knocking back the varroa by 50% or more at times.

All I have been doing the past few years is to split like crazy and drizzle once 
with oxalic in the fall.

This year I did several things different, though.  I added tymol to the feed in 
late summer and fall.   I also treated with both Tylosin and OTC several times 
since I am not producing honey.  I also put on Apivar when I discovered that 
I had a BIG problem.  It was money wasted, it seems.

As for the antibiotics, I really wonder if they were the reason the varroa did 
so well.  Maybe I killed whatever was holding them back.

>I visited your website and am going to try the drilock 50, 65% Formic pads
>that you describe. Did you use them this year?

Again, no, but they are dead simple to make up and apply.  If you put the
bucket in the freezer overnight, BTW, they do not stink much.

The current recommendation is to place two on the top bars 1/3rd of the way 
from the back in doubles.  Observe what happens and adjust your subsequent
applications accordingly.  A postal scale will tell you how much evaporated each 
day if you are curious.

>...just about everyone who used Formic with Fumidil came out with either
>no or few losses. If you used Formic, then something else is at play.

Yes.  I suspect that tracheal may be present more often than we assume. It 
is hard to check for and many have stopped looking.  At one time it was a 
real scourge and maybe still is sometimes. Dri-loc 50's take care of tracheal 
very well while knocking back varroa, too, to a lesser extent.

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