>>>  I paint the inside of the supers.

When you say you paint, I am assuming that you mean using normal exterior paint.   Has there been consideration of using just plain beeswax or a mixture of melted beeswax and propolis in painting the interior of the supers?   I am loath to use copper napthenate  where bees have direct exposure to it.

 
Mike in LA




On Tuesday, July 29, 2014 5:30 PM, Trevor Weatherhead <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 


>> I have use CN now for 40 years and have not seen any problems such as 
>> you are reporting.

>What concentration do you use Trevor?  Inside of supers?

The work I did whilst in the Forestry Department showed that 1% copper was enough.  We used to buy 5% copper and break down with mineral turpentine. I soak fully for a minimum of 8 hours then air for at least 2 weeks.  I paint the inside of the supers. You can use 1.25% copper soak for 1 hour them wrap in plastic and get the same results.  

There was study carried out here many years ago on honey and the analysis showed that there was no extra copper in the honey from supers treated with copper naphthenate.

There is a paper out by Kalnins and Detroy from the USA which showed extra copper in the honey but when you look at the way they used it the concentration of copper was a lot higher and they did not paint the inside of their supers.

I have boxes that were treated 36 years ago and they show no signs of decay (rot).  They were plantation hoop pine which has a very low natural durability.  Supers from plantation hoop pine which are not treated usually last about 4 or 5 years at best before showing signs of decay.

Several years ago Dr. Jamie Ellis, when here in Australia, reported on work with copper naphthenate and its effects on larvae.  As I recall the supers were not painted inside and I cannot recall what concentration was used.  Again his results are not what we see here in Australia.

Guess I will need to get a copy of the article by Dr. Keith Delaplane and compare his methods to what we do.

Trevor Weatherhead
Australia


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