>
> >First I don't understand Randy's use of a 'garden sprayer'.


Lloyd, I use a hand-carried sprayer with a hose extension spliced in.  If
you only fill part way with liquid, then the air reservoir is
proportionately large, so that the pressure doesn't change much as you use
the liquid.  It is critical to use at a low pressure!  I find that it is not
difficult to eyeball the stream for the correct flow.  I keep a 25ml
graduated cylinder handy for occasional calibration, and do check total
fluid usage after each yard as a double check.

We've been treating 500-800 hives each winter for several years, and rarely
see any bee mortality the next day, and no apparent colony setback from the
treatment, as they build strong for almonds a month or two later.

I'm not sure what Medhat is referring to by autofilling applicators, but am
guessing cattle drench guns.  I've tried two models, and found that they
were too exhausting for my hand to keep squeezing.

There is considerable leeway with the medium-strength oxalic, at least under
our weather conditions, in which we have only a slight brood break, if any,
and the colonies rarely form hard clusters for more than a week at a time
during winter.  Not sure about effects in your harder winters.

We treat with 5ml per seam, even if colonies are quite large, and may apply
to 18 seams of bees, which puts us well over the typical 50ml max
recommendation per hive.  Works for us!
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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