There is another vaporisor on the market from Lega Italy that might suit commercial beekeepers. Works with a generator (needs to be one that can power electronic devices) powering a 230 volt temperature controlled hot air gun but only puts in quarter of a gram in 15 seconds (when its up to heat) so you can go from hive to hives in a matter of minutes. I was playing with mine until somebody permanently borrowed my generator, weed wacker and chainsaw one night a few months back.  Mite fall at this rate lasted only a week with a small broodless colony.  (That could have been all the mites in the colony - I didn't look).  I need to play with it a bit more perhaps giving each hive 30 seconds to increase the amount of oxalic acid put into the hive as you need at least a gram for acceptable control but then again, Randy recommended that we just control varroa keeping numbers low through the season so perhaps 15-30 seconds per hive will achieve this when the hives have brood (as we generally do all year round).   As a side the instruction recommend a 15 second application so what effect will 30 seconds of hot air at 180 going into the hive do - perhaps nothing but I'll have to play some more when I get a new generator.
 
 The hot air gun is a Steinel HL 2010E, (2000 watts).  This gun fits snugly into the back of the applicator and is set to 300 C to generatea heat of 180 deg C so the oxalic acid isn't burnt but vaporises correctly.   I found I could purchase the hot air gun locally cheaper than from Italy which would have also save an aweful lot on freight costs. Perhap they produce them at 110V  -I don't know.
 
 
The beauty of vaporisation is that it can be repearted a number of times; monthly or every 10 days if you like in those hives with brood without affecting the bees too much.  I have tried the single shot Canadian model which uses a gas bottle to produce the heat and a foot pump but it takes four minutes a hives. Much too long for a commercial beekeeper but worked well.
 
 I to have been interested in Allan's mite count.  Generally oxalic acid vaporisation only kills mites for 10-12 days after application. So whats causing the continued mite fall?
 
Frank Lindsay
Wellington
New Zealand
  		 	   		  
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