".......Has anyone who uses the menthol and oil towels used them in the
spring? It seems maybe a waste of time with the tracheal mites life cycle.
Any comments welcome.
Al Boehm"

Hi Al,
   All the books I've read have said that T-mites are at their strongest in
fall and winter. Clustered bees make it easy for them to transfer to new
host bees. The spring buildup of the bees will keep ahead of the T-mites.
In My first second winter I lost a hive of Italians because I didn't treat,
they died in mid December. Beltsville confirmed it was tracheal mite.
My other three hives were Buckfast, also not treated but they survived.

Mitacure (formic acid) will kill all T-mites in two days, You leave it in
for 21 days though to treat varroa. Lets hope it is available again this
year as I treated twenty hives with it, two treatments each at 21 day
intervals. And all looked fine upon checking this past week.
Hope this helps,
Garry Libby
Attleboro, Massachusetts, USA
41.56 N    71.17 W
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