>
> This covers a time period of 10 days but worker brood stays capped 12 days
> (males=15 days).  So, some of the mites are not affected by your treatment,
> in my opinion.
>

Your opinion is the same as mine except it might be "mites may not be
affected" rather than "are not".

Why I do it this way is sort of a trade-off. First, that August treatment
has yielded actual mite drops of 1-8 on the first treatment, depending on
the hive,  and lower after that so we are already in the area of no need to
treat. Second, I could do one more and make it 4x5, which may do, but why
with such low mite counts? Third. Even if I have to do it again (3x5) in
October, I will be following that up with another single treatment in very
late November (almost December) which should clean them up completely.

In essence, I just do not see a need for absolute coverage, especially
since I have never got an answer on how persistent the OA crystals are over
time so even the 3x5 may overlap the 11 to 12 days  and might even be
around and effective for the 15. Which is why I noted "mites may not be
affected". I have no idea and so if I had a heavy mite load, as some on
this list have had, I would do just as they did and treated 4 or 5 times to
clear them up.

If I get another mite bomb next year, I will run a 4x5 or 5x5 (if there are
still mites dropping) and see what happens with mite drops after the 4th
and 5th treatment and report back. Would not do it in August because there
are not many mites.

My experience is a lot like Nancy's. with negligible or no mites for most
of the year. I now know my problem is mite bombs in the Fall. But I only
discovered it when I shifted to OAV and got accurate mite counts from my
sticky boards after treatment which showed a sudden increase in actual
mites in the hive.Add that the only reason I treated was I was in my apiary
when I observed the robbing or invasion and decided to treat after it
ended. After the OAV treatment I observed the sudden increase in mites.
Then there was the study on bees coming in from collapsed colonies.Then my
supposition on the bees being the problem with sudden collapse.

(Based on the number of my recent posts, you can see I have too much time
on my hands. Spring is here in name only. It is below freezing outside with
snow on the way. Could someone please send some global warming, and not the
white stuff which I was told is "thing of the past" so should not be here
at all.)

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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