> Any thoughts from the list about Cameron Jack’s (University of Florida) research on caging queens and oxalic acid treatments? 

This study highlighted the need for a change in the labeling in terms of dosage. Their comments, as stated below, say it all.  

> Our inability to control Varroa effectively regardless of OA treatment suggests that the current labeled dose of 1 g per brood chamber was ineffective, at least under the conditions we maintained in our study.

> It is possible that the amount of OA dihydrate that we have vaporized may not be enough to kill Varroa effectively, even when forcing all the mites onto adult bees during broodless conditions. A higher dose of OA dihydrate would possibly increase mite fall during broodless conditions and should be further investigated.

They followed the label, which is the law, and vaporized 1 g of OA in single deeps that housed full complements of brood. In practice, I, and I assume others, would use a full 2g dose knowing that with all that brood, varroa reproduction is as high as it gets regardless of the box configuration. So yes they followed the law and proved that the labeling dosage, when followed in Flordia under their study conditions, was not sufficient to control varroa. Also, they compared results against a highly effective miticide at full strength - Amitraz. 

In terms of mortality, they caged the queen in the fall, which by all standards is a questionable practice. The brood ramp-up then struggles against the oncoming of winter.  If you were unfortunate enough to do that in the Northeast the colonies would face certain death. 


Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT

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