Greetings all,
Rather than fight the post-Christmas crowds at the mall and the chilly temperatures, I knocked ten inches of snow off the wood pile, stoked the fireplace and surfed all day. And I didn't even feel guilty! Such days are a gift around here.
Lately I've been intrigued with the potential of Oxalic Acid and it's anti-varroa qualities, with particular interest in vaporized OA. I dug through thousands of archived notes in bee-l and beesource. The consensus seems to be OA is not temperature dependent and excellent for seasonally broodless periods.
Like other acaricides, it will only catch the phoretic mites (exposed) and not the reproductive mites (sealed in the pupa cell). Thus, the recommendations suggest using OA only in times of broodlessness. And during this time, the results are consistently favorable.
But then I thought, "but this is also true of FGMO and other agents that only work on phoretic mites." And for this reason, one shot doesn't have the residual power to kill the next wave of mites that emerge from the pupae cells. Repeat treatments of these other agents are necessary, but there seems to be an unspoken resistance to multiple treatments of OA. If it is suggested to fog FGMO on a weekly schedule, why not OA? What am I missing?
My question is this: is there a reason you could not, or should not use vaporized OA when exposed brood (eggs and larvae) is present? Is it merely a resistance to the labor of repeat treatments? From the archives, the adult bees don't seem bothered by OA fumes. Why limit this treatment to broodless periods?
And yes, I know it is not an approved miticide, so for now, let's just skip over this matter.
Peace and a prosperous new year,
Grant
Jackson, MO
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