Bob wrote;


“Those beekeepers had control problems with formic
last fall after California almond pollination. My
guess was a application problem then. Now reports are
surfacing of the same problem of low varroa kill with
formic. It is hard to put a finger on what is
happening.”

A lot of beekeepers think that because they are using
formic acid in almost any way they should have
success.  If not successful, rumors of resistance to
formic acid surface, but no scientific documentation.
We all know it wasn’t the Mite-AwayII single
application formic acid pad (MAII) used last year
because it wasn’t registered yet so not available. The
beekeepers you are talking about must have been trying
homemade application methods, since MAII is the only
legal and proven FA treatment since the gel was
pulled.  MAIIs’ efficacy is due to its formulation and
application method.

“In Canada beekeepers used formic once and then used
apistan in say
fall. These varroa are resistant to both Apistan &
Checkmite so there is no backup treatment.”

There is a backup treatment!  To quote the Ontario
Provincial Apiarist Report in the August Sting
edition: “Several beekeepers have been using
Mite-AwayII in the fall instead of the hard chemicals.
 They report good success with the fall application
... the beekeepers in areas of resistance to both hard
chemicals (Apistan and CheckMite+) need to use this
method for sure.” page 22.  In my own outfit, MAII has
been the only varroa control used since 2002.  Goes on
in the spring when I unwrap and in September when I
pull the honey.  This follows the Ontario treatment
recommendations.

“It is too early to tell if these varroa are able to
build resistance to formic acid. I know of no test (as
there is with apistan & checkmite) to tell. Does the
list?”

Development of a test has been listed as one of the
research priorities Apiculture and Pollination
Sub-committee of the Government of Ontario earlier
this month.

“Low kills with formic are not uncommon but most can
be linked to the wrong dosage.”

Not only dosage but methodology!  Research trials in
the development of MAII showed even getting the
recommended levels of formic into the hive wasn’t
enough.  It has to be done in the right way.

“Low kills with Apilife var can also be had. Most can
be linked to waiting to late in fall to do the
treatment and varroa loads were over threshold. The
beekeepers referred to say was not the case this
year.”

Treatment thresholds are important.  There was a
situation in Northern MN this year where a beekeeper
brought his 2,000 hives home from CA pollination and
decided not to treat for varroa in the spring.  Seeing
hives struggling with varroa by the end of July he had
some hard decisions to make.  Sticky boards were
showing natural mite drops of 7 to 300 mites (and
everything in between) in 24 hours. He pulled his
supers and put on MAII starting Aug 10.  He called me
in September, still seeing a lot of mites.  I
recommended a second treatment once 30 days had passed
after the August treatment.  This he declined to do.
By the end of October he had lost 25% of his hives
since April, and what were left looked strong but
still had high mite loads.  All of this could be
expected: skipping a spring treatment leads to
colonies being way over thresholds by August, the MAII
would allow the hives to get out a couple of pretty
clean cycles of winter bee brood, giving him good bee
populations, but not stop infestations from collapsing
colonies from showing up in the surviving colonies,
making their varroa counts look high.

With soft chemicals even working at the 90-95% level,
skipping a treatment is like a loan with high compound
interest – everything gets added to the principle and
becomes overwhelming. Not putting on a second
treatment in the fall to make up for what he skipped
in the spring is why he still had high mite loads end
of October, not because MAII didn’t work.  I think the
facts show MAII saved most of his outfit from
collapse.

“I am only reporting the problem as told to me. I did
not think varroa could become resistant to formic
acid.”

I’m not trying to shoot the messenger, just following
up with more information.  There is a lot of
misinformation about formic in the beekeeping
industry, which can lead to wrong conclusions.

NOD Apiary Products has just produced a 9 minute DVD
called “Working with Mite-AwayII” which includes a
section on how FA works.  It is being made available
free of charge to beekeeping associations and
State/Provincial Apiarists.  Contact [log in to unmask]
for more information if you want a copy.

David v.







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