Hello All

I received the following e mail from a beekeeper friend of mine who keeps
his bees in Co Wexford (Ireland) and has tried a varroa treatment named
'Ipereat' which he purchased when in Italy. Has anybody heard of this
product or is it just another 9 day wonder? I did ask him to consider using
Bayvarol next Spring or using an insert with a varroa floor to find out the
varroa status of each hive by measuring natural mite fall, before any more
reliance is placed on this product.

Any feedback most welcome.

Sincerely
Tom Barrett





Hello Tom
              Have translated that info from Italian but to be quite honest
it just gives info on how to administer it and the results of experiments
with it.I'll just condense it for you.Its composition is water,simple
sugars,organic acida,{ph solution 1+-0,5},purified and sterilised propolis
and essential oils.Comes in a liquid form and sold in 1 and 1.5 litres
respectively.Before applying, it should be heated to between 35 and 40
degrees celsius in a bain marie and then administered to the colony using a
syringe or sprayed directly on the bees between the frames at the rate of
3cc per frame and a total of 25cc per hive.This should be done twice over a
period of  16 to 20 days ie 8 to 10 day interval.It is more effective on a
sunnless day with temperatures not less than 10 degrees celsius. It can be
applied at any time of the beekeeping year{provided the temperature is as
above directed}, even over a cluster with the exception that in this case
there is just one dose of 50 to 60 ccs.It has been found effective in cases
of chalk brood and will also knock down braula.I know nothing of its effects
on tracheal mites or any of the other ailments known to affect the bees.This
is one of the questions to be asked.They recommend not using it on freshly
caught swarms until they have established their new home and just before the
new brood have hatched out. Can be used with supers on and experiments have
shown no ill effects on bees,honey or queen.

This is basically it Tom and now I will just give a brief account of my own
experience with it: I used it at the above specifications in late October on
11 double brood hives of the nature of a national and a commercial brood
chamber.That previous spring these same hives were checked using bavoral
strips for 48 and 72 hours and the maximum mite fall was just 2!!  in just 3
of the 11.In October this product showed varroa in all hives.They were
checked over a period of 18 days,second treatment after 9 days.The mite drop
showed a steady increase up to the 13 and 14 day and then dropping rapidly
to tens and twenties.I finished counting them on the 19 day but were still
dropping in small numbers.In some hives at the beginning daily numbers of 6
and 7 hundred were to be found culminating in an overall average of 2500 and
a maximum of 4020.There was also one or two with just  a few hundred.I was
also finding transparent mites which am told are to found only in the
cells,this is an interesting indication of the strength of this product.On
administering the product the bees did'nt seem unduly disturbed,indeed no
smoke was required,although there was an ivy flow on at the time which would
account for this. Most of the mites were alive but thankfully the floor was
vaselined quite well.There was also a good knock down of the braula and
again seemed quite a large number were alive and kicking.Clearly ipereat
seems impressive and surely deserves a place in IPM.?