Beekeeping | NEW MITE CONTROL TREATMENT - Game Changer

[@beek]

We put the VarroxSan strips in the hive 42 days ago at the publishing of this video, we are filming the results tomorrow to see how they did. Stay tuned and keep watching.

[@bobbyswords5366]

Just as a side note for you it is best to place your strips across the top of your brood box or anywhere there's brewed because if you slide it down on either side of the frames the queen will not lay behind it and it's just lost space the vapors will drift down between the frames also your bees will be crawling all over your strips hope this tip is helpful

[@billyboy952]

too expensive for us that have many hives, David!! I vaporize with OA, cheapest way for me

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

Remember Oxamite ? Same thing sold 25 years ago. It didnt seem to be very popular and now this comes in as a new innovation. Strange.

[@mikemccabe1324]

Just removed my VerroxSan boards. Treatment was cut short by three days because of cold, brood chilling temps for an inspection in the future. The strips were propolised to the comb and frames. The boards needed to be gently tooled off the frames and drawn comb on both upper and lower 10 frame deeps. The humidity in the hive broke down the strength of the board and fell apart at the bends when removing. The bees created a frass of grey Verroxsan strip down on the bottom board. The contents of the bottom board consisted of about 300 dead mites and grey Verroxsan strip powder. The board was scraped and washed with peroxide. There were three hive beetles crawling on the bottom board and three beetle traps only had one with two beetles. I was doing OA fumigation every 6-9 days and had done four before Verroxsan. Mite counts were 6 and 8 with OA. Once the strips were removed the bees were already fixing the propolis on the frames and on the drawn foundations. Some strips were attached to comb with honey. Removal broke open some honey and the bees promptly surrounded to fix the breaches. Overall I am satisfied with the strips.

[@zoobee4824]

Soo expensive compared to making these yourself. If you have to go through multiple boxes like that, try pulling on end of all the frames up one ata time first, it will save on your box corners!! Thanks for doing all the experiments for us 🐝🐝

[@timbervalleyhomestead]

You are so calm having bees in your veil!

[@jaredmalcolm1]

Based on everything I’ve seen I’d expect this to seem like it’s performing poorly. OAE has always been described as a hold the line type of treatment not a get the mite load down treatment.

[@beek]

Yes, I said that OA is good to hold them down, but not good to do a flash kill. I said that in the original video back on Sept 18, so tomorrow it's time to see how they did with a high mite count.

[@aaronparis4714]

I think it’s very pricey I think OA Vapor is the best you just got to do many treatments to each hive but it’s the best method

[@beek]

It's more expensive, BUT the $500 OA vaporizer ain't cheap. I've found that most beekeepers with a few hives just aren't buying the $500 vaporizer. So it's good to have an alternate method with a lower entry cost.

[@SIBEEMAN]

Hi David, Lorobbees, has come out with a new vaporizer that is $299. I’m looking at getting one as it looks to work well for a backyard beekeeper with under 10 hives.

[@aaronparis4714]

@@beek for the ones with only 10 hives they sell cheaper vaporizer on Amazon for 40 bucks 🤔and it last for many treatments As many as you want to do I have one they work great just take a bit more time to do it but if your only rocking 10 hives it would be great to be honest I used one for 2 years no issues and it did its job just wanted to pay 500 for quickness 😂

[@pavlikdaniel7064]

Okay, so in Hungary, we usually make our own strips using analytical-grade Oxalic acid dihydrate mixed with glycerin. We soak 'coaster paper' in the solution and place two strips per hive in the brood area. It works great and is super cheap. On the other hand, vaporizing OA is much cheaper in the long run and more effective, but it requires a significant upfront investment and carries a higher risk of accidents.

[@bligon11]

My understanding is that vorroxsan is not for knocking down large numbers of mites but just to keep the levels low.

[@bunhelsingslegacy3549]

Available only in USA and Uruguay, wonder if it'll come to Canada eventually. I don't think we can even treat with OAV with honey supers on yet >.

[@AdrenalineTheory]

A 30min vid thats supposed to be about VarroxSan with like 30 seconds of actual content involving VarroxSan. Literally no info on the product besides the PPE requirements. lol

[@beek]

Sorry to hear you weren't happy with this video. We actually filmed this video 42 days ago tomorrow so tomorrow we are filming the results, but not sure when I'll get around to editing and posting the video, so tell me what info you'd like to know more about this product so I can be sure to include it. Thank you

[@prairiepinesranch]

Love this girl's cowgirl up and solid worker demeanor. She knows what she's doing. No one will be waiting on her, she'll be at the front.

[@CareyMartinCO]

@prairiepinesranch Thank you so much! I learned from the best! @beek

[@CareyMartinCO]

So cool to see, David! We put those strips on 42 days ago tomorrow. (Strips placed on 9/17.) I can’t wait to see how they worked!

[@beek]

Yes Carey, I did the same math so I'm making a video tomorrow and seeing how they performed. But remember I said these are to help keep mite levels low, not good as a flash kill. But we'll see.

[@CareyMartinCO]

@@beek yes, exactly. It will be interesting to see how it works with this level of infestation.

[@buggsy5]

@@beek The oxalic vapor is harmful to the eyes - combining with calcium to form calcium oxalate. Most kidney stones are calcium oxalate and there are dozens of plants that contain it - some of them at very high levels, such as rhubarb leaves.

[@brianbennett4374]

Great video 😊. Looking forward to seeing how it works out. See you next Thursday for Livestream 😊

[@stevewelches1955]

I like the bee vale she has with the hat. Where did she get it

[@sanbe729]

In NZ we have been making ox + glycerin cardboard strips. very cheap to make, considered to be good to keep levels down during the flow. doesn't knock them down so much, but keeps the levels getting out of hand come autumn .

[@rufussthoo4083]

Carey is a bomb. And she (apologies for the pronoun assumption 🙊) looked extremely competent and comfortable with what she was doing.

[@davidmerriott7356]

O brother!!!!!!!

[@Grimthings]

🤦

[@CareyMartinCO]

@rufussthoo4083 thank you, you are very kind. Spending a whole day with David and Patrick was the REAL bomb!

[@pastormike1971]

Great Video, I bought varroxsan but havnt used it yet, I hate to open the package for 1- 8frame and 2 nucs, 3 weeks ago I had 2- 0 in mite test. Are you still feeding 1:1 with the weather still this warm?

[@beek]

Yes, still feeding some hives.

[@DavidHudson-s5h]

looking forward to the results. I had good results with apivar this year but always looking for more treatments.

[@beek]

Good to hear. We need to always change up our treatments so it's great to have another tool. I'm making a video tomorrow on the results. It's been 42 days!

[@curiouscoy492]

Very helpful. I have varroa mites to fight. VarroxSan looks promising as one of the tools.

[@beek]

Fingers crossed

[@StanGore-mk8ow]

good video...thanks.....so each double deep what would the cost be for varroxSan?

[@georgedenninghoff3196]

$8-10.

[@beek]

I put that info in the video I'm filming tomorrow showing the results.

[@StanGore-mk8ow]

Thanks George for answering my question👍

[@johnbrogan6583]

Dave could you please do a follow up on this when the instructions say the treatment is finished, thank you

[@beek]

Yes, if everything works out, tomorrow we are filming removing the strips (they've been in long enough according to the label) and we can test for mites.

[@CastleHives]

David, I have had VarroxSan in my hives for 4 weeks now. For me, it was a huge time saver vs OAV.

[@beek]

Thanks Brian, do you know how well they worked yet?

[@CastleHives]

@beek I'll take them out in another 7-10 days. Then, depending on the weather, I'll do some washes.

[@jayglosser2014]

GREAT to watch! How long will you leave the strips in the hive? Nice day but only 55 and sunny.

[@beek]

Thanks for watching. The label says 42 days. We actually filmed this video 42 days ago tomorrow so tomorrow we are filming the results, but not sure when I'll get around to editing and posting the video, so keep watching Jay.

[@martenapperloo1055]

Could you show us a picture of the hive treatment strips,couldn't get a good look of what they looked like.