I make extended release oxalic acid and soak it into sponges for Varroa control. 1 to 1 by weight oxalic acid and glycerin. #varroacontrol #beekeeper #honeybeehealth
You'll always get the haters. This absolutely works! I've been trying it this year with incredible results. I've had some mite problems in my day. This, to me, is my silver bullet. I do what works. Ive been doing one full towel per hive.. I just made a new batch. I've been doing equal parts glycerin to oxalic acid weight. My mite count is the best it's ever been. Keep up the good work.
Some would say IT is not within the rules but when the thinking beekeeper considers that anyone can spray the same acid directly onto bees the whole debate seems utterly ridiculous. A few papers say that the acid does not get into the honey when the honey supers are on there fore it is good to use for summer. I would really like to know the scientific data that states what humidity exists in the hive around the strips for that factor to prevent it's efficacy as in Georgia. The UK is very humid at times but that method killed 1300 mites + in 5 weeks. The fumigation method would have taken 6 lots of 4 gram a time 3 days apart. Fumigation @ 4 g = 80 mite drop after 3 days..... 2 strips = after 24 hrs = 300 mite drop. Does this say anything?????
Harris you are a gem. I have had the strips at 1 to 1 as per R Oliver's teaching for 16 days . It is noted that he has experimented with a considerable amount of varying strengths of solution. I though the general consensus by RO is 25 gramms Oxalic acid per hive. It was interesting to count the mites per 24 hrs...... Quite erratic I thought. At start 20 odd then 50 odd after a week and a half but now after 16 days 4 mites today with 8 or so on average per 24 Hrs.......before that I am with you absolutely that it may be the silver bullet that we are all looking for. What are those who make the 'rules' waiting for? It certainly seems more efficient than two fumigations at 4 gram apiece 6 days apart. Over the two gassings with OA the drop was 120 then a week gap no treatment the strips went in as soon as I saw all of R Oliver's experimentation. Harris it seems a good method. The bees do not seem to be too bothered by the OA because they have been chewing on it! One tooth pick was in place over two frames but the 30% cellulose /70% polyester strip had fallen down. It will be 2 more days before inspecting those frames. I am debating whether to put in three more 'fresh' strips. I've a mind to because I just love killing mites. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed in the hope that as Randy Oliver says = it is possible to rid a hive completely of mites", by the strip method. The bees are proliferating also. Seems more like a ballistic tip than a silver bullet?
A number of colleges are testing this now too. They are not coming up with the same results Randy got. Randy tested it over the winter, all they did was maintain the same mite load. They are trying to figure out why, one theory is it doesn't work as well with high humidity. And Randy's original study, he didn't get real good control for a couple of months. But even if these strips will just maintain the might level, and we can reduce it with other methods but less often then in the past, it's still a win for the bees
@@harrisjoubertwithsleepycre1924 Harris thank you fo the info. I am finding it great as said. I agree with you the strips may well be the silver bullet. I have a good sublimator /fumigator and I would think it needs three fumigations to 1 month of strips......
Harris I hope you are still doing well with the mites...... 24 a day dropping which I expect will continue the odd days till the drop will lessen to zero. Can you imagine the bee police will drop on us for administering the same material as that which is sprayed on them directly? I am surprised the strip method is not being 'heralded by a fanfare of trumpets'. That is what I said when I used a small heavy tube fly to catch salmon when out of 30 fishers no others caught bugger all....... I'm lovin it... Always always keep an open mind.
Pop over to Lowes or Home depot, grab one of those 60qt storage containers, it has high sides, that way, when you pour over the sponges you don't have to worry about splashing going everywhere, just my 2 cents.
And to think I mixed mine outdoors with gloves on, Hmm. So, there is a VERY easy way to figure out just how much you need for the sponges you have on hand. It's called 'math'. Each sponge is meant hold 100 grams. I made a batch 1/2 as big as the one in this video. I used 5lbs of both Oxalic Acid and Vegetable Glycerin. The total of the two is 10 pounds which equals 4540 grams. So my batch was enough for 45 full sponges. I cut them in 1/2 (90, half sponges @ 50 grams ea) but the math still works. I wish I could post a picture because mine came out perfectly. No extra juice, no dry spots on the sponges. Randy Oliver calls for 1-4 half sponges per hive depending on strength. 1 for nucs, 3-4 for the strongest multi story hives. If you don't measure things out you may OD your bees. I don't think a little extra will hurt but I would not want globs running everywhere.
thats great math, I tend to not be that prepared. feel lucky to just have most of what I need. lol. Just ordered 50 lb OA and 5 gal. of juice, and 100 15x19 absorbant sponges that should cut down to 1000. time to make a big batch
I'd just drain it on a rack and keep it out of my eyes. Wash my arms while it drains. I used to get drenched in OA and water when power washing mahogany decks. Does a beautiful job on the decks by the way.
could not afford enough of them to do halves. these sponges are not good, I used them 1 time but never again. they fall apart. I have newer videos showing what I use now, and how much better they work
Just watched this again, you made a mess with will the splattering lol everything started floating hehe. I wonder if the congealed extra could be used the in a similar method as Thymol glop on top.
No I don't think you could use the congealed oxalic acid like thymol. Because as soon as they get it up to 95 or 100°, it becomes completely liquid. At which point it would just run to the bottom and down the frames. That's why it needs to be in the sponge. We got 34 tuna
ha good video 10 lb of oa and I assume 10 lbs of gly. laying 4 sponges /strips in each hive what would be the dose Randy just did a talk his dose is 4 strips at 25 grams each he cut the sponges into 4 strips his talk said the hive had 0 mites that the 4 strips were put into thanks and have a great day
I found sponges I like better. Watch my big batch. I don't know that the dose matters if the concentration is right. I believe it works like the drench, but over time. I found the sponges that held more worked better. Also not as well on a single if the bees couldn't get on top of the sponge. Like the lid was to close
I would be very interested in you weighing a small number of the after-soaked sponge strips to find out their average gross weight. I weighed mine. The fresh unused sponge strips weigh about 5 gm each. After soaking, the total gross weight was around 44 gm each. Subtract 5 gm, you get 39 gm. Divide by 2, you get 19.5 gm oxalic acid per strip. But what I don't know is, how much TOTAL oxalic acid per hive is desirable? I think I've seen numbers ranging from 14 to 50 gm per hive. Wish I knew the right answer.
@@djg585 I had an Open stainless mesh floor since day 1. I love counting the dead mites but I'm surprised at the erratic numbers. I'm not worried at all about that. I am confident as you say the oxalic acid + glycerine strips are the best thing and are indeed the silver bullet........ My oh My what a beeeautiful day ----- why Cux The bees are flyin but the MITES are dyin..... If you take note from them who knows them damn varroa mites'll die in droves......
Bob Binnie just posted 3 videos on OA in a sit down with University of Georgia interesting to learn Argentina has this already in packs kinda like apivar
@Rex Roberton the humanity there is probably a lot lower then here in the south east. I think they think that is the difference. Between working and not.
@Rex Roberton excellent info. I just started with Bees back in May 2021, and the guy who got me started uses the shop towel method- the recipe I was given was 12 oz OA, 12 oz Glycerin, 1 oz water, and soak a half roll of shop towels. Replace towel every 45 days. He gets zero mite counts on his washes consistently. I dont know how much that breaks down to per towel, but it seems to be enough.
I don't bother to 'dry' the absorbent sheet but it don't drip. Just enough to be soaked but not dripping.. I think yours are the same? Only one strip in the new 5 frames ito the 10 fram Lans. =killed em dead.
Oh maybe I didn't buy to much after all, I just got my 15lbs of OA, thinking 5lbs batch? Crap I didn't get "wood bleach" whats that? Was gona get ahold of ya to help figure out amounts I should make. My pads and glycerin will be here this next week, I'll get my OA-vap the end of the moth probably. I wana be sure to be on top of all this, though I'd get the strips made and in by this next weekend.
@@harrisjoubertwithsleepycre1924 5 lbs was 28 and 15 was 38 i think it was so it was a price break thing. how much glisserin to the 5lb? I got a gallon jug? I'll go and watch your videos again.
I find they last about 2 to 3 months. I am using different sponges now. when they start to dry out they get lighter, thats when I replace them. some hives its sooner then others
I dont use the sponges any more. I found a better and cheaper product. water mats from blue pig. I put 2 strips one inch in from the sides on each brood box. replace when they get dry. it will run down the frames some, and will kill brood it runs onto. that is part of what makes it work, the bees have to handle the clean up. look for mu big batch video, I think I talk about the new stuff
You use one strip for five frames. And lay them on top of the frames. So a double deep brood chamber would get four strips to across the top of both box frames
@@1philliph who has proven this? I have had mine on 120 colonies all year. my test results showed 2 colonies over 1% varroa the first of Aug. if they go between the frames all the OA runs out of the sponge in very quickly
I found better sponges. water absorbent mats from newpig.com that hold up better in the hive. I did a video on a big batch I made using them. 1 inch or so wide, and you want them saturated, so different sponges will take different amounts. this is a tool that takes time to kill varroa. it is not fast acting. I would not use it now unless your varroa numbers are already low. if your numbers are high, hit them with something that will kill varroa under the cappings, then put these on to keep numbers down. I did a video on my observations of this you could also watch
@@harrisjoubertwithsleepycre1924 Harris ---Right on.... Hardly any mites dropping now but I must admit as you say -IT AIN'T OVER YET..... but then again it might be later on.... best wishes in your commendable experimenting. What are the powers that bee 'hanging about at' as we say here in the UK?
the ones that were done right, seem to be low numbers. I had a few with the shop towels, I was going to change them out as soon as I made more, had some higher counts. I found the water sheets I used in my big batch video work way better, they dont fall apart and hold more stuff. I am in western Oregon
I am in Amity. 6 miles South of McMinnville. these sponges break down after a few inspections. I am using a different sponge now, a water absorbent mat I get from New Pig. they seemed to do fine. leave them in 6-8 weeks, then replace them. they work over time, not a fast knock down
We use this method exclusively until it stops working. Our bees have never been better looking, and this is the only thing we did differently. No more Tactik here, either. I hate that stuff.
I am very happy so far. my mite count has been running at 1% or less on all hives I tested except 1 that was at 3 %. I will continue testing, and get a video out next week with my results
@@harrisjoubertwithsleepycre1924 Thanks for your replies..... I look forward to hearing from you and really hope you do OK with this silver bullet (well that's what I've found) I've pulled the strips out of the big colony but will put a fresh on in as soon as I can shift the honey super. It's a Flow type and they are filling it fast. I think the 2022 report is for March. It gives a comprehensive data on the 1 to 1 etc. I never thought before now but due to the Multi brand yellow absorbent 'cloths' being cheap here in the UK I may experiment with double thickness because the devastation caused by the thicker Capillary mat = 1/8" thick I wonder if the efficiency was caused by the extra stuff in it?
@@harrisjoubertwithsleepycre1924 It was March 22. he says he is still experimenting with different absorbent materials. I suppose you could triple the layers if it was thought it would deliver more stuff?
@@1philliph What I was in Argentina ..... would that be OK? What if I considered that any beekeeper can spray oxalic acid directly onto any bees with a used washing up liquid bottle but that by administering the acid by another route which is highly efficient? would that not make me very considerate for the bees to save them from a horrible death? Several Argentinian Biologists since 2015 have published that the method is more effective than any other method re oxalic acid. I would think the thinking beekeeper is not as stupid as the powers that be think and a few beekeepers included. It's been well established that the oxalic acid does not get into the honey to show any rise in that acid. Perhaps many beekeepers who automatically love their bees will think hard about the situation which seems ridiculous to say the least.
No reason the extra in The jug would go bad. It's an acid solution not volatile. Everything I have seen calls for two strips in a 10 frame box, one with five active frames. The new sheets I'm using are quite a bit larger and easier to get on and off the frames. I am doing varroa checks now, and finding one to two in colonies with the strips. Seven to eight in the ones I missed
Randy Oliver has some numbers he used, but I don't think that matters. I don't measure the amount that goes into the sponge, it absorbed as much as it can take. I use different sponges now, and they are not all the same size
@Rex Roberton I'm going to try it but I'm going to use sponges or something If it ain't wet it can't work I wouldn't think.. but you're not the first person to tell me that so let's be something to it I want to try... Plus I hate using the vaporizer I get that stuff all over my forehead my mask is soaking wet with sweat I still end up breathing a ton of it can't stand it so I'm definitely going to try it!
@Rex Roberton lol thanks ! I have some bees that handle em pretty good and some that don't so I've been trying to keep everything knocked back and low to have healthy winter bees,I got some dropping major brood frames right now, killing it so I'm really happy so far
@@judy7481 yes they seem to work great. Completely non-scientific study. The colonies that I left shop towels in, or nothing, had very high mite count. The ones with the water maps were low or zero.
@@harrisjoubertwithsleepycre1924 what do you do to get them apart. I made a batch with pig mats and left them in the shop to cool and they stuck tougher. Do you warm them to use them without destroying them?
@@judy7481 if you watch some of my later videos, where I use those, I found if the blue sides go together they dont stick as bad. I just work them side ways and they come apart. then I wrap them 10 to a bundle
these sponges seem to get brittle over time. look at my big batch video, I use a different pad, i like it better. but the product should not go bad, its acid. that said I wouldnt make up a 10 year supply
@@harrisjoubertwithsleepycre1924 here's what I'm thinking, I always use the wand and wood bleach 5 times in each hive.. every 6 days, this yr I may just use the wand 3 times and put a sponge in about the first week of October and leave it in there when I winterize the hives. I would take out the sponge on a warm day in Jan, (if we have one) and put in a fresh sponge til spring..
@@olddave4833 I dont know where you are, but here in the northwest you need to have varroa under control by mid sept so the winter bees are healthy. here they go broodless in nov, and that takes care of varroa, but not the damage they did to the winter bees that were made in sept and oct.
