Biotechnical Methods
Trial of HoneySuperCell® Small Cell Combs
A Trial of HoneySuperCell® Small Cell Combs Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in May 2008 Introduction There has been considerable discussion as to whether “small cell” foundation (4.9mm diameter vs. the industry “standard” of approximately 5.4mm) has potential as a means of controlling varroa reproduction. Research on Africanized bees in South America indicates...
Powdered Sugar Dusting – Sweet and Safe, but Does it Really Work? Part 1
Powdered Sugar Dusting – Sweet and Safe, but Does it Really Work? Part 1 By Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in Dec. 2008 Updated 9 March 2017 The dusting of colonies with powdered sugar as a means of varroa control has become quite popular with hobbyists. Unfortunately, there is precious little published data...
Powdered Sugar Dusting – Sweet and Safe, but Does it Really Work? Part 2
Powdered Sugar Dusting—Sweet and Safe, but Does it Really Work? Part 2 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in Jan. 2009 One beauty of science is that it is anti-authoritarian. Physicist Lawrence Krauss put it well: “There are no scientific authorities. There are scientific experts, but there should be no authority figures whose statements...
Powdered Sugar Dusting – Sweet and Safe, but Does it Really Work? Part 3
Powdered Sugar Dusting—Sweet and Safe, but Does it Really Work? Part 3 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in Feb. 2009 Update 2016: although sugar dusting can indeed cause a substantial proportion of the phoretic mites to drop off the bees, in order to effectively manage varroa, dusting requires more effort and repetition than most...
IPM 5 Fighting Varroa : Biotechnical Tactics – Part 1
IPM 5 Fighting Varroa : Biotechnical Tactics 1 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in April 2007 (Fifth in a series on Integrated Pest Management of Varroa) (Photos to be added – check back) In the “silver bullet” model, any mite kill less than 95% was considered ineffective. Unfortunately, the days of that...
IPM 5 Fighting Varroa : Biotechnical Tactics Part 2
IPM 5 Fighting Varroa Biotechnical Tactics 2 The One-Two Punch Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in May 2007 Introduction 1 Drone Brood Management and Trap Combs 1 Powdered sugar dusting 4 The Oliver 15-second sugar dust method 6 Discussion 7 The one-two punch—30 seconds to knock out varroa! 7 My new website...
Simulation of sugar dusting against varroa
Knowing the intrinsic rate of reproduction of the honey bee colony and of varroa, the proportion of mites that are phoretic at the time, and the efficacy of a powdered sugar dusting at removing those phoretic mites, one can create a spreadsheet that will calculate the estimated effect of repeated sugar dustings. I’ve done so,...
A Field Test of Apitablets
Contents Feeding Thymol for Varroa Control 1 Setup. 2 Results. 8 Discussion. 10 Consumption/Removal of the Tablets. 11 Confirmation of Consumption. 12 Conclusions. 19 Acknowledgements. 20 Citations and Notes. 20 A Field Test of Apitablets Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in ABJ April 2025 I’m often asked by developers of new items for beekeepers,...
A Trial of Some Summer Treatments
Contents Oxalic Strips (OAE) 1 Fig. 1 The bees shifted brood rearing away from the strips 4 Extended-Release Thymol 4 Conditions During the Trial 7 A Note on Our Mite Wash System 8 Results and Discussion 10 Acknowledgements 12 Citations and Notes 12 A Trial of Some Summer Treatments Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First published in...
The Shift Toward Bioacaricides
Contents SYNTHETIC MITICIDES. 2 BIOPESTICIDES. 3 PEST RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT. 4 SHIFTING TO “NATURAL” TREATMENTS. 5 MONITORING THE DEGREE OF MITE INFESTATION. 6 TREATMENT THRESHOLDS. 7 PHYSICAL, MECHANICAL, AND BIOTECHNICAL METHODS. 10 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER. 13 BIOLOGICALLY RESISTANT STOCK. 14 NOTES AND CITATIONS. 15 The Shift Toward Bioacaricides Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published...
The How and Why of Oxalic Vaporization: Part 1
Contents THE PROCESS OF OXALIC ACID VAPORIZATION 2 THE PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY OF OXALIC ACID VAPORIZATION 3 GUN-TYPE VAPORIZERS 5 THERMAL DECOMPOSITION OF OXALIC ACID 6 WHAT GOES IN, DOESN’T COME OUT! 6 HOW TO CAPTURE THE VAPOR OUTPUT FOR ANALYSIS? 9 QUANTIFICATION OF THE ACIDIC OUTPUT VIA TITRATION 15 BUYER BEWARE: THE NEED FOR...
The How and Why of Oxalic Vaporization: Part 2
Contents TESTING THE VARROX 2 WOULD MAINTAINING A LOWER TEMPERATURE REDUCE DEGRADATION? 6 THE LEIDENFROST EFFECT 8 SECOND-BY-SECOND OXALIC ACID OUTPUT 9 SUMMARY OF OUR FINDINGS 13 HOW MUCH FORMIC ACID IS IN THE OUTPUT? 15 SO WHAT’S THE OPTIMAL START-POINT TEMPERATURE? 20 HOW DO THE OXALIC OUTPUTS OF VARIOUS VAPORIZERS COMPARE? 22 IT’S IMPORTANT...
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