Varroa Mite fogging with supercharged Oxalic Acid, easier mixing, cheaper formula

[modularmania]

I am always looking for easier and cheaper methods that work. This looks great. I have been using the fogger method using 151 proof Everclear. That is the highest proof legally available in NC. Very expensive. I'll try this method this fall. Thanks for your efforts and postings.

My opinion on stress on the hive and resulting hive loss: Hobby beekeepers like me (5 hives) can make a significant contribution the the overall bee population, if there are enough of us. I have belonged to a my county beekeeper's association for about 5-6 years and have seen many new beekeepers come and go. Each spring our meetings are packed with new eager beekeepers. Most of these last one season and are gone. The main reason they leave is that they lost their colony(s). Number one reason for there hive loss is Varroa. Sugar shakes and and strip/patty installs are time consuming and expensive. New beekeepers are intimidated by the amount of effort, time, and money it takes to keep bees healthy with limited reward financially. Untreated or improperly treated bees can easily result in 80-100% loss over winter. This method is more likely to be used by hobbyist as it is effective, easy to apply, and inexpensive. Even If this method causes 10% hive loss annually from stress or other side effects, the net result is more live bees. I'm for more live bees.

[jankensmith]

Great tips!! I've been using this fogger recipe for my bees last year and it is awesome! Works like magic. I just ordered a new bag of oxalic acid and needed to refresh my memory on the recipe. Thanks again!!

[jonathanwalker]

Well I did it and it worked, better than just alcohol, no dead brood. But mostly my Burgess bug foggèr didn't quit working after three pumps. I do have to say i did just one Tbl spoon full of mineral oil. 26 hives in about 30 minutes. Thanks for that one.

[mikeries]

The OA mixture corrodes the guts out of the fogger. Youll be buying a new fogger every seaaon. Mine got pitched. We got a provap110.
It works

[richardhamey]

I use this method, with mostly your recipe, I see good mite drops, but when I want 100% I use my old vaporizer. But for quick knock downs this just can’t be beat. It takes me 3 to 4 hours using my old vaporizer versus 20 minutes with the fogger and maybe the fogger gets them all, I haven’t seen that yet but there could be several reasons we have additional mite drop on follow-up treatments so I say this is a great recipe, thanks.

[edugaciasegovia]

Good morning, Mr. Willard, how's your health? We have had a good swarm harvest this past year, but very little honey production. This winter there has been a high mortality rate in the hives and with the cold wave a high mortality rate of bees found at the door of the hives, passing in a single day from 12 ° C to -7 ° C. But, in general, with good food and treatment, the hives that I have are quite populated, waiting for a good spring. I hope you have them in good condition too, and I appreciate your advice on oxalic acid. A greeting. Edward

[jah]

Im going to add the soy and mineral oil, makes sense to add the oil for extended kill time. Generally the kill rate lowers after 3 days. Appreciate the well made video!

[chicoleek]

Great enhancement on a working formula, Jeff. FatBeeMan has vids showing the fogger with only mineral oil and I guess that works by coating and perhaps suffocating the mites. Anyway, I have used your mix with about 70 percent moonshine and will probably attempt it with cheaper alcohol next week. Thanks again for making the video.

[thomassantorelli]

I like the idea of using mineral oil with the usual formula of ox and alcohol. I used your formula the other day and did't find that there wasn't enough fog. I guess it wouldn't hurt if I used more mineral oil. BTW, I did add the lechiten

[jorgogjika]

Hi Jeff, thank you for offering your help with the video, for treating the bees. My name is Jorgo, and I live in Florida, i started beekeeping in April, 2019 and I have 7 beehives. I love beekeeping, and it’s a great hobby for me.Im trying to get more experience from Youtube, your videos have helped a lot, for this I thank you, I want to learn about Varroa Mite fogging : I’ve bought Varomorus Propane Insect fogger to use with Oxalic Acid, I have multiple questions about this: 1. When is the best month to do the varroa mites treatment. 2.How often should it be done, and at an interval of how many days? 3. How many seconds per beehive? 4. Whatever is leftover from the treatment can it be saved and used later or does it have to be thrown away? Thank you for your time.

[FloryJohann]

Beekeepers should declare a varroa treatment month where every beekeeper is treating for varroa at the same time, this would be more effective and would limit reinfection,

[stephen]

The problem I have is that the jar is to deep for the pump to pick up the solution if you want to just make 1 mixture of 100 ml and 25g and also the tube on the end of the fogger is pointing downward and you have to lean the fogger backwards making it even more less likely to pickup the solution

[Arndit]

Jeff, this is pretty complicated. For a simpler method, mix your oxalic acid with 30% glycerin and 70% distilled water. You can buy a pint of glycerin at any pharmacy for $4. Or to make it even simpler, don't mix the liquid yourself, just buy a gallon of "DJ Fog". (make sure you save a little to fog your dance floor...LOL)

[edugaciasegovia]

Good morning, I'm the beekeeper of Toledo (Spain) Eduardo. First I want to thank you for your quick answer to my question. I could not find mineral oil because here in Europe it is called liquid petrolatum for food use. A few last questions: because I will start trying this Sunday. At what minimum or maximum temperature should not be treated with oxalic? And what would be the maximum number of treatments that can be applied continuously? Regards, Eduardo.

[jhickory]

Hi Jeff! Using your formula for last 3 weeks and have seen good results. Yesterday for my 3rd treatment, I used several more shots of fogger in my hives. (about 7 or 8 shots versus 3 or 4). I noticed a significant increase in the number of dead mites on the boards this morning versus week 1 and 2.

So questions...
1- Is this increase on week 3 due to the extra shots of fogger or could it be that since this is the 3rd week, more mites are exposed from hatching brood cells opening up? (I am going off the 21 day brood cycle as the basis of this theory.)

2- Is there a risk of using "Too much" fogger/Oxalic acid? (knowing that shooting boiling hot steam into the hive will harm a few bees and more shots equals more steam contacting bees) I do not have honey supers on board of any of my hives right now, but wanted to know if you or anyone had reservations or a point at which you would caution using too much Oxalic Acid (Using your current recipe of 2 tbls Oxalic Acid into 1/2 cup of vodka and 2 tbls of mineral oil with an emulsifier.) I understand that some use the drip or towel method and that would increase the Oxalic Acid levels to a much higher degree than fogging or vaporizing. I will do the treatment for a 4th week because of the extra mites from week 3 unless anyone has info on why it is bad to fog too many times in a row.

As always, thank you for sharing your experiences!
Appreciate any feedback!

Josh in Oregon

[dandorosheff]

Hi Jeff. Thanks for the video. What if you were to just cut the alcohol component out of your recipe? Just simply use OA and mineral oil. Might need to warn the oil to get the acid to dissolve. Anyway. I do like the substitution of cheaper ingredients and easy measuring equivalents. Dan from Florida

[jenellesnow]

Thanks for the video. I have used a digger with essential oils but would like to incorporate OA. Question is how many pumps per hive?

[marialevy]

hello Jeff, I'm very excited to try your anti-mite formula. I have a quick question, do you have to use a thermal fogger? if you you prepare your solution and wait until is not so hot for the bees and use for example a regular atomizer, would this work?
Thank you so much for your help.

[edugaciasegovia]

Thank you very much for your prompt response, and I will tell you in the forum my experience after the treatments. Is this number of treatments correct? Oxalic will be applied once a week for 3 weeks in a row in the spring --- once a month during the summer --- and once a week for 3 weeks in a row in the fall.
Regards Eduardo

[edugaciasegovia]

Good morning, I'm the beekeeper of Toledo (Spain) Eduardo. I can't find the mineral oil for food use in Europe and the one-gallon oil, 100% USP certified food grade mineral approved by the US NSF, would suppose to bring it to Spain 60 euros, did you try the method of glycerin and oxalic? Or another type of oil like olive oil? Greetings. Eduardo.