Musing in the off season about rotating varroa treatments...

[Lburou]

It's about that villain of our bee hives:  Varroa Destructor.  A  Randy Oliver video about dealing with varroa mites and the need for more than a single method of mite treatment got me to thinking.

I support Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in the apiary, and at the same time realize there are limited returns using only Cultural, Physical/Mechanical, and biological means.  So, I use Oxalic Acid Vaporization and am considering using Formic Acid.

I saw This video and want to consider using the method shown there. 

QUESTION:  Has anyone here tried using this method to apply Formic Acid?

[Ray]

Thanks for the video. I may try that next year.
If you would like a laugh turn on the closed caption- It can't handle Beek-speak 

Found this: It's a study out of India
http://www.entomoljournal.com/vol2Issue4/pdf/69.1.pdf

Comparative evaluation of oxalic acid and formic
acid against Varroa destructor Anderson and
Trueman in Apis mellifera L. colonies

Excerpt: "Earlier studies indicated that treatment with formic acid can
increase queen mortality, damage to hatching bees [27] and have
detrimental effect on brood production, but this is likely to be due
to a direct effect of the acid on brood survival and can affect the
physiology of the immature and young workers [28]. However, in
the present study of three weeks, no adverse effect on colony
strength (bees, brood) and colony stores (pollen, honey) was
observed. On the contrary, the brood area showed a significant
increase in formic acid treated A. mellifera colonies as compared to
untreated colonies. The results are in conformity with some studies
which showed that long term formic acid treatment did not damage
brood and young bees and did not limit colony development
(Underwood and Currie, 2005). It has been speculated that
combination of high temperatures and high concentrations of
formic acid may contribute to queen loss [29]:
.

[efmesch]

...... "However, in the present study of three weeks, no adverse effect on colony
strength (bees, brood) and colony stores (pollen, honey) was
observed. On the contrary, the brood area showed a significant
increase in formic acid treated A. mellifera colonies as compared to
untreated colonies."

I dare say, a study on an issue of such importance that is concluded in three weeks, is  nothing one ccan rely upon.
That's barely one cycle of brood rearing and not enough time to reach conclusions about what the treatment really accomplished, if anything.  An  immediate increase in population could be a result of emergence of bees that were in capped cells while the treatment was delivered and doesn't really say anything about the efficacy of the treatment.  Likewise, an increase in brood area doesn't tell us how much brood will emerge later on nor how mite free the hive will be.

[Lburou]

Good day Ef  :-)

RO spoke very rapidly about a number of studies and reams of data in that video, I'm not sure which data you refer to, but your thoughts make sense to me.  The paper outlining a 'Blast' of formic acid, (as opposed to the longer treatment via, let's say MAQS), is HERE.  This paper reports that using a 50% formic acid fumigation has less ill effect on queens and brood, yet gets 90-95% of the mites in capped cells from a treatment lasting only 24 hours!