White Boards and Mite monitoring?

[Bee Commander]

After two years in the wilderness raising bees on my own I decided to join a couple of local bee clubs primarily for networking to sell Nucs this year, which has worked out well. A lot of members use screened bottom boards with a white plastic insert (not a sticky board) to block off the screened portion during cold weather. The guy that runs the bee club and others say they use this "white board" board to monitor mites. This makes no sense to me. Since it is not a sticky board, cant the mites crawl right back up to the brood nest after falling through this screen? Hoping one of you seasoned vets can explain all this to me.

[CBT]

Some use it to monitor the natural die off of mites to give them a starting point.

[iddee]

Everyone I know sprays a coat of Pam or spreads a coat of vaseline thinly over it before installing. Then cleans it after checking the mite drop for 3 days.

[apisbees]

It is a long way back up for a mite that is that small if the bees can't get down to the white board so the mites can crawl back onto their host.

[Ray4852]

I don’t spray anything on my mite board. When done treating with oxalic acid. I check the board 24 hours later to get my mite drop. When done checking I wipe off the white board with a rag and store it.

[pistolpete]

I use the white board (not sticky) all year.  It gives me a snap shot of the hive without even opening it up.  I can see where the brood is from capping drops, I can see what pollen is coming in and I get a general feel for the mite drop.  It's not scientific, but if I see 10 to 20 dead mites on there after a week, the hive is ok, if I see 50+ then it's definitely time to treat.   If you see ants on the white board, then they are likely carrying off and eating the mites and you will not be able to get a good count without Pam.

[Jen]

I'm with Pete on this one, I love my white boards and screen bottom board. I smear a light coat of vaseline on it and everything sticks. I check my white board every two weeks during summer and especially Fall. Randy Oliver says that if you can see 10 mites on your white board or sticky board, to multiply that by 100, and that will be how many mites are hanging out in the colony. So I look for 10 mites every two weeks. 1,000 mites is far to many for my liking.

[Bee Commander]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Mites are such a huge problem around here. About 80% of the bee club members had lost their hives over the winter which turned into a bunch of business for me. However when I asked many of them how they were monitoring mites many came back with the "white board" (non-sticky) method. I see that Randy Oliver just posted on his web-site that the white board was not a reliable method for monitoring mites. I can see where having a white board would help give you a snap shot of what's going on in the hive plus keep the bottom board clean. Thanks everyone.

[pistolpete]

Jen, I'm reasonably certain that Randy Oliver is referring to a 24 hour mite drop.  I have not read his stuff, so I can't be sure, but normally mite drop is expressed as #/24 hrs.  so a two week mite drop could be as high as 100 and your hive is still not in dire straits.   Time of year and colony strength also factor into it hugely.   10 mites.day in the spring is a big deal, 10 mites/day in September when the brood nest shrinks dramatically is no cause for alarm.   Also 10 mites in a Nuc is a whole different ballgame than 10 mites in a 50K strong hive.