Bee +

[Wandering Man]

A friend that I'm trying to mentor tagged me on Facebook with this product:

https://vibrantvanesa.com/products/bee-mites-treatment-20-strips?fbclid=IwAR2DLRLSh7xW3NCDFW6YlKcswqVtipZMLR3eX53lffLjKOpWNmGKh5WSVhQ

Anyone hear of it?  I don't like that you really have to search to learn that the product is formic acid.  It seems to be cheap, but you have to apply the stuff five times over the course of 25 days.

[Jen]

Hi Wman, it looks just like Apivar strips, but i'll betcha they are seconds and way past the expiration date. Wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. However Apivar is the one I would use other than oxalic acid.

[Zweefer]

“Quick and long lasting effect!” “Proven to kill up to 99% of mites with one application.” …”lasts up to six weeks and above”

Next section - each treatment must remain on brood box 5 days and takes 5 applications for a full treatment.

So for a full treatment it take 5 X the 99% effective applications mentioned in the section above?  And I’m curious if the six weeks counts the 4 that are needed for treatment?

They are nice enough to probed 3 1/2s to the product though!

Don’t mean to poo poo the product, but I do take issue with their advertising claims… so maybe I do mean to…

[Wandering Man]

My first impression was to question the legitimacy of the product.  It is a pop-up product on Facebook.  I agree with Zweefer: I "don't mean to poo poo the product, but I do take issue with their advertising claims ... so maybe I do mean to..."

I thought I'd check here to see if anyone on this site had a reason to sing it's praises and tell me I'm wrong.

[The15thMember]

I agree, this is highly suspect.  For example, I found this under the FAQ: "Formic acid does not cause any harm to bees."  This is simply NOT true, one of the hallmarks of formic is that it will kill any bees that are sick or weak.  After hearing from NOD Apiaries (the producer of MAQS and FormicPro) how difficult it was to create a product that was safe and easy to apply with formic at the active ingredient, I wouldn't trust any willy-nilly formic product.  And as Jen mentioned, why do they look exactly like Apivar, which is NOT formic acid, but Amitraz as the active ingredient?