BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > DISEASE & PEST CONTROL
Varroa checks
CoolBees:
--- Quote from: Beeboy01 on October 22, 2021, 05:59:49 pm ---.... But you have burns on your skin, your nasal passages are burned along with the trachea from breathing the stuff. Some of your eyebrows are burned off and your eyes are red and watering because of the acid burn"
Anyways Jerry continues on in the Study Hall section about RNAi as a control for the mites by using genetic modification which is being developed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals.
...
... I'm just wondering if a statement like this could drive some bee keepers away from oxalic acid treatments causing disastrous results to their bees.
--- End quote ---
I have a hard time with this analysis of Jerry's. Bees aren't humans - the comparison is invalid in so many ways. Further, bees target and harvest oxalic acid on their own, or so I've read. I'd guess your conclusion was correct. No one makes money off of OA, it's too cheap. There are many that would like to find a "more profitable" (for them) solution to the Mite problem.
rast:
Also having met and listened to him, Jerry never did like OAV from the get go.
Ben Framed:
For any of you newer members the following article goes hand and hand with this topic, (a sister topic if you will allow), in case you may be interested.
Phillip
Has Anyone Used the Randy Oliver Shop Towel Mite Treating Method?
NigelP:
--- Quote from: Beeboy01 on October 22, 2021, 05:59:49 pm ---Here's a quote found on page 15 of the Oct 2021 Bee Culture form Jerry Hayes
" Lets say you have a parasite the size of a rat. You can't get it off and I can't help get it off either. So we come up with a plan. I'll lock you in your closet and we will vaporize a caustic acid in the closet with you. We do it. I open the door and the parasite the size of a rat has fallen off. Good deal. But you have burns on your skin, your nasal passages are burned along with the trachea from breathing the stuff. Some of your eyebrows are burned off and your eyes are red and watering because of the acid burn"
--- End quote ---
Thanks for that Beeboy01, Looks like total rubbish written by a supposed expert, I'll bet the farm he provides no evidence of what he claims. It's been tricky to get definitive prove of how vaporised OA crystals kills varroa, but it is thought that OA vapors enter through the soft pads of the mite's feet and travels to the blood stream, effectively acidifying the mite and thus killing them. It is also thought that it destroys parts of the mite's mouth. However it works, it decimates them.
There is little evidence of of vaporised OA having any major detrimental effect on bees and the RNAi treatments are still a pipe dream.
But OA vaporisation is "hot" topic. I had to resign from a local association as they refused to let me talk about OA sublimation in a talk I was giving to the members. Naturally I refused to back down.
Beeboy01:
Nigel, I try to keep my mouth shut about different mite treatments but sometimes when an expert spouts something that is baloney I speak out. I've been bee keeping for over 30 years and remember it before mites. Since they arrived I've tried just about all the commercially available treatments and really think OAV is the best but as was mentioned the big companies can't make any money off it. Even suggesting shortening the intervals between treatments gets a large blow back in the local club I'm a member of.
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