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Author Topic: Wax moth?  (Read 3307 times)

Offline MikeyN.C.

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Wax moth?
« on: June 07, 2018, 07:48:06 pm »
What works? Cause BT doesn't.  Had 30 drawn frames,  a little capped honey at top corners.  Sprayed all with BT. Didn't work.  I was told this works.  Thats not my outcome.
Guess I'm learning what a solar melter is.  I lost twenty something frames of drawn frames,  because of what i was told to be the answer .

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Wax moth?
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2018, 12:24:52 am »
I?m surprised it did not work. I have used it before with no problems. It is a lot of work. You can put tin of  moth crystals, not moth balls, on a stack of 10 supers.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
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Offline beepro

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Re: Wax moth?
« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2018, 01:10:45 am »
I've only lose 1% out of 100 of the drawn comb last season.   The only frame with the
most damage I seam it down with some small pieces of wax foundation for the bees to redraw them out. 
Another frame with hardly anything left on the foundation only linked by the cells, the bees have
completely rebuilt the foundation while attaching these cells together to form a new drawn comb again.  Glad that I
have good wax repairing bees this season.

The rest of the drawn combs with single row cells that got damaged by the large wax larvae the bees can repair these cells.  If you
think about it I did not lose any drawn comb at all because the bees have repair them all.

This is how I did it this past season, an outline:

1)  Wrap the drawn comb all around in food grade plastic films.   I use kirkland films from costco.  A double layer is better than a single layer and even better in a triple layer.
2) Stored the frames in big thick cardboard boxes with the lids sealed tight using shipping/packing tapes. 
3) Before taping the box put a small chunk of wax in that has been infused with essential oil like cedar,  sandle wood, lavendar, bay leaves, etc.   Any essential oil that the wax months don't like to live in.   

Under such an environment inside the box the wax months can only do so much damage.   They cannot come out the triple layer of films to multiply only died inside the comb.   Also, I took the opportunity to run a small experiment by comparing the freeze and unfreeze comb.   The unfreeze comb got the most wax month damages because their eggs can live for a month and still hatches.    That is why it is very important to freeze the comb first before wrapping them.  This season I will freeze the comb first before putting them in storage.   If the saying is true that the drawn combs are as precious as gold then you're wrapping gold.  So spend some time in this area will pay big dividends later on.    It certainly did for me!


Wrapped comb frames:   http://imgbox.com/4TyYYzaF

Emerged moth inside the wrap:  http://imgbox.com/fVC1pCBM






Offline Beeboy01

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Re: Wax moth?
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2018, 11:15:37 pm »
I use the paramoth crystals for wax moth control. I stack 3 or 4 boxes full of drawn frames and put a coffee can lid loaded with one or two table spoons of the crystals in the top box on the frames. Cover it up with a cover and I'm good to go for about two months when the crystals need to be replenished. The big drawback with using the crystals is the supers need to be aired out for a good week before use which means I need to plan supering up ahead of time.
  Freezing and placing in a sealed container would be my first method but I don't have a freezer dedicated for bee keeping.

Offline Acebird

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Re: Wax moth?
« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2018, 09:46:01 am »
I don't use chemicals of any kind for any reason.  Before I extract I freeze supers so if there are eggs they are dead.  Then winter comes along and the wet frames are frozen for months.  Only problem I have had is getting down to one hive and not being able to use all the frames the next season.  The problem was more hive beetles then wax moths.
Brian Cardinal
Just do it

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Wax moth?
« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2018, 12:25:10 pm »
I don't use chemicals of any kind for any reason.  Before I extract I freeze supers so if there are eggs they are dead.  Then winter comes along and the wet frames are frozen for months.  Only problem I have had is getting down to one hive and not being able to use all the frames the next season.  The problem was more hive beetles then wax moths.
Ace,
That is hard to do in Florida. When I lost 13 hives last fall I had a lot of drawn comb to deal with. I took them apart and stood them on end in my barn to keep the wax moths from destroying them. I was lucky we had several days of freezing and then I was able to put them stacked, with crystals, in my workshop.
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline moebees

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Re: Wax moth?
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2018, 12:50:05 pm »
I don't use chemicals of any kind for any reason.  Before I extract I freeze supers so if there are eggs they are dead.  Then winter comes along and the wet frames are frozen for months.  Only problem I have had is getting down to one hive and not being able to use all the frames the next season.  The problem was more hive beetles then wax moths.
Ace,
That is hard to do in Florida. When I lost 13 hives last fall I had a lot of drawn comb to deal with. I took them apart and stood them on end in my barn to keep the wax moths from destroying them. I was lucky we had several days of freezing and then I was able to put them stacked, with crystals, in my workshop.

You do have sunshine don't you?  Wax moths won't bother frames in light.
Jim
Bee-keeping is like raising Martians  - Isabella Rosselini

Offline Acebird

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Re: Wax moth?
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2018, 10:11:50 am »
Hive beetles are not bothered by light.
Brian Cardinal
Just do it

 

anything