Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: Moots on November 20, 2013, 05:40:47 pm
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Until someone mentioned this product in the last week or so within a thread debating the advantages and disadvantages of painting boxes...I had never heard of it. I mentioned it in the buy/build thread when Variable said he still wasn't sure what he was going to use, but was leaning towards Rosewood oil.
Anyway, up till now I've painted all my boxes...Haven't really minded doing it, and have been satisfied thus far. That being said...The more I look at this product, the more I'm considering giving it try. Everything I've found thus far, seems to be all upside and no downside, which in and of itself makes me skeptical. :laugh:
ECO Wood Treatment Homepage! (http://www.ecowoodtreatment.com/)
Link to a Beek's Blog entry on ECO Wood Treatment! (http://abqbeeks.org/forum/topics/eco-wood-organic-treatment-and)
Thoughts?
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Hmmm... I am like you.. it seems too perfect.... Makes me skeptical.. but I want to try it.... Has ANYONE had this stuff applied to anything for more than a year or two?
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"Mineral based"? Wonder what minerals? Borax maybe? Boron maybe?
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I've used it on a few boxes. It hasn't been long enough to know much about it (About a year). It is not pretty like a freshly painted box, but if it works I can put pretty on something else.
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"Mineral based"? Wonder what minerals? Borax maybe? Boron maybe?
MB,
There's a pretty decent thread on BeeSource on the topic...LINK TO ECO WOOD TREATMENT THREAD ON BEE SOURCE! (http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?278456-ECO-Wood-Treatment)
In response to your specific question, Hawkeye63 says the following;
"Just ferrous sulfate or better know as iron. Iron has been proven to be a significant deterrent to white-rot fungus.
You can make your own by crushing 20 iron tablets into a quart of water, or buy food grade ferrous sulfate its what is in the vitamins.
The reason the wood turns is because the iron reacts with the tannin in the wood. That is why it does not work on pine very good.
The forest service uses boric acid to help preserve wood as well, so
I would not be surprised if a teaspoon of that would not help.
That is just my opinion."
According to the above post, and others that I've seen, apparently it doesn't work as good on Pine. :( Which is sort of a bummer for me, because that's what I use.
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I've used it on a few boxes. It hasn't been long enough to know much about it (About a year). It is not pretty like a freshly painted box, but if it works I can put pretty on something else.
bbb..,
Did the wood maintain it's natural color? Looking at some images on google it looked like most turned a light grayish color.
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Not as good on pine.... grrr... what exactly does not as good mean? Not worth using or only lasts ten years as opposed to fifteen?
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Not as good on pine.... grrr... what exactly does not as good mean? Not worth using or only lasts ten years as opposed to fifteen?
OldMech,
I decided to go straight to the horses mouth and dropped an email to the folks at ECO Wood Treatment asking about the issue of using it on pine and how they thought it would perform in comparison to using a quailty primer with two coats of a quality latex paint.
This is the Response I received;
Eco Wood treatment works on Pine, I,m not sure why that says that somewhere, a lot of people want a silvery/high end aged look , fast , and Pine takes the longest to turn that color, it will go a Beachwood color, also pine is not a good wood for in ground use, maybe that's why it says that on the internet,
.Eco would be great for your Hives, you will never have to re apply the product, and it will last way longer than your painted Hives, its a proven wood preservatives, that prevents the white rot funji , Kelly Bees has lots hope this helps best regards bruce
OK...I think I'm back to considering giving it a try...
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Not as good on pine.... grrr... what exactly does not as good mean? Not worth using or only lasts ten years as opposed to fifteen?
OldMech,
I decided to go straight to the horses mouth and dropped an email to the folks at ECO Wood Treatment asking about the issue of using it on pine and how they thought it would perform in comparison to using a quailty primer with two coats of a quality latex paint.
This is the Response I received;
Eco Wood treatment works on Pine, I,m not sure why that says that somewhere, a lot of people want a silvery/high end aged look , fast , and Pine takes the longest to turn that color, it will go a Beachwood color, also pine is not a good wood for in ground use, maybe that's why it says that on the internet,
.Eco would be great for your Hives, you will never have to re apply the product, and it will last way longer than your painted Hives, its a proven wood preservatives, that prevents the white rot funji , Kelly Bees has lots hope this helps best regards bruce
OK...I think I'm back to considering giving it a try...
Hmm... Ditto.. I think i will pick up some.. I have 16 hives ready, and need to make about six or seven more.. treating those six or seven would be a perfect test to compare it to the paint... Cant be worse than needing a box.. making it and slapping it on unpainted..
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I am about one year into my hive bodies treated with Eco wood. I used the cheap pine lumber from Home Depot. The wood turns a dark color and I find attractive and not at all undesirable. So far the boxes have held up well and have spent much time in Texas sun. Initially the boxes will take a few days in the sun to darken but after that color change stabilize. Hope this helps.
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I only have 4 years experience as a beekeeper so no hives I have made are over 4 years old 2 years ago used ECO on bottom boards so I could just dip/slather on in a large tote they have worked great this year did some bodies also they were pine and turned fairly dark but still pleasant to look at and you can do 10 - 15 in and hour and ready to use in another hour (Texas sun is strong)
I had some dead outs in hives no more than 4 years old that I had painted 2 coats of good primer and 2 coats of latex gloss paint and not the cheap stuff that I found rotted bottom boards (were not on ground) and bodies with soft spots were the paint cracked
it is very humid here except mid summer so I think ECO has just as good a chance and much easier to apply even easier than wax/rosin dipping
David
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Ok,
An update on my Eco wood experience. I have recently checked on my bees with the treated boxes. The corners have started to curl on me. I am not sure if this is due to my lack of wood working skills or the eco wood. I then spent the better part of a day clamping, gluing , and the stapling. Then it rained while I was at work and had planned to paint them. The eco wood boxes that had gotten wet, the wood was soft and seemed to absorb the rain water. I am not sure what that does to the bees when the waters seems to permeate the wood.
I will not be using eco wood again and just am going to paint from here on out, unless I can get a way to wax dip my boxes.
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After reading Jaseemtp's update I felt compelled to give my update I live in a much more humid clime I quess than Weatherford TX which is about as close to Dallas as I am to Louisiana ECO boxes going into 3 year are still doing well as are bottom boards the ones I painted are getting worse maybe if I repainted each year that would help but I have plenty of other stuff to do
Painted boxes are getting soft spots and some of the bottom boards have mushroom like growth on them bottom boards are not in direct contact with ground most are on treated 4X4's
So Bottom Line Is I am currently very pleased with the product's ease of application and protection afforded in my local
David
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I have built 10 hive boxes using the ECO treatment last month and 10 boxes with regular latex paint. All are going out into my Apiary in March 2015. I did all parts (cover, inner cover, bottom board, and top feeder) for each sets with either Latex paint or the ECO treatment. I live in Kentucky and actually picked up my ECO packets at Kelly's Bees and saw their treated ones. They looked great!!! I think dipping the hive boards in the ECO stain was much easier than painting but the true test will be in how they hold up. I am going to re-post each year hopefully to see which group holds up best.
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I just stopped painting for several years and didn't notice any difference...
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When I use a wood treatment I use a product called OLYMPUS .
I use it on my swarm traps (flower pot) and have had no ill effects.
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We live in the subtropics/topics zone and the only reason I paint the hives (white) is to help keep them cool. I get a lot of black sooty mould growing on unpainted surfaces (inside) Not sure if that affects the bees or not