BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > DISEASE & PEST CONTROL

How Much Humidity is Too Much for Sugar Roll Mite Checks?

(1/1)

Alklar20:
Hello. I was considering using the sugar roll method for doing mite checks on my beehives, but I read online that high humidity could skew the results of the sugar roll method. I live in Washington, which has a very moist climate, so I'm thinking about possibly doing the alcohol wash instead. But before I do that, I wanted to get someone's opinion on how much humidity is too much for the sugar roll method.

The15thMember:
I also live in a very humid climate (for example, my outdoor hygrometer is reading 93% right now), and I use sugar rolls as my go-to method of mite checks.  I doubt that the humidity would have a significant effect on the roll unless your sugar is clumping as a result of the moisture.  As long as your sugar is nice and powdery, I think it should be okay.  Sugar rolls are not as accurate as alcohol washes, plain and simple, but I don't like to kill bees every few weeks do to a mite check I so prefer the sugar roll.  To help compensate for the greater margin of error in a sugar roll, I multiply the number of mites in the roll by 1.3, on the recommendation of a very experienced member here, and I've had no trouble with accuracy since using that method.   

Michael Bush:
The most important thing is to shake them long enough and give a little time for the mites to fall off.

Navigation

[0] Message Index