New Varroa Treatment

[GaryB]

Has anyone seen for sale the new EU approved varroa treatment VarroMed? Seems to be an oxalic/formic mix, I imagine for trickling.

 

[Amari]

Never heard of it. D'you have a link?

 

[viridens]

More info here:
https://www.wired-gov.net/wg/news.nsf/articles/New+medicine+to+protect+honey+bees+against+Varroa+mites+10102016111000

I'm not impressed.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Has anyone seen for sale the new EU approved varroa treatment VarroMed? Seems to be an oxalic/formic mix, I imagine for trickling.

80% of mites, not worth bothering with, also its a trickle, Mmmmmm
My only worry with these new mixes with added Snake oil and Fairy dust, is that it may lead to the introduction of more regulations to enforce we dont use the pure form of Oxalic acid, wood bleach as we know it here. They do sell Apibioxal in France now, same as the uk, but no one I've heard of uses it.
At the moment they turn a blind eye because it seems the powers that be, realise it works and is better we have a good, economical alternative than further decline in the honey bee population.

I also cant help but think of damage to Queens if your trickling two different acids over bees and their colony. Formic acid on its own is enough to bleach the grass in front of your hives,

And I quote" VarroMed is intended to be used as part of an integrated Varroa control programme, which includes not only treatment with medicines but also non-chemical techniques like queen trapping or drone brood removal"
Not in my apiaries at any time thank you!!

I rest my case!

 

[GaryB]

80% of mites, not worth bothering with, also its a trickle, Mmmmmm
My only worry with these new mixes with added Snake oil and Fairy dust, is that it may lead to the introduction of more regulations to enforce we dont use the pure form of Oxalic acid, wood bleach as we know it here. They do sell Apibioxal in France now, same as the uk, but no one I've heard of uses it.
At the moment they turn a blind eye because it seems the powers that be, realise it works and is better we have a good, economical alternative than further decline in the honey bee population.

I also cant help but think of damage to Queens if your trickling two different acids over bees and their colony. Formic acid on its own is enough to bleach the grass in front of your hives,

And I quote" VarroMed is intended to be used as part of an integrated Varroa control programme, which includes not only treatment with medicines but also non-chemical techniques like queen trapping or drone brood removal"
Not in my apiaries at any time thank you!!

I rest my case!

My sentiments exactly. Just wondered if it has made it to market yet, and how much they are going to "rip people off" for! Bound to be a ridiculous price. I've noticed the VMD have only listed it as approved in the last week, so we may not see it until the Autumn. The manufacturers are boasting that it is the first treatment to be offered EU wide as it has been approved centrally by the EU, rather that coming down the mutually recognised path.

 

[alldigging]

http://www.vmd.defra.gov.uk/ProductInformationDatabase/Default.aspx

(Search by species to find it - bees is way down in the list)

VarroMed 5 mg/ml + 44 mg/ml Bee-hive Dispersion for Honey Bees BeeVital GmbH EU/2/16/203/001 05/04/2017 Centralised Formic Acid, Oxalic acid dihydrate N Bees AVM-GSL View EPAR -

http://www.ema.europa.eu/ema/index....723/vet_med_000342.jsp&mid=WC0b01ac058001fa1c

Summary for the public:
http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB..._the_public/veterinary/002723/WC500225543.pdf


VarroMed 75 mg + 660 mg Bee-hive Dispersion for Honey Bees BeeVital GmbH EU/2/16/203/002 05/04/2017 Centralised Formic Acid, Oxalic acid dihydrate N Bees AVM-GSL View EPAR

 

[alldigging]

From the summary above:

What are the risks associated with VarroMed?
The most common side effect with VarroMed (which may affect more than 1 in 10 bee colonies) is an
increased number of deaths of worker bees. This effect increases with higher doses and/or repeated
treatments.
VarroMed must not be given during nectar flow, when honey is produced by bees, and should not be
used when honey chambers are attached to the hive.

VarroMed is trickled onto bees in the brood chamber of the hive. The dose is adjusted to the colony size.
VarroMed is intended to be used as part of an integrated varroa control programme, which includes
other techniques. It can be used either as a single-dose treatment during the broodless period (winter
treatment), or in the presence of brood (spring or autumn treatment) which will usually require repeated
treatments. Treatment should be given in the late afternoon or evening when bees are less likely to be
flying.

 

[Apiarisnt]

Varterminator

Another variation on formic acid, but perhaps a little less problematic, can be read about here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00218839.2017.1291207

 

[pargyle]

80% of mites, not worth bothering with, also its a trickle, Mmmmmm

I also cant help but think of damage to Queens if your trickling two different acids over bees and their colony. Formic acid on its own is enough to bleach the grass in front of your hives,

I rest my case!

And with treatments like this - you wonder why I choose to stay treatment free ?

 

[Plenty of honey]

And with treatments like this - you wonder why I choose to stay treatment free ?

Well i see your point and agree with your sentiment in that respect. I do feel this is a really harsh treatment, when VOA is all i use, and it seems to work really well.

 

[xgeordie]

Has anyone actually used this yet? - unfortunately it costs about 50% more than the product it replaces (HiveClean) - no doubt to cover EU approvals.

 

[Finman]

.
Formic acid makes gas vapours in the hive..

Oxalic acid makes touch contact.

Mixing those two stuff together makes no sense. Those two stuffs have been used 20 years. How heck they did not invented to mix those before?

Companies try to sell under different names those two chemicals.