Testing the healing effect of Argentine tapes in control and treatment of bees varroasis

Plamen Hristov, Hristo Ivanov

Abstract: Oxalic acid (OA) with a prolonged healing effect on Varroa destructor, introduced through cellulose
strips into the interframe, is a new opportunity to control the disease varroasis in bees, including the
periods when a brood is kept in the beehive. Impregnated paper-cellulose strips with a thickness of 2.3
and 1.5 mm, with a solution of glycerol and oxalic acid in a ratio of 1 : 0.6 and tested in Langstroth-
Ruth (LR) hives in different dosages according to the study methodology were tested in August and
September. The initial infestation of the bees in the experimental families was controlled – before the
application of the strips and the final one – when there was no brood in the beehives, at the end of
October. The degree of infestation was compared with that in a control group composed of untreated
families. The results showed that the strips with a thickness of 2.3 mm and placed in additional dosage
in other hives of the hive outside those with a brood, reduce the infestation of bees with a high degree
of reliability, in the range between 0.099–0.58%. The main amount of mites is disposed of in the first
ten days after placing the treatment strips in the hives.

Keywords: antimites action; impregnated strips; oxalic acid and glycerin

Date published: 2021-02-26