PolyVar Yellow
Behandlungsmittel
PolyVar Yellow is a flumethrin-based veterinary medicinal product that differs from all other varroacides in its form of application.
PolyVar Yellow is a flumethrin-based veterinary medicinal product that differs from all other varroacides in its form of application. It is not hung in the comb spaces but fitted as a perforated strip in front of the hive entrance. The bees have to pass through the holes, picking up the active substance in the process and distributing it through the colony. The principle is also called Varroa Gate.
The approach targets a particular problem: reinvasion. In late summer and autumn, foraging bees carry mites in from foreign, collapsing colonies. A strip at the entrance reaches exactly these returning bees, while strips in the comb spaces take effect only later. According to the product information, the treatment lasts at least nine weeks until the end of flight activity, but no longer than four months.
Like all pyrethroids, flumethrin only acts on the mites sitting freely on the bees. It does not penetrate into the capped brood. It therefore does not replace treatment in the broodless state.
The product is subject to pharmacy sale in Germany. Because authorizations can change, the current package leaflet is decisive before each use. For all synthetic varroacides, it also applies that resistance of the Varroa mite to pyrethroids has been described, so active substances should not remain the same over years, and in organic operations they entail a new twelve-month conversion period with replacement of the wax. Used strips belong in hazardous waste.