Varroa Treatment Concept
Lexikon
A varroa treatment concept is a plan coordinated across the whole beekeeping year, combining biotechnical measures and authorized treatment products, with which the infestation of a colony by the varroa mite is to be kept below a dangerous threshold.
A varroa treatment concept is a plan coordinated across the whole beekeeping year, combining biotechnical measures and authorized treatment products, with which the infestation of a colony by the varroa mite is to be kept below a dangerous threshold. Such concepts are developed and regularly updated by, among others, bee institutes such as the State Institute of Apiculture at the University of Hohenheim together with the animal health services of the German states.
Typically the year begins with preventive, purely biotechnical steps such as inserting a drone frame and specifically cutting out capped drone brood in spring, which removes some of the mites multiplying in the brood without using any medicinal product. In early summer and summer a main treatment usually follows, often with formic acid, which also acts inside capped brood cells. The basis for deciding when this treatment becomes necessary is the ongoing monitoring of the natural mite drop via the varroa board.
The threshold values above which action should be taken differ considerably by source, region and season, and the institutes deliberately formulate them as guidance, not as a rigid limit. For high summer, the treatment concept as described by the specialist site Bienen-Gesundheit names the need for prompt treatment at a natural mite drop of more than about ten mites per day in July and August. A very similar order of magnitude is given by the Swiss specialist site bienen.ch for the survey at the end of June or beginning of July, where prompt action is likewise advised from a natural mite drop of more than ten mites per day. For autumn and winter, when the colonies are largely or completely broodless, the thresholds given are naturally considerably lower.
A common misunderstanding is applying a concept once learned unchanged over years and regions. Because the course of the flow, the weather and the initial infestation differ from year to year, the bee institutes recommend continuously recording one's own monitoring values and aligning treatment with them, rather than relying solely on a fixed calendar date. For the choice and application of a product, the authorization of the respective preparation and the package leaflet always apply, supplemented by the current recommendations of the bee institutes.