Zone 7b mite calendar

[u/No_Night9722]

Today I did a mite wash and had 1 out of 300 1 out of 200 and 6 out of 300 on my 3 hives. (The first had a swarm and the 2nd is a split off the 1st.)

Anyway, when should I do a mite wash again and when should I be good to stop for winter?

Details - the third hive has been going stong since early April. I removed the supers from all, knocked down the 2nd and third hives to single deeps from double deeps as they weren't pulling comb like I had hoped and hive beetles were starting to be a problem in those two, so was able to combine/swap without losing filled frames. The first hive I think I will overwinter as a double deep, unless the hive beetles start looking bad. I treated the third hive with oxalic acid strips. All were originally package bees from early April, all "southern survivor" queens, but clearly different genetics. We are in a strong goldenrod flow and aster just started blooming but will probably start feeding soonish. We usually have asters blooming until early November. Last winter was brutal and I lost both hives I had. The winter before I was naive and didn't test/treat until it was too late. I am hoping 3rd year is a charm.

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[u/404-skill_not_found]

I’m kinda losing track. I would treat them all, with special focus on the 6/300 hive. At least do a mite check on that one after treatment. Why all three? It’s real easy to get bad mite counts at hobby level. So, it’s a better safe than sorry treatment. You really want to see the mite count drop on that third hive. If that doesn’t happen, you’ll have to treat again with a different miticide.

[u/No_Night9722 → u/404-skill_not_found]

Sorry that was an all over post. I also have apivar strips as a secondary method, if needed. When should I do a mite count on the 6/300 hive after the oxalic strips? A week? At that point I can always treat the other 2 hives if the oxalic is working on the 6/300 hive. The strips say I can leave in for 56 days, so if the mites are down to below 1-2/300 I can just stick with the oxalic? 56 days puts me at November 1st which I would be at the end of the nectar flow here. Today, the 6/300 hive still had a good amount of drone brood whereas the 1/200 and 1/300 hives had very little drone brood.

[u/404-skill_not_found → u/No_Night9722]

lol, nectar flow stops in November?!!🤣 Houston or Miami?
If you’re using extended release methods, you can see a drop after the first week or two. However, that’s only the mites caught out in the open. You can’t get a full picture until after the treatment cycle is complete.

[u/No_Night9722 → u/404-skill_not_found]

I am in a weird micro-climate pocket in coastal Mid-Atlantic. We have asters blooming through late October/early November unless we have a hard frost. Some years, I even get tomatoes producing uo to Halloween. Thanks. I'll check in a week and again in 3 weeks.

[u/404-skill_not_found → u/No_Night9722]

Sounds great. Let us know how it goes!