RESEARCH REVIEWED -- The feasibility of indoor Winter fumigation with formic acid

摘要

"The feasibility of indoor Winter fumigation with formic acid... employing control measures forV. destructor during a highly vulnerable period of its life cycle (when honey bee brood is absent) seems intuitively attractive." Formic acid is widely usedby beekeepers to control the parasitic mite Varroa destructor in honey bee colonies. While a great variety of application methods are employed, they usually rely on the exposure of adult mites to formic acid vapors. Such exposure is diminished when a large proportion of the mites are contained within sealed brood. Therefore, formic acid treatments generally realize maximum effectiveness when the colony is broodless. In a recent report, Canadian researchers described an experimental test of formic acidfumigation used on honey bee colonies while in a broodless phase of colony life during indoor over-wintering (Underwood and Currie, 2004).