40 : Oxalic Acid in the USA LETTER FROM AMERICA Oxalic Acid in the USA Rusty Burlew (Director, Native Bee Conservancy, USA) T
he United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the use of oxalic acid in honey bee colonies.
The following is the wording in the registration decision, Registration Decision for the New Active Ingredient Oxalic Acid:
‘Owing to the signifi cant
problems this parasite poses for honey bees, the EPA review of the application was conducted under a greatly expedited process’. You can read the full decision
here:
http://tinyurl.com/luxdwht Contrary to the title, there is nothing new about using oxalic acid for varroa control. It is currently widely used in Europe and Canada, and many US beekeepers have been using it for years. However, with the new regulation, its use will be
Under European Union (EU) legislation, oxalic acid is an Annex II product so may be used by a beekeeper if prescribed by a veterinary surgeon under the cascade principle
legal and it will be labelled for use on colonies. The regulation allows for the chemical to be administered in syrup, as a vapour, or as a spray.
Oxalic acid has recently been approved for varroa mite control in the USA
www.bee-craft.com
Oxalic acid does not kill varroa mites within capped cells and may, in fact, harm open larvae. As a result, oxalic acid treatments are most effective when there is no brood, eg, in mid-winter. As with all miticides, the use of oxalic acid should be alternated with other preparations to reduce the chance of mites developing resistance to it.
Dribble Treatment Oxalic acid as a varroa
treatment fi rst caught my
attention two years ago when beekeeper Mark Luterra showed me a photo of his bottom tray after treatment. What an incredible display of dead bodies! I was intrigued.
What is Oxalic Acid?
Basically it is an organic (carbon-containing) compound that is found in nature. A number of foods we eat are rich in oxalic acid, including spinach, swiss chard, rhubarb, beet greens, kale, sorrel and chocolate. In fact, there is much speculation that the ‘spinach effect’, that weird mouth feeling some people get after eating spinach, is actually caused by oxalic acid.
We have all heard that rhubarb leaves are poisonous. The reason? Oxalic acid. Since oxalic acid is found in nature and because it is a normal component of honey, oxalic acid is considered a ‘natural’ treatment. In fact, even Certifi ed Naturally Grown beekeeping allows the use of oxalic acid for the treatment of varroa.
Oxalic acid can be applied as a dribble, a spray, or as or a vapour. Since I am a hobby beekeeper with a small number of hives, I prefer the dribble. Personally, I do not want to buy, clean, or store vaporizers or sprayers. ♠
Rusty is a beekeeper living in western Washington. She studied
agriculture and graduated from Oregon State University with a BSc degree in Agronomic Crop
Science. She runs fi ve hives and writes a blog for her website
www.honeybeesuite.com
May 2015 Vol 97 No 5
Dave Hall
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