Nigel I have a couple of graphs of my data. One shows the mite drop before Apiguard and the total drop over two weeks after. There are no surprises in the data. If mites are low before there is never a big drop afterwards. The other shows daily mite drop before and after dusting the brood box with icing sugar. Again most points are pretty close to being on a straight line. So as I say it works for me. Whether the information is of any practical use to busy beekeepers rather than amateurs who like recording and measuring stuff I leave that to you.
Jim, I know better than to argue against your data...
But it simply doesn't work for me and many others. Low drops often equate to huge drops after OA vaporization. High drops...I don't want to go there....
It would be interesting to see how the efficacy of apiguard stacks up in different climates. Most of my hives come back from the moors mid-Sept and far too cold to use that stuff up here, but lots do because they told it works...and lots up here lose hives every year to varroa because it simply doesn't work effectively at this time of the year uuup North.
I don't quite know what the answer is but more emphasis on details about relevant times and temps for different applications should be compulsory.
I'm assuming you treat in mid august? About 4-5 weeks ahead of us. We still have a slight balsam flow at the moment and ivy is yielding pollen.
