Varroa does not take a Florida winter off

UF's honey-bee lab FAQs name the biggest threats in Florida as Varroa, nutrition, and queen quality. Keeping Bees in Florida says the warm climate means brood much of the year, and higher Varroa populations throughout the year. A northern mite crash in January is not a plan here.

The Florida Beekeeping Management Calendar, Central Florida table, tells keepers to consider treating when Varroa hits 3 percent: 3 mites per 100 bees, alcohol wash or sugar shake. How you treat, and what is legal to put in the box, lives on that page and on the label. The label is the law. Product names stay on the Florida Beekeeping Management Calendar.

Sample. Write the number down. Then read UF, not a forum thread from Ohio.

UF honey-bee FAQs https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/honey-bee/faqs/

Keeping Bees in Florida, Keeping Bees in Florida https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AA264

Florida Beekeeping Management Calendar, the Florida Beekeeping Management Calendar https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN848