Mite sample
Varroa does not take a Florida winter off
A northern mite crash in January is not a plan in Orange County. Queens can lay almost any month, brood stays on the comb, and Varroa rides that brood. UF already wrote the threshold. Sample. Write the number down. Then read the label.
The warm climate means brood much of the year, and higher Varroa populations throughout the year.
The number that matters
The Florida Beekeeping Management Calendar tells Central Florida keepers to consider treating when Varroa hits 3 percent: 3 mites per 100 bees, alcohol wash or sugar shake. Welcome to the Apiary names the mite as the most significant threat to honey bee colonies. How you treat, and what is legal to put in the box, lives on that calendar and on the product label. The label is the law.
An alcohol-wash jar for a 300-bee sample on a Central Florida inspection afternoon. Get this. Powdered sugar and a mesh lid if you are following the sugar-shake method in Welcome to the Apiary instead. Get this. The jar steps live on the mite count. This page does not pick a brand of miticide.
When to look
Spring buildup hides a rising load because the colony is growing faster than the mites for a few weeks. Mid-summer is when a heavy spring hive and a thinning flow meet. August on the Florida Beekeeping Management Calendar is feed, mites, and small hive beetles in the same heat. A sample in March and a sample in July are not the same number.
Nutrition and queen quality sit next to Varroa on the UF honey-bee lab FAQ as Florida's big three. A starved box loses the mite fight faster. Forage after citrus is on the forage page. August hunger is on late August.
Can I skip sampling if the bees look busy?
No. The Florida Beekeeping Management Calendar wants a count. Busy foragers do not report the load on the brood.
Is a northern winter treatment calendar usable here?
Keeping Bees in Florida says brood continues. Copying an Ohio January crash onto a Central Florida box is how people miss the August collapse.
Sources
- Keeping Bees in Florida. Year-round brood and higher Varroa.
- Florida Beekeeping Management Calendar. 3 percent threshold. Central Florida table.
- Welcome to the Apiary. Varroa as the significant colony threat.
- UF honey-bee lab FAQs. Varroa, nutrition, queen quality.