Petroleum Jelly 5kg

01 · THE VARROA COUNT

It holds the mite where it falls

Spread in a thin layer on the tray of a screened floor, it holds the mites at the exact point they fall. That gives you daily or weekly counts that can be compared with each other and, if you divide the tray into quadrants, a map of how the infestation sits inside the nest: where it concentrates, which end is cleaner, which side is working harder. With a runny jelly that map does not exist, because everything ends up sliding to one side.

02 · TRAPS AND BARRIERS

Aethina, ants and hornets

Its density makes it useful wherever a sticky film has to survive outdoors. In trap trays for Aethina tumida it holds the beetles that fall or hide in the slots. On the legs of stands and trestles, a ring of this jelly lasts weeks against the Argentine ant, where liquid jelly lasts two days. And in some hornet traps it goes on the return zones to make it harder for the catch to get out.

03 · LOOKING AFTER THE KIT

Threads, taps and bellows

A thin film on metal threads, closures and tank taps keeps them from rusting and stops propolis welding the parts together: next season the tap comes apart instead of breaking. On the bellows gaskets of a smoker, over rubber or leather, it improves the seal and delays cracking. And as a temporary seal on a crack it comes away clean afterwards — bees do not usually propolise it.

04 · WHY 5 KG

One batch for the whole season

The large format is for anyone running many screened floors and many traps: commercial outfits, co-ops and associations. Beyond the price per kilo, it has a methodological advantage you appreciate when comparing data: you refill your working pots from the same tub and diagnose the whole season with one batch, with no changes in texture altering retention from one apiary to the next.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Beekeeping use only, as a physical barrier and capture medium: it is not a consumer product, nor for use on people or animals. Always apply in a thin layer, with a spatula, glove or brush.