Langstroth Deep Plastic Foundation

01 · NO WIRING NEEDED

No wire, no embedding, no melting

This is the practical difference against wax foundation and the reason many people switch: there is no frame to wire. The sheet slots into the 2 mm grooves in the top and bottom bars and is secured with foundation nails; no tensioning, no embedding with a hot roller, no half-built frames waiting around. And once drawn, it takes high-speed extraction without blowing out in the middle, which is where badly wired wax always gives way.

02 · WAX IT BEFORE YOU FIT IT

This is the step that decides acceptance

This is the detail people learn late, at the cost of a season: bare plastic is poorly accepted by the bees. Before it goes in the hive, give it a coat of clean, filtered wax with a brush or a hot roller — a thin layer is enough, and it completely changes how quickly they draw it. If you would rather not do it yourself, we stock the Langstroth frame already wax-coated, which arrives ready to use.

03 · SIZE AND CELL

424 × 214 mm, 5.6 mm cell

That is the Langstroth brood body size and the cell is 5.6 mm. Cutting it down for a shallow frame is not worth it: the height does not yield two usable pieces and, more to the point, there is a plastic shallow frame made for the job. Same with other formats — the foundation comes in Dadant US and Layens versions, and they work out better than a cut-down. If your frames are home-made, check first that the bars have the 2 mm groove.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

What is sold is the sheet alone, without a frame. If you need a particular colour, ask us before ordering quantity and we will confirm what we are shipping. Two notes on service life: it can be disinfected in 5 % caustic potash at 80 °C, which is simply not an option with wax; and it holds up better against wax moth — though the point is worth getting right: the moth does not eat the plastic, but it does eat the wax on it, so a neglected frame still gets fouled, you just do not lose the base.