Apistan varroa - sachet of 10 strips for 5 hives

01 · ROTATION IS NOT OPTIONAL

One year yes, and the next a different chemical family

The technical sheet is explicit: Apistanmust not be used in consecutive years, and instead a strict rotation with acaricides fromdifferent chemical classes must be applied. Depending on the resistance situation in your area, it may need a rest of more than a year. And there is an important incompatibility if you already treat with other products:it is not used in colonies with known resistance to other pyrethroids —flumethrin, for example— because there is cross-resistance. Alternating between two pyrethroids is not rotating. Hence the sheet's advice to test susceptibility regionally, by bioassay or PCR, and to monitor the infestation before and after.

02 · PLACEMENT

They have to touch the brood combs

The strips comejoined together from the factory: you separate them and hang them vertically between the combs by their built-in hook. It takes2 per hive, centrally placed among the brood combs. In a 10-frame Dadant, one between 3 and 4 and the other between 7 and 8; in Layens, at the centre andspaced 3-4 frames apart. The condition that decides the result is always the same:the strips must stay in contact with the brood combs, which is where the bees brush the plastic and pass the acaricide on to the rest by social contact.

03 · NO LESS THAN SIX, NO MORE THAN EIGHT

Leaving the strips in breeds resistance

The plastic matrix holds steady acaricide levelsfor eight weeks: that is the window. Less than6 weeks falls short; more than8 is counterproductive, for a specific reason — the substance runs down, and a half-empty strip exposes the mites to low doses, which is exactly how resistance gets selected. For the same reason,the strips are never reused: they lose efficacy and, moved from hive to hive, they can carry diseases associated with varroa infestation. Except in severe reinfestations,one treatment a year is usually enough.

04 · TIMING, HONEY AND WAX

Tau-fluvalinate stays in the wax

The best results come from treatingin spring, before the first flows, or in autumn after the harvest and with little brood. The honey withdrawal iszero days, but the very same section adds the other half:do not use during nectar income. And a long-term consequence: tau-fluvalinate islipophilic and builds up in the wax treatment after treatment. Hence two instructions that tend to be ignored — renew the brood combs with fresh wax periodically, anddo not recycle or melt down wax from treated hives for brood or honey foundation. It is also worth treating the whole apiary at once, or drift and robbing will reinfest what you treated.

⚠ PRECAUTIONS

Handle the strips withgloves and avoid contact with eyes, skin and mucous membranes; if it splashes in your eyes, rinse with plenty of water. Do not eat, drink or smoke while handling them and wash your hands afterwards. Keep the strips in theiroriginal packaging and protected from light; the sachet is heat-sealed, soonce opened they get used. If signs of disease appear or persist in the colony, consult your vet or your local bee inspector.

05 · SUPPLY AND PACK

Apistan is aprescription-only veterinary medicine and is administered under veterinary supervision or control. Because of that status itcannot be supplied by distance selling: this page is informational and does not process any purchase. The heat-sealed aluminium sachet holds10 strips — 5 hives at two per hive. Made by Vita (Europe) Limited.