last summer I posted about having wax moth larva in stored frames. I took those larva to the the st Louis zoo bug house. they i.d them as shb larva. these frames were treated with BT, had been frozen for a week, & had moth crystals on them. the larva survived. when I was tapping the frames against a piece of plywood to knock out the larva I swept them into a bucket of BT solution thinking they were wax moth larva. they were unfazed & crawled right out of the bucket. even being submerged for a time did not slow them down. the frames had not been slimed so I refroze them for 2 weeks. that ended the problem. since this came up I've done some more reading ( getting cabin fever ) & it seems a heavy drenching of the soil with goldstar or some other permethrin based sprays seems to help. I for one though do not want any poisons around my hives. I still think nematodes would be best. the larva are stationary while they pupate making them an easy lunch for the nematodes. of course killing off the adults is the best bet but killing all the adults is not a realistic possibility. I've abandoned my secondary yard. the beetle population there was extremely high there & no hives survived there 2 years running. those hives were shaded most of the day & the soil was sandy. they were also 30 ft from train tracks. the combination of train noise & vibration, creosote fumes, & high beetle populations may have been a lethal combo. in 2012 the bees did not survive the winter. in 2013 they did not survive the summer.
Topic: wood ashes and SHB larva (Read 4616 times)