How to store honey supers WITHOUT wax moth damage (No Freezer or Crystals!)

are you tired of throwing out wax moth eating honeycomb I'm about to show you how to stop wax moth Mayhem with one single application without any of the bother of moth crystals and wrapping the supers stacking them securely so that all the moth Crystal fumes stay inside this is a spray it and forget it one time application about once per year so every time you harvest your honey supers and clean them out you'll want to do this once they're dry this is going to take the work and the worry out of preserving your precious comb frame so what is this Wonder product well it is zenui biological insecticide BTA if you Google BTA zentar you'll get lots of information about it what it is is a natural protein strain of the microorganism billus Genesis subspecies aawe probably butchering that but you can Google it and find out everything I'll also have links to where you can buy this product in the description below so check that out according to the labing instructions it's used for controlling caterpillar pests particularly those difficult to manage such as wax moth centari is known for fast action as larvae stop feeding within minutes of application and it's it's also exempt from residue tolerance allowing for quick harvesting post application that just means that once you spray it on and it dries it's safe you can put them right back on the hive it's also highly selective insecticide that is effective against a broad spect from of caterpillar Pest and is completely safe for beneficial insects such as bees so this targets a very specific set of caterpillar type insects such as wax Mar wax moth larvea um for wax moth larae you're going to want to make sure you get basilis th genous subspecies a so aaaii again not positive on the pronunciation but you'll see all kinds of different um types of BT at your local farm and garden but BTA with a small a is the correct type for wax moth so what all do you need for application of course you're going to need some BTA which I take out of the bag because it's not refillable and I put it in a mason jar and then I keep this mason jar inside in the house in a dark cool place to help preserve it for years to come I also put on the top the zenui and then I put the lot number these bags you can find the lot number on the back of the bag in the lower right hand corner it's a little bit hard to see but they only give you the number they don't give you an expiration date you actually have to call the company to get the expiration date but I figured out a little trick to calculate the approximate uh production date and this powder as it's a basically dehydrated bacterium I think it's a type of Spore um as long as it stays cool and dry it's good for many many years so um you'll read different accounts of four years some people say seven I've read up to 10 years so after you get your ventari and you seal it up in a nice container to keep it fresh you're also going to need a little home garden sprayer where you can get one of the little handheld pump sprayers you you you could use a spray bottle but that will be a lot of uh finger pull so it'll wear your hand out pretty quick you want something where you just press it and continuously spray so a little good little $10 home garden sprayer from Walmart you want some purified water distilled water um I don't want to use my tap water because it has um been treated with chemicals to at the treatment plant to keep it clean for us um and some of those chemicals I'm afraid might actually interact and uh make the the BTA not as effective or negate it altogether you'll also need a measuring scoop um at this is all the applications for it are in measurements of per acre how however you can find on the local forums what some people use and have found to be effective I'm going to use two teaspoons per gallon so the the suggestions range anywhere from one teaspoon per gallon to four teaspoons per gallon depending on your per acre rate on the instructions so I'm going somewhere in the middle with two teaspoons per gallon and I'm only going since I only got a few frames here to do I'm only going to do a half gallon because once you mix this up it's only good for a day or so so don't mix up a lot think you're going to be able to use it months down the road after you've mixed it up it's only good for at the most a few days so all right let's go ahead and mix this up and get this going now that I'm done with this I'm going to go ahead and put back in the house to keep it preserved pour about half a gallon in here go probably good give it a good Shake all right once you gave it a good shakee you want to pressurize and then you want to get your stream to where it's a fine Mist whenever you're applying this to the frames you don't want to soak them you just want to make sure a good Mist gets over all the surfaces including down into the cells of the honey comb so honeycomb the cells are somewhat like this so you want to make sure you angle the frame or the sprayer to where the spray is going down into the bottom of the cell because if you just let it hit the surface the wax moth can actually survive and chew all the way through the bottoms of the um cells without ever hitting that surface and not getting exposed to any of the BTA I am going to actually put on gloves just because one I don't want to get propolus all over my hands two um it does suggest you wear protective equipment whenever I spray it I normally spray it one way and then tilt it to just get a couple different angles and any um comb that has where brood has been in it you'll definitely want to make sure you cover that well wax moth tends not to go after just comb that has had honey in it um they prefer the comb that has brw com brewed has headhead brood in it because it's got the cocoons that they like to eat oversprayed that one a little bit then it never hurts to spray your be box a little bit cuz wax moth will get in little nooks and cramp PES and then I just put them back in space them out as much as possible then I'll set them out in the yard off to the side like this so the air can dry them out see for example this comb right here has had a lot of brood in it so I'm going to make sure I get this one really good it's also a good time to clean up your frames and your supers that way they're good to go for next season now there's another product that you can get on Amazon currently called certan but it's only like 5 ounces of liquid and it makes basically one gallon and it's approximately 40 whereas supposed this zenui is one pound of powdered and it will make as you saw one one teaspoon does you know or two teaspoons does a a gallon so you're looking at a lot of application years worth of application depending on how many brood boxes or honey supers you're trying to protect when you spray it if you spray it Direct on and then angle it a little and then angle it the other way you'll get all the surfaces really then again spray the the box if you've got really dark frame or dark comb or if you have uh black Foundation you need to make sure you don't keep this out in the direct sun too long cuz they will actually start melting and just stack it up like that and you're good to go um like I said this is a cheap effective way of preserving your drawn out comb without having to worry about moth crystals or any other complicated technique um with moth crystals you have to uh before you use them you have to let it air out two or three days um this once it's dry it can actually go right back on the hive matter of fact it's safe for the hive right now but you want to let it drrive um I'll have links to where you can purchase this product in the description below below I also have if you enjoyed tips like this I have a link to my free beekeeping book that has tips and tricks to make beekeeping simple for all beekeepers and if product reviews or demonstrations or tips and tricks like this uh interest you you'll want to check out another video that will be popping up over my left shoulder for

Channel: Back Bee Broken Beekeeping

Views: 1,985

Keywords: beekeeping, honeybees, wax moth damage, xentari, xentari insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis aizawai, bacillus thuringiensis, bacillus thuringiensis pesticide, bacillus thuringiensis mode of action, honeycomb, honey super, storing honey supers, how to store honeycomb, how to prevent wax moth in a beehive, preventing wax moth damage, beekeeping for beginners, how to start beekeeping, when to start beekeeping

Id: EPMp8fKvWqk

Length: 15min 42sec (942 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 29 2024