I put off writing this post for a very long time—since November, actually. Although I often display irritation in my posts, I try damn hard to remain civil. But the makers of HopGuard have pushed my civility to the limit. I had to cool down for months before I could write something that wouldn’t get me banned from the Internet.
From the top, the story goes like this:
I do not use hard chemicals in my hives but, since mites are a problem, I use one of the so-called “soft” or “natural” products. Although I’ve tried formic acid-based products, I prefer the thymol-based ones, either Apiguard or Api-Life Var. I used them according to package directions and had excellent results. As far as I know, I never lost a hive to mites in the many years I used those products.
Like all treatments, however, they should be rotated with other treatments to lessen the chances of building resistant strains. When HopGuard came on the market I was ecstatic: here was a product that was easy to use, had an active ingredient other than thymol, and didn’t require the dreaded “fumigation chamber” in hot weather. I read everything I could find about it and wrote extensively about it here at HoneyBeeSuite.
When it came time to treat for mites last summer, I read the directions carefully and watched HopGuard’s own video several times. I calculated how many strips to use per hive based on the number of brood boxes and the number of frames covered with bees, and I staggered the strips in the pattern they recommended. I followed every last instruction from the package insert and the video to the letter.
I was happy with the way the bees reacted to the HopGuard and, although it was messy, I was happy with the ease of use. The insert said I could use the product up to three times per year, but I always treat for mites in August only, so I just crossed that chore off my list. Job done.
Everything was fine until, months later, I saw a post on BeeSource about “progressive” HopGuard treatments. Curious, I read the series of posts. The gist of the thread was that, since the HopGuard strips tended to dry out in the hive, they didn’t continue to kill mites after the first few days. As a result, beekeepers were adding a new set of strips every week for three weeks. According to the thread, Mann Lake, the company that sells HopGuard, was advocating this procedure.
I had trouble wrapping my mind around this. It sounded like an off-label use, something a reputable company would never advocate—at least not publicly. I re-read the label. It says that a treatment is one set of strips and that the treatment may be repeated up to three times a year. To me that meant maybe spring, summer, and fall . . . or something similar. No rational person reading the instructions would conclude it meant three weeks in a row.
I didn’t believe it, so I wrote to John I Haas, the parent company of BetaTec Hop Products. I received an answer that reads in part, “. . . the HopGuard strip does dry out over time in the hive which reduces its efficacy. In using only one round of strips when there is brood in the hive, the mite phoretic load will be reduced and this could help the beekeeper keep his hives healthy enough to get them to a time later in the year when other treatments and/or HopGuard can be used more effectively. . . . Tests by the USDA and by a number of commercial beekeepers have found the [sic] several consecutive applications do in fact reduce the overall mite load and have saved hives that would probably have died. The label does allow for multiple applications . . . up to 3 times per year. . . .”
But again, I ask you, how was I supposed to know that “up to three times a year” meant “three weeks in a row?”
By the time this little gem of wisdom came to my attention, I had already lost many of my hives. I’ve lost more since then . . . and all the post mortems indicate mites. After successfully wintering year after year by using Api-Life Var according to package instructions, I’ve now lost most of my hives by using HopGuard because I didn’t know that “up to three times per year” means “three weeks in a row.” You have no idea how hopping mad I am.
Furthermore, many of the good things I said about HopGuard in previous posts aren’t really true. For example, it’s not more convenient than other products if you have to apply it three times instead of just once, and it certainly isn’t cheaper. But more than anything, it seems unconscionable that a company would go to market with—and write instructions for—a product that they themselves didn’t know was going to dry up in three days. Didn’t anyone do field trials?
The makers of HopGuard cost me a bundle of money. Worse, I was an enthusiastic advocate of HopGuard. I promoted it, recommended it, and my posts about HopGuard have received much traffic. The boondoggle caused me to let my readers down. How many of them lost hives due to lousy instructions?
So that’s my story. I will rebuild my apiary, although not all at once. I’ve learned my lesson about trying new products. I apologize to any of my readers who lost their bees. To be fair, HopGuard appears to be an effective product, but the obfuscatory language is just plain unacceptable. So to BetaTec I say re-write your materials. Fix your website. Say what you mean. Get real.
Rusty
HoneyBeeSuite
Screen shot from Betatechopproducts.com, captured 2-8-2012.
Wow. This is a pretty big fail on HopGuard’s part. They can’t assume that people will want to experiment with the lives of their bees when not explicitly directed. Especially, when it is stated by the company themselves that “HopGuard is most effective when used during the pre-pollination period (before sealed brood), mid-summer, and the onset of winter brood development.” This sounds directly related to the sentence that directly follows it, “May be applied up to 3 times per year.” I’d be pretty upset too to lose so many colonies directly related to HopGuard’s piss poor communication. I think they owe you some money.
I’m so sorry about the loss of your bees. I hope that you will find solace in the new bees you will nurture. You did everything you knew to do, don’t fault yourself in any way. This company has at best a communications problem and at worst, an intelligence problem.
Best Regards, Laurie Hawel
I can certainly understand the frustration. I have been in the pest management industry for almost 20 years and there are many products on the market with labels that make limitations of the number of times per year they may be used but do not address the spacing between applications. After many discussions with manufacturers, state and federal agencies, I now understand that unless there are specifications in the label to require a time frame between applications it is up to the user to determine the best use. Due to this much more research goes into my choices of products.
Wiley,
This is news to me. It seems like the manufacturers should just explain that on the label rather than leaving the consumer to guess. I would have been afraid that using HopGuard three weeks in a row would harm my bees–instead not using it three weeks in a row harmed my bees. Go figure.
Thanks for writing, Wiley. I learned something.
This is perplexing. The makers of Apiguard make it clear that the ideal treatment period is four-six weeks. I wonder why HopGuard did not make their instructions clear. Sorry to hear that you have lost a lot of colonies.
To me, the lesson learned is, if I try something new with my hives, it’s probably safer not to try it with all my hives. Because if something goes wrong, all my hives take the hit.
I don’t want to talk about what I’ve done to learn that lesson, but that’s what I take from this story.
I think it’s unreal that a company can get away with such useless and misleading directions for a product that is used for the health and survival of livestock. No wonder you’re choked, Rusty. I’d offer to bring you some splits this summer, but I doubt they’d let us through at customs.
Thanks for thinking of me, Chelsea. What a kind thought!
You have now gained a little wisdom. This is not new — I experienced much the same using Apiguard. Using new miticides can be tricky, and what works in some locals doesn’t in others.
Randy Oliver’s suggested use of Apiguard, 25 grams between brood chambers, was tremendously destructive to my hives. Suffered huge losses. I loved Mite Away II, which is now gone, replaced by MAQS (which has been implicated in queen loss and high brood mortality).
Rusty,
At our Bee Master course today, Dr. Rob Currie (Professor at the University of Manitoba) described his test of Hopguard by saying that it apparently must have been “a nice tasty snack for the mites” because it was so ineffective. It performed the worst in his tests of all of the treatments he tried. Hopguard is not registered (or even on the radar) for use up here, so I didn’t want to waste class time asking about the details of his treatment, but I suspect he was operating based on his understanding of the manufacturer’s specs too.
Chelsea,
Wow, that’s interesting. I can’t imagine that anyone would run a test of a product without following the manufacturer’s instructions and yet it’s the instructions that are so misleading. Those who have used HopGuard three weeks in a row find it to be effective, so I’m sure you are right.
I still get so upset with HopGuard I try not to think about it . . .
Well Rusty, it seems to me that you “presumed” that the HopGuard label meant spring, summer and fall, when it didn’t say that. The label says four to six weeks because the research that was done was for seven day treatments. In my work with Haas and ARS on HopGuard I informed them that depending on the size of the treated colony the product was tracked off the strips in two to three days. I also tested the strips on my own colonies using sticky boards and noted that mite fall occurred during the first three days and dropped below desired levels after that. But researchers like to leave some wiggle room so suggested treatment for 7 days. If, and when you saw the dry strips after a few days you could have wondered about how long the strips were effective, or you could have tested the treatment with sticky boards. Most pesticide labels leave some things to be desired in interpretation. It is most difficult to write a label to cover all circumstances and the presumptions of the persons reading the label. Sorry about that Rusty but I still consider the cost of using HopGuard very effective especially on broodless colonies, installed packaged bees, small colonies in the spring, and when mite levels are low. I won’t use it on 20 comb colonies, I’m planning to use Mite-Away Quick Strips for that if I need it.
Hi! Сочувствую,крайне не приятная история…
[Editor's note: "Hi! I'm sorry, it is not a nice story ..."]