Oxalic acid, and Oxalis

[endymion]

I'm fairly sure that the oxalic acid that's used for treatment is laboratory made rather than an extract, but have wondered if there's any mileage in planting some of the various oxalis species close to the beehives, in the hope that it helps deal with varroa.

Is planting, of any sort, likely to help the bees deal with these pests? What do you think?

[hailtryfan]

Hmmm... Not heard about this in any of the books I've read. The bees don't much like oxalic acid much themselves, it just takes more of it to kill them than the mites so thats why it is sprayed on them. I think that the low concentrations found in oxalis would be too low to harm the varroa as they would be exposed to only tiny amounts of it as the bees forage on the flowers. Nice idea though.

[endymion]

I haven't heard of anybody doing it either, and I know the bees don't like oxalic acid ... just a musing sort of idea. I don't think anything would be lost by trying it, not by planting loads of thyme near the hives either.

[Snadger]

Oxalic acid is also found in rhubarb leaves and travels back down the stem in the autumn. Thats why rhubarb isn't picked late in the year.
Its also why putting a piece of rhubarb leaf in the planting hole of brassicas planted in clubroot infected land is recommended as the active ingredient (oxalic acid) is a fungiscide.