MiteWindowVarroa treatment timing
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When to treat varroa — is now a legal window?

Pick a treatment, enter your expected daytime high, whether the honey supers are on, and your brood state — the checker reads the same label-aligned constraint rows the MiteWindow iPhone app ships (temperature band · supers legality · brood requirement · 12-month class rotation) and tells you yes or no, with the reason, plus what a better window looks like. Below it: the seasonal mite wash threshold quick-check. Free, no sign-up, no tracking.

Treatment window check

Region product set
The rows the app offers for this region — same molecules, regional names.
This week's forecast high. Blank = the temp check is skipped (as in the app until a reading is placed).
Honey supers
Brood state

The read

Legal right now instead

Constraint rows are ported from the MiteWindow app's label-aligned product dataset; the region sets mirror what the app offers per region, not a per-country approval database. Always follow your product's label — the label is the law. The 12-month class rotation is the app's own planning model, not label text.

Mite wash quick-check

Alcohol wash of ~300 adult bees (half a level cup) — the standard sample.
The threshold is seasonal — spring reads stricter.
Enter a wash count — it reads live against the seasonal threshold.

The app's default thresholds: 6 / 300 (2%) March–June · 9 / 300 (3%) July onward — Honey Bee Health Coalition / university-extension guidance, user-adjustable per apiary in the app.

This page answers one day. The app plans the whole season.

MiteWindow — Varroa Planner for iPhone runs the same constraint engine this page does — free here for a single read — on a live per-hive season timeline:

It's mid-July: the late-summer treatment window (August–September) — the main knockdown after the harvest, before winter bees are raised — is exactly what the season track is for. Plan it against your flow and your forecast now.

Get the season planner on the
App Store

Free for up to two hives — the complete instrument, not a teaser. One-time $12.99 unlock for unlimited hives & firing re-check notifications. No subscription, no ads, no account.

How the check works

The constraint rows (temperature band, supers legality, brood requirement, application length, repeats and re-check offset per product) are ported verbatim from the app's product dataset — label-aligned data rows, the same numbers the iPhone app projects a season from.

Common questions

When should I treat for varroa mites?

When a mite wash crosses the seasonal threshold — not by the calendar. The app's shipped defaults (HBHC / university-extension guidance): 6 mites per 300 bees (2%) in March–June, 9 per 300 (3%) from July onward. Wash ~300 bees in alcohol, count, and read the number above. Whether today is the day is the second half — temperature, honey flow and brood state gate the actual window, which is what the top checker reads.

What is the mite wash threshold?

In the app's default rule set: 6/300 spring · 9/300 summer–fall. At or over → open a treatment window. Under → keep monitoring and re-check. Both numbers are user-adjustable per apiary in the app, with the source for each default shown next to it.

What temperature range does formic acid need?

10–29.5 °C (50–85 °F) daytime highs, per the label-aligned row for Formic Pro and MAQS. The band is enforced strictly on both sides — too hot and the release is too aggressive, too cold and it's too weak to work. In a heat wave the honest answer is wait for the first cool week, and that is exactly what the checker will tell you.

Can I treat with honey supers on?

Formic acid (Formic Pro, MAQS) is the only class marked supers-legal in the app's dataset. Apivar (amitraz), Apiguard (thymol), oxalic acid and Bayvarol are refused during the honey flow — their window opens after the supers come off, which is why the main knockdown is a late-summer job planned around the harvest.

Does oxalic acid have a temperature limit?

Not in the app's product rows — oxalic's binding constraint is brood. The dribble requires a broodless colony; vapor prefers one and schedules 3 passes, 5 days apart when brood is present. Mites riding inside capped cells are sheltered from oxalic, so the right window is a brood break (~21 broodless days in the app's model) or the late-autumn broodless period.

Why rotate treatment classes?

Repeating one active ingredient selects for resistant mites. The app reads your hive's own track for classes used in the past 12 months and refuses a repeat into the next slot, surfacing the legal alternatives instead. Tell the checker what you last used and it applies the same read.