Black spots/mould? at end of honey flow channel

That’s why I suggest: “You can freeze the Flow Frames, and this is the easiest option if you have the freezer space in my opinion”

I’m not sure freezing gets rid of mildew or mold

Ah, no worries. Having a look back through the posts, his query was “What is the best way to store frames overwinter? and will freezing the frames degrade them?”

AKA my freezing comment… phew :100:

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I always enjoy your suggestions and help with the flow hive discussions. :smiley: Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season. :smiley:

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Hi Dyrraj, i am sorry it’s taken me so long to reply and thanks ‘brains trust’ for all the helpful advice.

To clean the frame I used a very gentle detergent and lots ‘n lots of elbow greese and a medium brush. I changed the water often. The surface wax came off after a while in the water. The black mould was hard to shift and all I did was reduce the amount. It looks better but not great. I am hoping that when i do put the back in the bees will clean up. The hardest part was reconstructing the frames. Don’t want to do that again!

I don’t have a freezer big enough to put the frames in overwinter… and am eyeing off my friend Greg’s freezer. Although then i’ll have to pay a freezer tax in honey.

I’ve yet to make my bee cosy. That’s my next project.

I’ll post a pick of the frame that i reassembled-but not tonight.

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I haven’t had mould in the frames so far, but noticed when the bees need the space for their nectar, they do an amazing cleaning job. The cells look as new and clean as on day 1.
They probably clean out mould as well.
Let us know how the bees do.

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A post script to my common black mould problem.

I’ve taken apart one flow frame & washed each part in warm soapy water & then reconstructed it. Wow. Never want to do that again. :woozy_face:

I washed my 5 other frames in warm soapy water -with less attention to detail on each frame.

Over 6 weeks I put the frames into the freezer in pairs for a couple of days, then bought then to room temperature and inserted then into the flow 2 at a time. I put my last ones in yesterday. The bees are all over and have filled the centre two frames and are working onto the two outside frames. They look good.

I’ve cleaned up all the boxes so starting a fresh. It’s really hot here at the moment so there is no need for the bee cosy yet. It’ll be needed by April.

4 months later (it took me a long time to clean up the frames) I have two healthy hives producing honey. It was a hard lesson… really boring for me and the poor beezes. Thanks for your advice, it helped.

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