I have been reading about ways to mitigate some of the SHB threat by adding nematodes around the hives in Spring to knock down their population before they become full adults. In Kentucky, we do tend to have a lot of rain and overcast days compared to many other places and pretty soft earth which apparently is a great breeding ground for these rascals.
Is this something the Flow Hive community supports/does on the ground at their apiaries? Specificially, the Heterorhabditis indica (Hi) variety.
I have used it, and it seems to work quite nicely, but I still needed other measures. I used in-hive traps (BeetleBlaster) 1/3 filled with mineral oil (doesn’t go rancid). I kept the hives as strong as possible, and I avoided squishing bees. The only time I ever had a problem with SHB was when a colony absconded during Apivar treatment. The remaining bees were unable to control the SHB while I was out of town, and I came back to a big mess. I tried to avoid Apivar after that!
Anything natural that you can do to control SHB is a great idea to my mind. Nematodes fall into that category.
I’m not a fan of treating the soil under hives as a remedy for hive beetles on account that they don’t breed in the soil, they only breed in the hives. Once the larvae has finished feeding, they exit the hive, then bury in the soil to complete metamorphosis.
What we need to do is everything we can to make sure they can’t breed in the hive. This is very doable, as @Dawn_SD said, “keep the hive as strong as possible and avoid squishing bees”.
I keep my worker population strong, while limiting the drone population (drones are not defenders). I avoid major honey spills. I make sure there is sufficient worker bees covering any frames of brood and pollen. I avoid squashing bees between combs when replacing frames.