# Recommended SHB treatment for the ground **URL:** \ **Category:** Beekeeping - Basics\ **Tags:** shb-small-hive-beetle\ **Created:** [March 16, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616 "2025-03-16T20:20:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![craig\_W](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/craig_w/32/31117_2.png) [@craig\_W](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/craig_W)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616/1 "2025-03-16T20:20:33Z")
Hi Looks like the blue mountains area is getting smashed now, in the past few weeks I know of several BKs in the area that have lost all their hives. I hadn’t checked my hives for 3 weeks after being away and they too have been wiped out. I had been dealing with severe SHB prior to this and my last was post Xmas showed no varroa. I’ve also seen waxmoth in them. I’ve cleaned up the hives and destroyed brood frames, my Q is what is a good treatment for ensuring the larvae that was spilling all over the ground is killed off? And should I try to get a nuc straight away or wait until spring now? Absolutely gutted as before I left there were at least 3 frames in each ready to harvest and now I’ve killed all the girls ![IMG_7994](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/3X/c/1/c114be65dd19b2d32a10c8f068ccca079dcabc78.jpeg) ![IMG_7989](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/3X/f/0/f00ec0f9471b5ca065fb4d70fd5ecc8d55d31aff.jpeg) ![IMG_7996](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/3X/6/8/68758d30f43a0534fad449faa2f0528077ca7b6f.jpeg) ![IMG_7987](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/3X/7/d/7d0003f104396e1fe85ec6935ef4d0a06ab5bd62.jpeg) ![IMG_7991](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/honeyflow/original/3X/d/4/d40536f4e5840ced4da3e58aad6d83bcf3ffde22.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Eva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@Eva](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/Eva)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 8:56pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616/2 "2025-03-16T20:56:26Z")
Ughhhh, so sorry, just horrible 😒 Pour boiling salt water on the ground - this will of course kill vegetation and other bugs tho, but it’s safer than diatomaceous earth that might also get on bees that land there. What do you think knocked your bees back in strength to give the beetles the upper hand? ---
**Author:** ![craig\_W](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/craig_w/32/31117_2.png) [@craig\_W](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/craig_W)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616/3 "2025-03-16T21:31:53Z")
Thank you Eva No idea, apparently it was raining a lot while I was away- haven’t spoken with anyone else around here if they had varroa- but I would have to assume it was a factor? Thx for the salt idea- I want to avoid killing my plants if I can- I’m killing enough things as is 🙁 Cheers ---
**Author:** ![JeffH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/jeffh/32/7192_2.png) [@JeffH](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/JeffH)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616/4 "2025-03-16T22:03:06Z")
Hi Craig, that’s horrible, to say the least. I think a good option would be to seek advice from the DPI, or google what’s the best soil treatment to kill hive beetle larvae. ---
**Author:** ![craig\_W](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/craig_w/32/31117_2.png) [@craig\_W](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/craig_W)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 9:45am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616/5 "2025-03-17T09:45:34Z")
Hey Jeff It’s been a tough couple of years that’s for sure. And I’m doing my research on the ground spray I’m looking at it as a chance to clean up and repair the hives to extend their lives Plus I get the joy of figuring out how to reassemble a flow frame as it fell apart under my eagerness with the pressure washer ha! ---
**Author:** ![aussiemike](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/aussiemike/32/14581_2.png) [@aussiemike](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/aussiemike)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 11:38am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616/6 "2025-03-17T11:38:21Z")
I recommend “Yates Grub Kill and Protect for Lawns”. It’s a Chlorantraniliprole based product that you water into the lawn. It binds with the soil for six months protection. It is highly effective against SHB larvae, disrupting the life cycle. Technically you are treating for lawn grubs, not SHB so you are not using the product off label. It’s a happy side effect that SHB larvae perish. Bunnings have it [https://www.bunnings.com.au/yates-2-5kg-grub-kill-and-protect-for-lawns\_p0207184?store=7161&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad\_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADtbEB-T9AYztQo7PMayxLr-D3051&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkN--BhDkARIsAD\_mnIo701ny02KVSsuaddmenOpxmDVXdZcZhpfuTx3DQPwpyXzw83BQMr8aAms-EALw\_wcB](https://www.bunnings.com.au/yates-2-5kg-grub-kill-and-protect-for-lawns_p0207184?store=7161&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADtbEB-T9AYztQo7PMayxLr-D3051&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkN--BhDkARIsAD_mnIo701ny02KVSsuaddmenOpxmDVXdZcZhpfuTx3DQPwpyXzw83BQMr8aAms-EALw_wcB) ---
**Author:** ![craig\_W](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/craig_w/32/31117_2.png) [@craig\_W](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/craig_W)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616/7 "2025-03-17T19:30:19Z")
Hey Mike Yes that was what I was going to go with; pretty sure I came across you recommending that in an older post when I was researching (who needs google when this flow forum exists!) Thanks for sharing again Cheers ---
**Author:** ![ctcreel](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/ctcreel/32/32463_2.png) [@ctcreel](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/ctcreel)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 4:01am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616/8 "2026-08-27T04:01:40Z")
I had an absolutely biblical infestation on a new hive in a new location. Literally hundreds would come in waves. I had other new hives in an older locations that were just fine - 5 to 10 beetles a month in the freeman trap. I remembered that I had treated the older location with heterorhabditis indica - a nematode that feeds on small hive beetles. I treated the area around the new hive with heterorhabditis indica and after a couple of weeks, the small hive beetles dropped to what I have in the older locations. ---
**Author:** ![craig\_W](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.honeyflow.com/craig_w/32/31117_2.png) [@craig\_W](https://forum.honeyflow.com/u/craig_W)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 10:51am UTC](https://forum.honeyflow.com/t/recommended-shb-treatment-for-the-ground/38616/9 "2026-08-27T10:51:45Z")
Thx for sharing, hopefully I will get up and running again this spring and that gives me another option to consider Cheers