Replace corflute bottom board with one that holds diatomaceous earth/vegetable oil?

[mattjenna]

G’day,

Wondering if anyone has located a bottom board, which will hold diatomaceous earth/vegetable oil, and fit in the lower slot of a flow bottom board?

It’s a very tight fit and, whilst I’m using the corflute board with fluffy tablecloth for SMB control, I think diatomaceous earth/vegetable oil will be more effective.

Thanks.

Matt

[BayoNat]

Hey Matt,

I can’t answer your question but I use lime on my board. To harvest, I just flip it, when done I just flip it back and replace the lime again.

[SnowflakeHoney]

@mattjenna There is someone here, from memory, that uses a plastic tray (from Ikea?) for a similar purpose. They had to slightly shave one side to get it to fit but I think they ended up using it in the way you suggest. I can’t recall who it was though…hopefully you can find it searching by keywords though.

[SnowflakeHoney]

@mattjenna I just found it for you:

(Almost) Perfect Ikea tray for screened base

Hi Flow users I have tried a few things the replace the corflute base of the Flow hive with something to fill with oil to catch small hive beetle. Recently, I found the (almost) perfect thing. Its a tray from Ikea, called Poppig. Its $10 in Australia. Food-safe, rigid, should last forever. The lip slides into the grooves in the Flow hive. Its flat enough to be used in the top or bottom slots. I say almost perfect because it was just a touch wide for my hive. I had to shave off about 1mm from …

@Araluen and @Semaphore might be able to contribute…

[mattjenna]

Thanks. I’ll just have to play with a few different materials/trays etc.

Matt

[mattjenna]

Outstanding!!! Thanks so much. Very grateful. Matt

[Faroe]

Hi Matt,

Here is another Flowbees SHB trap. Easy to renovate a Flow Hive Classics corflute slider

Small Hive Beetle (SHB) and Moth Trap using corflute slider

We have glued some small timber pieces 8mm square to the existing core flute on the flowhive to help catch SHB and moths. The trap is on the core flute board, goes in the lower slot and uses ordinary garden lime. The gap is too small for bees but allows the beetles in. It also catches any larvae that may drop through from inside the hive. Any beetles or moth get covered in lime and die. The lime lasts for months and just needs loosening up a bit every couple of weeks. When we remove the old li…

[Peter48]

Welcome to the forum and see you have already got good advice to follow up on.
On the forum you can edit mistakes like SMB to read SHB. I had a recent increase of SHB in a few hives and used 2 beetle blaster traps in each hive with cooking oil to after a week with a full and through inspection couldn’t see a beetle in any of the hives treated. So maybe that is an alternative option.
Cheers

[mattjenna]

Peter, thanks. I haven’t had much luck with the beetle blasters. The bottom board seems to work best for me. Had 5 SHB today and usually about 2 a day. On Northern Beaches of Sydney, so no shortage of great conditions for the beetles to thrive.

Could you point out how to edit posts please? Couldn’t work it out. Thanks.

Matt

[mattjenna]

Thanks Faroe.

I have some extra corflute and will try this. Good idea. Again, thanks.

Matt

[Peter48]

Hey Matt,
Any spelling errors will have red under the offending word so that you can right click on the word to get suggestions for the correct spelling before you post it.
You can edit your post by clicking on the pencil that will allow you to explain something in a better way.
Cheers

[mattjenna]

Thanks Peter. It looks like you only have a certain amount of time to go back and edit posts as the pencil is not available on my initial post. Again, thanks.

Matt

[JeffH]

Hi Matt, there’s a degree of anxiety on the forum about people editing posts. As a result, the pencil is only there for a short period.

[Peter48]

Having bee hives it is almost a ‘given’ that there will be SHB in it. You finding 5 is a long way from an infestation, the bees will control the issue. SHB can fly and their sole aim is the smell honey and get past the guard bees and into the hive.
You can sprat a half a cup of salt, a cup of cleaning vinegar to 4 litres of water into a pressure spray and liberally treat under and to about 1 metre away from the hive on the ground where the SHB go to lay eggs. It will also kill the weeds and will not do any harm to the bees.

@JeffH

there’s a degree of anxiety on the forum about people editing posts. As a result, the pencil is only there for a short period.

Jeff is right, some forum members even object to you being able to re explain something you have written to make it clearer to the reader, for some reason. For me the clearer you can explain something the better it is for all involved except those that want to nit-pick.
Cheers Matt

[JeffH]

Hi Peter, the beetles want to lay eggs in the hive, not in the ground. It’s the beetle larvae that bury in the ground to go through metamorphosis about 4" under the surface.

It’s the protein inside the hive that the beetle larvae devour. Brood, dead bees & pollen.
cheers

[Dawn_SD]

@Peter48

some forum members even object to you being able to re explain

Zipped lips

And duct-taped fingers. So there.

[Peter48]

You are right Jeff. I typed faster than I was able to think and explain, but didn’t want to offend those that hate reading edited and therefore corrected explanations. Your point is taken on board.
Cheers

[JeffH]

Peter, don’t be overly concerned about those that are likely to get offended about an edited post. They are in the minority. The majority of members would be fine with an edited post.

[mattjenna]

@Peter48

Jeff is right, some forum members even object to you being able to re explain something you have written to make it clearer to the reader, for some reason. For me the clearer you can explain something the better it is for all involved except those that want to nit-pick.
Cheers Matt

That’s so very, very odd. I can’t imagine any substantive reasoning for that. Far better to be able to clear up errorrs later IMO

[mattjenna]

@Peter48

You can spray a half a cup of salt, a cup of cleaning vinegar to 4 litres of water into a pressure spray and liberally treat under and to about 1 metre away from the hive on the ground where the SHB larvae go to go through metamorphosis. It will also kill the weeds and will not do any harm to the bees.

Good idea, I’ll try that. My hives are very strong and no real beetle problem, but I want to ensure I’m doing all I can to prevent an infestation occurring-particularly as I’m in the perfect environment for beetles to thrive.

PS-there you go. I corrected your typo in my quote