SourwoodGrace · North Carolina, US · Pests & Disease · Sep 14, 2026
Mid-September Formic Pro with a capped sourwood super still on — can it stay, and do the entrance reducers come out?
Third year, NC piedmont, five colonies. I wanted to treat in August but our highs sat in the 90s all month, so I waited. This week the highs finally dropped to 82-84°F and the 10-day forecast shows 78-84. Washes last weekend: 7, 9, 11, 4 and 5 per 300. So two of them are over threshold and I'm late.
Questions before I open the box of strips. One hive still has a capped sourwood super I haven't pulled — I've read Formic Pro is the one treatment you can run with supers on, but is that honey still fine to sell? Second, I've got entrance reducers on all five for the yellowjackets — does the entrance need to be wide open for formic? And third, the two-strip 14-day vs one strip twice for 10 days each — the club had a couple of people lose queens last year on the 14-day and I'd rather not join them. Which would you run at these temperatures?
#formic-pro#varroa#fall-treatment#queen-loss
▲ 11 votes💬 4 replies✅ Solved
4 replies
GeorgiaWes · Sep 14, 2026 · ✅ Accepted answer
Georgia, 22 years. Yes, the super can stay on and the honey is fine — formic is a natural component of honey and leaves nothing in wax. Yes, the entrance must be FULLY open — the label requires it: pull the reducers and put them back when the strips come out. At 82-84 I'd run the 2x10 — one strip for 10 days, then a fresh strip for 10 more; the two-strip 14-day is the harder hit and queen risk climbs with heat. Watch the 3-day forecast, not the 10: the first three days are when the acid comes off hardest. Check the label's minimum colony size, and look for eggs a week after the last strip.
MayaBees · Sep 14, 2026
Oregon, and I ran the full 14-day two-strip in August with highs around 75-80. Eight colonies, zero queens lost this year, one lost last year. In your heat I'd do what GeorgiaWes says and go the 2x10 route. The one thing I'd add: do a verification wash one to two weeks after the second strip is out. My stubborn colony this year washed 5 after the full course and is getting oxalic once she's broodless — formic is good, not magic.
LavenderSophie · Sep 15, 2026
I use formic with supers on every year in Provence and have never had a customer notice anything. But if that sourwood super is capped, I'd pull it before the strips go on anyway — not because it needs to be, but because it is one less box in the way and one less conversation to have at market. Also weigh the hive after: colonies often stop foraging for a few days under formic, and September is not the month to lose ground.
SourwoodGrace · Sep 15, 2026
Pulled the sourwood super, pulled all five reducers, and the 9 and 11 colonies got their first single strip this afternoon with a 3-day forecast of 79, 81 and 80. The other three go on Friday when I can get back out there. Thank you GeorgiaWes — the entrance detail alone was worth asking. I'll post washes in MayaBees's data thread when I have them.