Do you experiment with your apiary?

Wondering how many people with multiple hives try different things on various hives to note the effects good or bad. This is something I have done my entire life with virtually everything. I try to learn from fails and it is even harder to learn from successes because you just stick with that one thing and no idea why it works. Some hives I use screen bottom boards, some solid. I am in north Texas and really not seeing as much good with screens as I thought. in fact, the solid bottoms tend to be much cleaner. Have tried essential oils on some and found it works, but also requires a lot of replacing pads. Have tried the OA routes on some, and seeing not a lot of differences between the EO route and OA, but I can now see a pretty handy trend between the 2 methods. What types of things have you tried and for what reasons?