I'll leave the question of shelf life of 99% Formic acid in original container to the chemists here that know much more than I. Personally I get a 5 gallon container, from a chemical supply house, and it lasts at least 5 years for me. I dilute it to 65%  a gallon at a time for use on the pads. I get Dry-loc pads  from a wholesale grocery at about 3 cents each in 2000 count box.

I echo Randy in my praise of the old Mite Away II pads. They worked very well for me and I was chagrined when NOD went to the MAQS. Alas I have a barn full of spacer rims that I made for them, they do come in handy for other applications occasionally. At a conference a few years ago I was discussing this with someone, can't remember who, and they told me that the technology of Mite Away II was not under patent protection. If this is true I ask the expert chemists on the list to speculate as to how they could be duplicated. I must admit that I tried to re-soak some to no good end. Don't want to get into any touchy legal issues but there is a good and effective formic application that is no longer readily available.

Ditto Charles,  BE CAREFUL but being careful is all it takes, the stuff can be safely handled. Very good info available from Canadian Honey Council. Maybe Medhat would weigh in he is the real expert.

Paul Hosticka
Dayton WA

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