"we seem to be jumping between two subjects--penetration of cappings in order to attempt to kill mites, and the persistence of miticide residues in the hive matrices."

Yes, we are jumping between topics, and yes, I was referring to the penetration of cappings in order to kill mites.  I have been sticking to the cappings question, although residuals in wax interest me very much too.  On the topic of brood cappings, if amitraz doesn't get into the sealed brood, it can only kill phoretic mites....and since it leaves wax residues that can cause trouble later. .....what is its advantage over formic, thymol or oxalic?  The reported disadvantages of the latter three (occasional queen loss, temporary brood setback, etc) are not as bad as the potential problem with wax residuals of DPMF, from what I have read, and at least the acids don't leave residues.

I respect the use of amitraz as outlined by Medhat and it seems to work well in Alberta.  I suppose if the combs are rotated out regularly, as Jim has advocated, then the risk of DPMF buildup is minimized.  And since the DPMF is the toxic metabolite that builds up in wax, that is a good enough reason to rotate out combs all by itself if using amitraz, even without considering all the other junk that builds up in the brood comb.

It seems to me that for small-scale beekeepers the organic acids and thymol are better options, especially where treatment is not well standardized (i.e. people don't follow instructions).

Christina

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