Permethrin... Is it as good as they say?

[Cannibal]

Ok, you guys definitely have me sold on this stuff. Are the treatments really effective for up to 6 washings/6 weeks like the company claims?

Mostly.
Heavy washing does tend to leech the stuff out quicker. I've taken to treating my clothing about once a month during the busy season. That assumes I'm out hiking every weekend and wash my stuff accordingly. The rest of my gear gets treated about every other month, since it is rarely washed.

[SteveJJ]

interesting story... but I fail to understand the logic - why did he do that.... and fyi - it was most likely DDT back then... They stopped producing in 1973 or so.

Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin It is to kill mouse-born ticks and fleas that spread diseases. Deer ticks mentioned specifically...

[DemostiX]

In my opinion, I think treating your gear such as UQ and tarp is overkill when you have a bugnet. However, I do treat all of my hiking clothes and it works fantastic. I would highly recommend applying it as it helped me a lot last year. If only they made a mute button for all the buzzing those skeeters make. lol

Fronkey

Fresh thread, fresh opp for another expression of "integrated pest management" (IPM).

The bug nets I'm using are such fine mesh they substantially impede air flow. Top quality from Clark and Warbonnet, for sure, but they are even useful for keeping me warmer at some temps when there's a lot of wind.

A coarser mesh would allow more air in, of course. If that mesh were treated with permetherin or another ".......etherin" or whatever the WHO recommends, there'd be better air flow on hot and still nights, and the critters would still die when they lighted.

Here's an outfit in business for 25 years repelling insects during travel, on agents, including permetherin. Sounds authoritative. http://www.scs-mall.com/how-repellents-work.asp

[FLRider]

Ok, you guys definitely have me sold on this stuff. Are the treatments really effective for up to 6 washings/6 weeks like the company claims?

On gear? Yeah.

On clothing...well...I sweat. During the summer months, upgrade that to a lot. I find that the stuff tends to last between three and four weeks for me. Which is in line with what Cannibal said above.

[BillyBob58]

Another thing I have no idea about: does this stuff bind to different materials in a different way or degree? Probably so, just don't know what the variables are. I guess if it does not bond well to some things, then it will not work as long.

Cotton vs nylon? Sil-nylon? Concrete/brick/grass? ( I spray my back yard and outsise/underneath my RV)

[FLRider]

Another thing I have no idea about: does this stuff bind to different materials in a different way or degree? Probably so, just don't know what the variables are. I guess if it does not bond well to some things, then it will not work as long.

Cotton vs nylon? Sil-nylon? Concrete/brick/grass? ( I spray my back yard and outsise/underneath my RV)

Good point. I know that it binds to nylon and nylon/spandex blends well; past that, I'm as in the dark as you are.

[sturgeon]

Demostix, thanks for the link. Good reading.

Unfortunately permethrin and picaridin are not widely available in Canada, though i did find and snatch up two bottles of 3M permethrin that somehow made it to the shelf of an outdoor store in Toronto. Since then, permethrin has never been restocked there.

Alberta info about repellents: https://myhealth.alberta.ca/health/p...x?hwid=tm6607&

[DemostiX]

I don't know that permethrin is better than other ----thrins included in widely available insecticide sprays. How widely and how available each is is probably a function of concerns for human and environmental safety and different judgments about them. Even international power Walmart must comply (That's been my source for inexpensive picaridin and deet in the US).

Myhealth.alberta.ca is incorrect about permethrin. It is synthetic, believed by the chemists to mimic or be the active ingredient in a variety of chrysanthemum that repels or protects from insects. We can poison ourselves "naturally" as well as with chemicals from other sources. For those who prefer plant-based biologicals, the original is available.

The link from that vendor, SCS, had a better explanation / story about "micro-encapsulation" and controlled release of these chemicals, whether Deet or permethrin, than I've read elsewhere for this buzzword.

[DemostiX]

If BillyBob is in this thread, then Picaridin 20% is also; there's wide support for it elsewhere, too. I didn't know it is known outside the US as Bayerepel, from Bayer, the inventor.

Roaming, I found reference to another synthetic I had not heard of before -- and there are no mentions here at HF. It is found in some Avon insect repellents, IR3535

The wikipedia article is very well sourced on this and other repellents, with near-term extreme relevance to tick season.

[crazy_dave]

If I treated my day hammock (Eno DN) with Permethrin could I forgo a bug net? I love to just lay out by the lake and watch the sun go down but sometimes the skeeters get the best of me.


FYI: Took this formula off another site not sure how accurate this is but………….:


Before you run out and buy the first 10% permethrin you find, realize that many agricultural permethrin concentrates are oil based and not water based like Permanone. Need to look around and find a water based solution for use on clothing.
The Lawn and Garden concentrates are what you want to use because they are water based and made to be diluted with water


The only thing we have found so far that is approved for use on your personal clothing other than the premixed ready to use stuff is the link in the post above yours. It is a 10% concentrate called DurationTM that is water based and contains no additional chemicals. You need to bring it down to a .5% solution if you want to use it as a spray on your clothing. To do this, mix 1 ounce of the concentrate with 20 ounces of water.
for 0.50% solution - 5 1/2 ounces of Permethrin to 1 Gallon of Water.