Do you use permethrin?

[Need2noCallahan]

Oh, i sprayed my hat as well and let me tell you, I don’t have any issues with skedders and horse flys when i wear it.


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[Brian Miller]

Last week I did a 3-day trip to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in the Washington Cascades. The weather was very warm; mid 80s during the day and only cooled to 55 at night. I had spray soaked my hat, bandana, shirt, convertible cargo trousers, compression calf sleeves, and Clark NX-250 hammock weathershield with a diluted Martin's 0.5% mix (1 ounce Martin's to ~20 oz water in a Sawyer spray bottle). I also had a treated headnet in my pocket and wore fingerless sun gloves. Especially above 5000 feet where the snow had just melted off, the bugs were very bad. I only had a tiny 1/2 ounce spray bottle of Picaridin and wanted to try to rely completely on the Permethrin treatment. Anytime I stopped mosquitoes would begin biting in the 3" between the bottom of my trousers-as shorts, and the compression sleeves. I finally sprayed Picaridin on the exposed skin. Generally if I stuffed my bandana under my Boonie, Foreign Legion Style, they would avoid my face but I did resort to the headnet a few times. I was left pretty much alone sitting in my hammock but that was after the air temp dropped.

For me, a DIY Martin's Permethrin mix is working pretty well but on my upcoming 6-day trip at the end of this week I will be carrying about 4 ounces of Picaridin.

A couple of times; including during the drive to the trailhead, and a day where I didn't eat enough, I felt slightly nauseous but felt better after removing my Boonie for a time. The DIY mix is comparatively cheap so I've retreated the shirt and trousers after washing for this next trip, and am letting them dry/air out for a full week.

[West michigan]

Oh, i sprayed my hat as well and let me tell you, I don’t have any issues with skedders and horse flys when i wear it.


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Yes I love it on my hiking hat and shoes
Most days I don’t need additional bug spray although I bring it

[OneClick]

For me, a DIY Martin's Permethrin mix is working pretty well but on my upcoming 6-day trip at the end of this week I will be carrying about 4 ounces of Picaridin.

I really like the Picaridin lotion. It's not greasy/rubbery (hard to describe) like the spray, easy to apply anywhere and less chance to spill or leak. I'm taking a 4oz bottle (almost full) out later this week, in addition to two of the smoking sticks and coil bracelets. Both of those are probably a joke IMO, but I'll do whatever I can.

[Billy Goat]

.... I had spray soaked my hat, bandana, shirt, convertible cargo trousers, compression calf sleeves, and Clark NX-250 hammock weathershield with a diluted Martin's 0.5% mix (1 ounce Martin's to ~20 oz water in a Sawyer spray bottle). I also had a treated headnet in my pocket

For me, a DIY Martin's Permethrin mix is working pretty well but on my upcoming 6-day trip at the end of this week I will be carrying about 4 ounces of Picaridin.
.

Depending on the concentration of your permethrin, which as it's Martin's, I guessing SFR... your .5% ratio seems to be quite off. I use about 1/3 ounce to 24 oz (the bottle my Sawyers stuff came in) to get .5% concentration. That mix has served me very well and I will nearly never run out of the concentrate at that level. I always bring some Picaradin along, too, for my exposed areas. YMMV, HYOH, and all that.

Cheers,
The Goat

[OneClick]

I use the same as Brian Miller. That's what the instructions stated on the common 10% Martins and what everyone else here said. 20:1

[CoolHandLuke]

Indeed I have used Sawyer, and JT Eaton branded Permethrin over the past few years on wool, silnylon, and etc. I use it on most everything except my rain jacket or tarp. I highly recommend Permethrin on material & Picaridin on skin to absolutely thwart flying and biting bugs in the field.

[Billy Goat]

I use the same as Brian Miller. That's what the instructions stated on the common 10% Martins and what everyone else here said. 20:1

Ok, that makes sense, now. The Martin's SFR that I have is 38.5%. I think I've got the farmer's and exterminator's version.

Cheers,
The Goat

[scrope]

I only sprayed a light mist over all of my items, so I don’t think soaking is really necessary. Just my opinion.

You are correct in that soaking isn't necessary. I has the advantage that it guarantees every part of the item is covered where a light misting will get a lot it may miss some parts.

Also it gets both the inside and outside of an item. This is a potential advantage for pants because if a tick were to climb up your leg, it is more likely to come in contact with the inside of the pant leg and not the outside. If you didn't turn them inside out and spray the inside, there's nothing protecting you in that case.

I also believe that by exposing more of the fabric material to more of the Permethrin, it better coats the fabric fibers which may make it last longer through more washings.

Still, I've only soaked once and still spray items because it's more convenient sometimes.

[OneClick]

I would never get into soaking, but I don't think I would trust "misting" either. The first time I sprayed I went light and I question how well it worked. The second time I resprayed everything so that it was wet, evenly, but nowhere near dripping. Bottom line, the inside of the shirt/hammock was just as wet (or very close) as the outside.

I'm also not going to trust the "6 washes" thing much. After washing shirts, they're getting sprayed again before a trip. On a day hike, I can chance it, but not after driving 4 hours to spend 4 days in the woods.