Treating your hammock/clothes with permethrin - Consumer Reports video

**z96cobra** · 06-01-2016, 19:06

This video, by Consumer Reports, showed up in my news feed today. They compared factory treated clothing with their own application of deet. Just thought some might be interested.

**SilvrSurfr** · 06-01-2016, 19:15

I treat all my own clothing in permethrin, and I've certainly never tried to get through 25 washings, well enough 70, before reapplying the permethrin. I'm a mosquito magnet, and I know permethrin works, so I'll keep using it on my clothing, and DEET on my exposed skin, when necessary.

**Saint Francis** · 06-01-2016, 21:25

Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr

I treat all my own clothing in permethrin, and I've certainly never tried to get through 25 washings, well enough 70, before reapplying the permethrin. I'm a mosquito magnet, and I know permethrin works, so I'll keep using it on my clothing, and DEET on my exposed skin, when necessary.

Have you tried/had any luck with Sawyer's Picaridin? I too am a buffet for mosquitos and gnats. I'm wondering if that stuff is worth trying.

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**SilvrSurfr** · 06-01-2016, 22:05

Originally Posted by Saint Francis

Have you tried/had any luck with Sawyer's Picaridin? I too am a buffet for mosquitos and gnats. I'm wondering if that stuff is worth trying.

I haven't tried picaradin. From what I've read, it's not as effective as DEET, and DEET certainly works for me. Of course, DEET is bad for clothing, so I strictly use permethrin on my clothing. My first encounter with permethrin was 25 years ago, and I did a LOT of reading about it, since I hate pesticides and bug sprays in general. However, even 25 years ago permethrin seemed pretty safe, and no new research has appeared in the last 25 years to indicate that it's not safe.

If it's a bug, permethrin will kill it. Permethrin kills every insect known to man, to my knowledge. Spray permethrin on your bugnet and no bug is entering, not mosquitoes, not ticks, not spiders. It kills everything. I made the mistake, several years ago, of spraying my yard with permethrin. For several weeks, my yard was mosquito free. Of course, it was also entirely bug free, including the honey bees and other pollinators I needed for my vegetable garden. I don't think I got a single vegetable that year. Live and learn.

As for DEET, I think it's more dangerous than permethrin. Anything that melts clothing probably isn't good. However, I use it sparingly on my skin, and only when needed (sundown or sunrise). When I first started using DEET, I had a horrible reaction on a particularly buggy hike in Massachusetts 15 years ago. The bugs were so bad that I kept spraying me and my kids constantly. Next thing I know I'm having a DEET overdose, which was basically a panic attack that lasted 72 hours to 96 hours. I tried to go to work, but the walls were caving in on me. The more I panicked, the worse it got. I went to a doctor, but he wasn't much help. I don't know if you've ever dealt with panic attacks, but they're self-perpetuating. You begin to panic at the thought of having a panic attack. I took a few days off and recovered from what I can only describe as extreme DEET toxicity.

I still use DEET, but very sparingly. Maybe I've developed a tolerance. All I know is that permethrin kills anything that lands on my hammock, bugnet or clothing, and DEET wards off anything trying to land on my skin. The only drug I've taken in the last 20 years is aspirin, so I'm not happy that permethrin and DEET worked themselves into my life. However, there are just too many horrible blood-borne diseases transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes for me to take a chance being out in the woods without them.

**Campdavid** · 06-01-2016, 22:15

Never had a mosquito bite in my life....well it's possible I've been bitten but my body does not react.

That said, my wife and kids have significant reaction to them. Going to "bomb" the yard with permethrin this weekend, treat their clothes and our camping gear. Probably won't treat the hammocks but will treat the bug nets.

Oh and it's not so much the mosquitos as it is the ticks. We have Lyme disease in our area. Last summer I got lax about preparing and my son and I both picked up deer ticks in north central Wisconsin ( high concentration of Lyme there). We went on meds right away and are fine. Won't make that mistake again. Just ordered enough permethrin to make 36 gallons. :-)

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**2 Samuel 22** · 06-01-2016, 22:29

Originally Posted by Saint Francis

Have you tried/had any luck with Sawyer's Picaridin? I too am a buffet for mosquitos and gnats. I'm wondering if that stuff is worth trying.

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I have been using it for some time now here in the buggy swampy South and can attest that it works great. Permethrin for the clothing, Picaridin for the skin.

**Ratdog** · 06-01-2016, 22:42

Hiking cloths treated every 3-5 washes.
Sawyer bottle says it's good for 6.

Soaked clothes treated every 20 washes.

Hammock treated 2x / season.

**SilvrSurfr** · 06-01-2016, 22:58

Originally Posted by Campdavid

Never had a mosquito bite in my life....well it's possible I've been bitten but my body does not react.

Ignorance is bliss, I guess. When I get bitten by mosquitoes, I can have violent reactions. When I first started hammocking (and didn't know anything about treating my bugnet with permethrin), I fell asleep one night with my hand against the integrated bugnet (HH hammock). I don't know how many mosquitoes feasted on my hand, but when I woke up, my hand was swollen to twice its normal size.

Needless to say, that freaked me out, and I never wanted it to happen again. I started using permethrin religiously. I also switched from hammocks with integrated bugnets to a Fronkey bugnet, and I've never, ever, had contact with my Fronkey bugnet, and have never been bit since switching to a Fronkey bugnet (properly treated with permethrin).

**silentorpheus** · 06-01-2016, 23:02

Originally Posted by Saint Francis

Have you tried/had any luck with Sawyer's Picaridin? I too am a buffet for mosquitos and gnats. I'm wondering if that stuff is worth trying.

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Originally Posted by 2 Samuel 22

I have been using it for some time now here in the buggy swampy South and can attest that it works great. Permethrin for the clothing, Picaridin for the skin.

I started using Picaridin last season - I certainly find it more pleasant to use, and it seemed to work reasonably well vs. mosquitos. My clothing, hammock, bugnet, shoes, and backpack were well sprayed with permethrin, so that probably helped as well.

The sawyer brand has a citrusy smell and is far less greasy than most Deet sprays I've used in the past. There seems to be a decent amount of data online that would suggest that it's effective and a better, less toxic alternative to Deet, so I think it's worth experimenting with.

**Campdavid** · 06-02-2016, 02:51

Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr

Ignorance is bliss, I guess. When I get bitten by mosquitoes, I can have violent reactions. When I first started hammocking (and didn't know anything about treating my bugnet with permethrin), I fell asleep one night with my hand against the integrated bugnet (HH hammock). I don't know how many mosquitoes feasted on my hand, but when I woke up, my hand was swollen to twice its normal size.

Needless to say, that freaked me out, and I never wanted it to happen again. I started using permethrin religiously. I also switched from hammocks with integrated bugnets to a Fronkey bugnet, and I've never, ever, had contact with my Fronkey bugnet, and have never been bit since switching to a Fronkey bugnet (properly treated with permethrin).

Oh man, that's awful! When I was a kid one of the other children with whom we were camping had something similar happen to her foot. Who knows how many of those blood suckers got her.

As for me, it's really strange, I just have no reaction...my sister is the same way, immune.

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