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DIYSteve
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DIYSteve
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PostMon Aug 10, 2015 9:44 am 
Just back from 8 days in the Beartooth Mountains with Honey. Our DIY Permethrin garments worked great.

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Malachai Constant
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PostWed Aug 12, 2015 5:26 pm 
Just back from 27 days on JMT and diy worked fine.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Schenk
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PostMon Aug 24, 2015 10:33 am 
DIY worked in the Beartooth and Bighorn mountains over the last couple weeks! It was actually pretty nice...mosquitoes and black flies stayed at bay. I did my hat too and I did not need to use any other bug dope on my exposed skin very often...just a couple times when the clouds of the little buggers were so thick that from a short distance off they looked like puffs of black diesel smoke.

Nature exists with a stark indifference to humans' situation.
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Schenk
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PostFri Jun 02, 2017 3:14 pm 
Black flies, mosquitos, and ticks have been thick this year. Permethrin to the rescue! One single black fly bite so far this year

Nature exists with a stark indifference to humans' situation.
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Adohrn
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PostFri Jun 09, 2017 1:11 am 
When the thread was first started the original suggestions were for a 1.5 % solution. Later some of you started to use a 1%. It's been almost 2 years. What were the results? Did you keep with the 1% or revert back to the 1.5%?

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Schenk
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PostFri Jun 09, 2017 11:43 am 
I have been using just under a 1%, about .75% and it seems to work fine. I reapply after one trip, or washing though. It may not be necessary to do that often but I like to be bug free. Commercial products are usually .5%

Nature exists with a stark indifference to humans' situation.
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Navy salad
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PostFri Jun 09, 2017 2:09 pm 
Since I ordered a quart of the concentrated stuff from Amazon, I figure I have a lifetime supply, so I'm using the 1.5% solution. Seems to work well, although I haven't been in nasty enough conditions yet to say that for sure.

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MtnGoat
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PostFri Jun 09, 2017 3:01 pm 
This stuff is looking pretty decent from reports on here. I may have to try it out for myself here's an REI writeup on the major players

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers
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MtnGoat
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PostFri Jun 09, 2017 3:09 pm 
whoa!
Quote:
One last tip for you fishermen out there: DEET is perhaps one of the most effective fish repellents known to man. Just a few parts per million can send game fish like salmon and trout to the other end of the fish tank. If you like to keep mosquito repellent in your tackle box, you may have unknowingly contaminated all of your fishing lures! Be sure to take care not to handle any fishing tackle once you have applied mosquito repellent. Just a few parts-per-million can repel more fish than mosquitoes!

Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock. - Will Rogers
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wildernessed
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PostSat Jun 10, 2017 11:01 am 
George Johnson wrote:
Here's what I got: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003IMO3I2 32 oz of 36.8% permethrin for $24.95 including shipping. Works well on clothes so far. Works well on yellow jacket nests too - just a few squirts to the small starter nest ends them.
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Living in the Anthropocene
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hatchetation
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PostSun Jun 11, 2017 4:40 pm 
I'm probably not going to convince anyone to stop DIYing their own repellant, but thought this bears mentioning, just in case it isn't clear: obtaining concentrated permethrin (an EPA Restricted Use Product) as a member of the general public is illegal because of the potential environmental impact. Using any pesticide in an off-label manner (let alone an RUP) is illegal as well. Permethrin is highly toxic to bees and aquatic organisms. It's not entirely non-toxic to humans either. The 0.5% concentration in Sawyer's product is because it doesn't take much to treat an item of clothing. Permethrin strongly binds (adsorbs) to the clothing fibers - and the extra typically comes out in the first wash.

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AlpineRose
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PostSun Jun 11, 2017 7:23 pm 
hatchetation wrote:
the extra typically comes out in the first wash.
Which goes down the drain, which ends up....in your nearest waterway.

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Navy salad
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Navy salad
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PostSun Jun 11, 2017 8:13 pm 
hatchetation wrote:
It's not entirely non-toxic to humans either.
From the article you linked: "All exposure scenarios showed that permethrin factory-treated clothing is unlikely to pose any significant immediate or long-term hazard to people wearing the clothing. The amount of permethrin allowed in clothing is very low, and scientific studies indicate that human exposure resulting from wearing permethrin factory-treated clothing also is low. Available data show that permethrin is poorly absorbed through the skin." I realize that applying the permethrin requires great care (see lengthy discussion on this in other discussions on this website), but once it's dried it appears to be reasonably safe.

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hatchetation
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PostSun Jun 11, 2017 9:12 pm 
Navy salad wrote:
I realize that applying the permethrin requires great care (see lengthy discussion on this in other discussions on this website), but once it's dried it appears to be reasonably safe.
Oh, totally. I'm not trying to fear-monger on the human effects. I linked to that page because it has an interesting caution about not washing permethrin-treated clothes with other clothes because you probably don't want your underwear treated. It doesn't permeate skin easily, is easily metabolized, and shows low toxicity in humans - but isn't entirely non-toxic. A bit of caution probably isn't crazy. 32oz of that Martin's concentrate is enough to make 19 gallons of 0.5% permethrin solution. That's either a lot of clothes to treat, or a bummer of a disposal liability.

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DIYSteve
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DIYSteve
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PostSun Jun 11, 2017 9:36 pm 
hatchetation wrote:
obtaining concentrated permethrin (an EPA Restricted Use Product) as a member of the general public is illegal
Illegal? What legal authority supports that claim? I just did some quick research and found no such authority. AFAICT, the EPA has approved permethrin for agricultural uses (e.g. spraying livestock, crop spraying), food handling establishments, pets, clothing and even some medical uses (e.g., lice control). The EPA estimates that more than 2,000,000 lbs. of permethrin is legally used in the U.S. for those various uses. Most of that is agricultural use, e.g. crop spraying, hosing down stock, all of which eventually gets into the aquifer. The few grams by the entirety of hikers treating clothing represents some teensy fraction of some teensy fraction of some teensy fraction of that 2,000,000+ lbs.

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