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squeezebox
03-22-2015, 13:04
I bought a qt. of permethrin 36.8% to soak my clothes in. Mixed up 4 gal. put the clothes in, another bucket on top to make sure the clothes are surmurged. So the question is soak for how long? I've heard 1 hour, 1've heard 3 hours.
P.S. Cost $20 shipped, shelf life 4 years stored in a cool dark place.
Thanks!

u.w.
03-22-2015, 13:59
P.S. Cost $20 shipped, shelf life 4 years stored in a cool dark place.
Thanks!

Wow! that beats the price at my local 'feed & seed' by a few bucks for sure. Would you mind sharing where you got it from.
As to soak time?
Once the fabric is full-thru wetted, will leaving it in longer cause it to soak in more?
I dunked mine last year until it was completely soaked through (maybe an hour, likely less) and then wrung it and hung it. Course I stirred with a stick and worked with gloved hands too. Didn't have any issues with ticks across about six hundred miles hiked. YMMV of course,

u.w.

Rain Man
03-22-2015, 23:34
I go by the military specs I read somewhere (maybe on here) -- two hours soak time. Though half the time I leave it overnight simply due to convenience.

I get mine here. They have the household ("odorless" water-based) version--
http://www.bugspray.com/

squeezebox
03-23-2015, 05:51
Here's what happened.
I rolled up a bunch of stuff, socks, base layer, pants, etc. I mixed up 3 gal. of solution in a 5 gal. bucket. I put the clothes in the solution and pushed in into the solution using a long pair of BBQ tongs. I put a 2nd bucket on top with about 1/2 gal. of water to weigh the clothes down into the solution. By the time I did a couple of things around the house and rolled up the next set of clothes it was about 1 1/2 hours. I poured off most of the solution into a 2nd clean bucket, then squeezed out each piece of clothing, took off the rubber bands, and hung the stuff on a clothes line in the back yard. Then did the next batch. When I unrolled the pants and shorts there were areas that did not get soaked, so I put them back in the bucket and stirred them around for a minute or 2. I had maybe 2 gal. left so I rolled up fleece pants & top, non-tick season stuff. They soaked up so much solution there was no reason to soak them further. A few hours later everything is still damp, So I'm satisfied that everything was well saturated. I'm thinking it's not unreasonable to do this once a year or at least every 2 years.
So that's my report for now.

Rain Man
03-23-2015, 09:19
I'm thinking it's not unreasonable to do this once a year or at least every 2 years.

Actually, you need to do it a minimum of twice a year. Minimum.

BirdBrain
03-23-2015, 09:47
http://www.tickinfo.com/permethrin.htm

Beware! Not all solutions will bond to clothing. Many are not intended for clothing. Those contain additives that make the bonding less reliable. Read the article from this link.

brancher
03-23-2015, 09:48
I gotta do this as well - but doesn't WalMart sell some spray-on permethrin? I thought that woudl suffice..... am I wrong?

Chicken Feathers
03-23-2015, 09:50
My two cents worth. Unless you hike in cotton clothes I think you are wasting your time and money hiking clothes or technical clothes are tightly woven and the permethin does not soak in like cotton. I soaked my clothes and within two or three days I was pulling ticks off my legs. That said some people say it works but I do not agree. Just check yourself each night it takes ticks about 48 hours to embed

BirdBrain
03-23-2015, 09:57
My two cents worth. Unless you hike in cotton clothes I think you are wasting your time and money hiking clothes or technical clothes are tightly woven and the permethin does not soak in like cotton. I soaked my clothes and within two or three days I was pulling ticks off my legs. That said some people say it works but I do not agree. Just check yourself each night it takes ticks about 48 hours to embed

Good advice. Do not rely on anything more than a daily self check. However, I am yet to see a tick while wearing my permethrin soaked synthetics. Again, not all solutions are intended for clothing.

Christoph
03-23-2015, 10:06
I bought the Sawyer brand spray on type that you find in Gander Mountain/REI/etc. Is there a difference from bucket soaking and this spray on type? I would think soaking in a bucket would be better but ???