Durston X-Mid and Permethrin

We have never tested this, but:
1) Users have reported treating their X-Mid with no ill effect
2) Polyester is widely treated with permethrin (e.g. a lot of clothes are polyester – probably including the ones you’re treating)
3) The coatings we use (e.g. sil, PEU) are widely used and I’m unaware of any issues
4) SectionHiker reports perethrin can be safely used on synthetic tents including the mesh
5) Sawyer advertises their permethrin as safe to use on tents

So I can’t promise anything since we haven’t tested it, but it seems very low risk to me.

Permethrin acts as a dye. In general, nylon can be dyed easily with water based dyes. Poly cannot be. Soo, while it does no damage, it will wash off after a rain storm or two when applied to poly(sometimes more if a DWR has been applied, changing the chemical make-up.) My polyester hiking shirts do NOT hold permethrin well. I need to reapply regular bug dope after a storm or rinsing them out when out camping. However, my pants (nylon) were coated a couple years ago and still do well.

I would just treat the inner net. Store the tent in an UL dry bag if you don’t want the ticks crawling out into your pack. We have a LOT of ticks here in the prairies.

Could this be a place for x-mid product improvement? Maybe some nylon panels on the tent for the purpose of permethrin application?

I’d a pretty die hard polyester fan for the fly, but perhaps we could use nylon for the mesh. Right now it is polyester and it seems that most noseeum mesh is poly but there may be nylon noseeum mesh too. I haven’t looked into it much but the lightest mesh even on nylon tents seems to be poly, such as:

Would it be reasonable to do a bathtub in nylon? Seems like that would the optimal place for nylon – then you could spray that down and it would minimize the bugs from crawling up from the ground. Wouldn’t necessarily stop the flying pest though.

Also, the inner is a lot less likely to need hosing off, and is less susceptible to rain, so it might not be a big deal to just hit the inner as it is already made with the permethrin.

Aren’t any ticks more likely to get into your tent via your clothing, than climb up a bathtub groundsheet?

@roadscrape88 – I’ve been camping on Cumberland multiple times a year for the past 20 years, so I know first-hand about the tick situation you reference.  It is hard to imagine a place with more ticks than Cumberland.

Since moving to Insect Shield treated clothing 10 years ago I have not gotten a single tick there.  I’m not certain you need to worry about treating your tent, although it obviously wouldn’t hurt if it doesn’t damage the tent.  I haven’t bothered.

@johnh1’s comment about ticks getting into the tent on your clothing is absolutely correct in my experience.

Dan, thanks for the comprehensive answer. I was reasonably sure it would be OK to spray, but better safe than sorry! We think that the woman that had ticks crawling over her tent had setup over a hatchery in the grass, as no one else had that issue. I grew up in big time tick country prior to Lyme disease. I’ve had ticks fall out of trees on me, which is freaky! Not worth taking a chance here in the eastern US.