Groundsheet & Permethrin

Sawyer says it works on Tents, packs, and chairs… so I would think it work on tyvek.  Polycro might not be permeable enough to stick much, but it would still probably work for at least a short time.

https://sawyer.com/maximize-effectiveness-permethrin-fabric-treatment/

Ticks don’t crawl on the ground, onto your groundsheet, sleeping bag, you

They hang out on brush and wait for you to come along and brush up against them

Supposedly

But there are other crawly things on the ground

“Ticks don’t crawl on the ground, onto your groundsheet, sleeping bag, you”

I used to think the same until I experienced otherwise. Aside from ticks on my body,  I have encountered ticks crawling on rocks, logs, and on the mesh screen of my tent. I can’t say how they got there though.

As a fan of off-trail hiking, I’ve become a big fan of permethrin and I treat most of my clothes, shoes, gaiters, pack, the netting of my tent, and my Tyvek groundsheet. I have no idea how well it adheres to Tyvek, but it doesn’t seem to hurt and it offers some peace of mind. I hate having to use chemicals like this, but Lyme disease is a reality and one I’d rather not experience.

If it’s crawling on mesh screen, it makes sense they might crawl onto you when you’re in sleeping bag

Web MD’s advice for reducing ticks around your home suggests to me that ticks could be anywhere:

“Clear leaves, brush, tall grasses, woodpiles, and stone fences from around your house and the edges of your yard or garden. This may help reduce ticks and the rodents that the ticks depend on.”

I read a story that homes with lots of trees and brush, isolated from larger wild areas are a problem.

there are no bigger predators so rodent populations increase.  This results in larger tick populations.

I don’t know what the solution is.  Cut down all your trees and brush and replace with pavement? Don’t live in rural areas?

I treat my polycro ground sheet with the sawyer permithrin and it seems to work for me. It also seems to keep the chiggers and spiders away.

yeah, at some point I was taught that or read it somewhere…. but more recent research told me that that is a common way for one particular species of tick to hunt….not the only way ( I don’t remember which one)

and there are many other species

There was a discussion, about 4 years ago, of permethrin’s compatibility with DWR treatment. https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/81780/

James Marco says permethrin binds to fabric like a dye. Other sources say Tyvek will accept dyes although it’s by nature hydrophobic. My uneducated guess is Tyvek will accept permethrin treatment but not as well as clothing.

A tick story….I was just past Mt. Laguna on the PCT and a snowstorm rolled in, so I turned back and camped in a protected spot. Pitched my mid (with interior floor and netting) slept through a pretty horrific storm, got my butt outta bed early and headed back to town to get a room as the storm was predicted to worsen. As I was packing up my tent I noticed a grey tick in the soil right where I had been sleeping. I’m a hunter so I knew deer bed down in that area. That poor tick was dried up and waiting for another “host” but it was alive, I probably warmed the little bugger up! This was April 1st a few years ago. So yea treat everything. I had a friend who got Lyme, it took seven years before he could participate in sports again. And he’s a doctor!

Ticks DEFINITELY can crawl across the ground and up your leg. Insect Shield (permethrin) treated clothing is the shiznit!

+ 1 To DM’s point.

Deer ticks are one of the major vectors of Lyme Disease. So if you camp where deer like to sleep at night or rest during the heat of the day you increase your chance of exposure. Ticks drop or crawl off the host and wait for another warm mammal to come and lie on the ground and crawl up. In many areas visual inspection will tell you where the deer have hung out.  But sometimes at least in Calif the ticks seem to be everywhere, for example Henry Coe in the spring time.

I treated my Tyvek groundcloth with Sawyer Permethrin.  It dried and I see no residue or anything so it must have worked, absorbed into Tyvek fibers.

I am going to be sending all my clothes for this hiking season to Insect Shield.  I also have Sawyer Permethrin.  Will it work with the Z-Packs Arc Haul and Solplex and bind properly?

Also, I read somewhere there is a correct order to apply DWR/Permethrin is that true?  For example, I will be sending my hiking pants to Insect Shield then I will also treat it lightly with DWR.