Permethrin

While Pyrethrins are a popular natural pest control active ingredient derived from the petals of the Chrysanthemum flower, their effect is often short-lived. Permethrin is the man-made version of Pyrethrin, which mimics the same effects but delivers an even stronger knockdown and can last longer.

Solutions Pest & Lawn is proud to carry Permethrin-based products because they are effective and affordable. Read on to learn more fascinating facts about Permethrin and why it is so effective against pests.

What is Permethrin?

First registered by the US EPA in 1979, Permethrin is a pyrethroid insecticide used to control many insect pests in households, commercial properties, and agriculture. Pest control manufacturers have been using permethrin in a wide range of professional pest control products to address the infestations of various pests, such as fleas and ticks, mosquitoes, bedbugs, cockroaches, spiders, termites, and flies.

Permethrin belongs to a class of insecticides known as synthetic pyrethroids. A synthetic pyrethroid is a man-made insecticide developed to imitate the chemical properties of the naturally occurring substance pyrethrum, which comes from the crushed petals of the Chrysanthemum flower. This plant has been recognized since the 18th century for its insecticide properties.

Many popular pesticides use permethrin as an active ingredient. Permethrin can be sold in liquids, powders, dust, aerosols, and sprays and is found in treated clothing. These insecticides are used indoors and outdoors to control pests like cockroaches, carpet beetles, ticks, bed bugs, flies, armyworms, and stored-product pests like flour beetles or grain moths.

How Does Permethrin Work?

Mode of Action

Permethrin begins immediately upon contact or ingestion, leading to insect knock-down and eventual death. It kills by acting as a powerful poison to the central nervous system of affected insects, causing muscle spasms and inflicting paralysis. This creates an inability to function or eat, which eventually leads to the pest's death. Depending on the formulation, it can take minutes to several hours for a pest to die.

In liquid applications, permethrin leaves a long-lasting residual that can continue to control pests for up to 30 days.

Benefits of Permethrin

Permethrin is often preferred to the pyrethrum as an active ingredient because it can last longer and wear off less easily. It is also very versatile.

Permethrin can be used both outdoors and indoors for pest control and delivers nearly three months of residual protection against target pests. If you have a mosquito misting system installed, you can also use It to treat flying pests.

Drawbacks of Permethrin

After diluting permethrin-based products, you should use them immediately and not store them away, as the acids in water can start to degrade the active ingredient and make it more ineffective over time.

Do not use Permethrin as an insect repellent on the skin.

Is Permethrin Safe?

Permethrin insecticides are safe when applied according to their product label instructions. In 1991, the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared permethrin not classifiable due to its human carcinogenicity.

Studies have also been conducted on pregnant women who received permethrin treatments to treat head lice and scabies. Researchers found that exposure to permethrin did not affect the outcome of any of these pregnancies. That being said, always wear the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) when applying permethrin insecticides and keep them out of the reach of children or pets.

Permethrin is most hazardous in its concentrated form. However, it is much safer if it is diluted with water, as is recommended when applying it to surfaces and to target insects. Like most synthetic pyrethroids, permethrin is extremely toxic to fish, so you should avoid spraying near bodies of water like lakes and ponds.

What To Expect

A Permethrin-based product does not guarantee instant kill. It can take up to 24 hours to kill the target pest, but it does have a long-term residual that can last up to 90 days, meaning you don't have to reapply as often unless you have a very large infestation.

Whenever you use any of our products here at Solutions Pest & Lawn, we recommend keeping children and pets away from the treated area until the application product has completely dried, usually taking a half-hour to an hour. Once dried, children and pets can be brought back into the area and resume activities as normal.

How to Use Flex 10-10: A Liquid Permethrin Concentrate

If you are looking for a versatile insecticide with broad-spectrum use, we recommend Flex 10-10. Flex 10-10 is an insecticide concentrate with 10% permethrin and 10% Piperonyl Butoxide. Piperonyl Butoxide acts as a synergist, enhancing the controlling effects of permethrin.

Flex 10-10 can be used indoors and outdoors to treat pest infestations or prevent them from breaking out. It can also be applied through a misting system or as an ultra-low volume fog.

Flex 10-10 is a concentrate, so it must be mixed with water before application. For most applications, we recommend mixing and applying this product in a handheld pump sprayer. Depending on the pest you are treating, the labeled mix rate is between 4 teaspoons and 6.4 fluid ounces of product per 1 gallon of water to treat 1,000 square feet.

Once your solution is mixed, you can broadcast this product over lawns, spray ornamental shrubs and foliage, apply it to outdoor surfaces like walls or doorframes, treat indoor cracks and crevices, spray the edges of carpeting, and even lightly apply it to mattresses and bed frames to treat bed bugs. In all applications, allow the product to dry completely before allowing people or pets around treated areas.

Pests that contact the spray or its residual will have their nervous systems impacted and die within hours. Flex 10-10 will leave a residual controlling treated areas for up to 30 days.

Featured Products

Flex 10-10 - Flex 10-10 is sold and manufactured by Solutions Pest & Lawn and made with Permethrin and piperonyl butoxide (PBO) synergist. It is cost-effective and controls many insects, such as bed bugs, mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, and roaches. This insecticide can easily be applied with hose sprayers, compressed air sprayers, ULV machines, or automatic mosquito misting machines. Flex 10-10 is safe to use indoors and outdoors.