The battle of the BUGS!! spring is upon us!!

[maddave]

Well it'll soon be that time of year when the small beasties will be waking from their long winter slumber with a bloodlust for human flesh....

My question is.. What in your opinion is the very best insect repellant to stop the onslaught of these tenacious "Micro Zombies"

It can be home made, shop bought "whatever" I just hate being eaten by mozzies, midges, tick, wasps yadda yadda

 

[Nagual]

Probably the only thing to guarantee no bugs, is a bug suit.. So far U've found that nothing works very well. Avon Skin-So-Soft does a not a bad job.. but if the wee midgy blighter's are out in force.. well the games a bogie..

Cheers

 

[ocean1975]

Well i have herd that a birch polypour/Razor strop fungus thrown on the fire lets of a smuge that the mozzies dont like maybe try that.A good mozzie net and keep away from stagnant water as i belive thats there breeding ground,but i am no expert.I am sure other more experienced people will post more ideas

 

[Toddy]

Beaton's midgie jacket

Those vitamin patches last year worked, apart from burning my arm that it

Fife's apparantly pretty safe

cheers,
Toddy

 

[helixpteron]

I hate bugs!

One of the reasons for winter travel.

I surprised myself last month by buying a mozzie head net, which I'll hate wearing!

On the plus side, I've become very good at swatting...

 

[stooboy]

Fife's apparantly pretty safe

we are all that tight its easier getting blood out of stone...

 

[stooboy]

vitamin B1 supplement tablets you can get from holland and barrett apparently work well but i didn't consistently eat them all summer to get consistent results against midge, i think those patches someone was touthing to be great had B1 in them to, think different things work for different people depending on how sweet you taste!

 

[Shewie]

Can't beat the Beaton jacket although Tamarack have started stocking something which I'm going to have to try out.

Thermacell, anyone heard of it ?

http://www.tamarackgroup.co.uk/acatalog/ThermaCell.html

 

[helixpteron]

Thermacell, anyone heard of it ?

 

[ocean1975]

Eat marmite, you love it or hate it.Mozzies hate it so i'm told

 

[Toddy]

It no work I eat it everyday and the biting b*ggers still love me
The patches were supposed to be the same stuff but much higher rates.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[helixpteron]

Try this, its has less tang than Marmite.

 

[Toddy]

It's missing something that stuff. It just doesn't taste as good for some reason or other.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[crazydave]

cat litter works.

make it into a mud pack and liberally apply, the bugs break their teeth on you and give up. also leaves you with baby soft skin

 

[tobes01]

Just take me camping with you. I can guarantee the little s*ds will be so busy swarming on me that they'll leave you alone. On one occasion in the Far East I awoke with 43 king-size mossy bites, Mrs S didn't have a single one.

Last summer in the UK I went for a combo of Nordic Summer (which stinks), Ultrathon, and large hits of vitamin B1, and was left relatively unmolested, so that's my new winning combo. Oh, that and a hooped bivi when I'm on the ground so they can't get to me

 

[tobes01]

Btw, I carry an insect pack that's nearly the size of my FAK, containing:
- Ultrathon
- Nordic Summer
- Vitamin B1
- Antihistamine tablets
- Antihistamine cream
- Head net

 

[Bushwhacker]

Any repellent with a high concentration of DEET.

 

[Melonfish]

well i've got two types of those vitamin patches, one which has a meagre amount in and one which are "highland" branded which have buckets of the stuff in, going to try em both see what i get.
skin so soft does work up to a point, but i find i have to keep applying regular which is a pain, plus at night or when you first wake up those darn midges are all over me..
mozzies think my blood is manky, horseflies and midges aren't as picky...
anti-histamines galore in my kit also.

 

[Wayland]

I mix my own from roughly equal quantities of Citronella oil, Tea Tree oil, Eucalyptus oil and I've just started adding Beck oil which seems to be the main working ingredient in Nordic Summer. (Tamarack have it on the shelf but don't seem to list it online for some reason.)

It seems to work well enough for me but still isn't perfect. If they are really bad a few will still get through.

Having said that, last year it was mainly Harvest Mites that munched on me.

 

[rik_uk3]

Tropical strength DEET