Idea on getting rid of tics in yard

[JuliaFaith]

This is an excerpt from his current newsletter:

 

As we enter the months with the greatest incidence of tick bites and acute Lyme disease you will read a lot of verbiage about prevention of tick bites. Please discard most of what you hear as the ideas are not logical. For example, have you heard to use insect repellents like DEET? I use these products every day to reduce the number of mosquito bites I risk entering the forests and swamps of this area. But I never saw any reduction in tick bites. Why? Ticks are arachnids, like mites and spiders. Permethrin is an excellent tick repellent. The Army puts permethrin into the uniforms of soldiers stationed in tick endemic areas.

 

But the commercial permethrin-containing sprays were pulled from the market last year. Why? Ask the Feds. No logic touched that decision.

 

So after I was permethrin-less and had another beautiful ECM rash from a tick bite last spring, it was time to visit the farm store. There in the horse chemical section was 10% permethrin, used by horse people all the time on their animals. Simply put one ounce of the stock solution into a 32-ounce misting container, fill with water and spray your clothes. Good bye ticks.

 

While you are there, pick up some rotenone powder too. Take two ounces; dissolve in a gallon of water. Now take cotton balls, dunk them into the rotenone solution and use tongs to place the soaked cotton balls at the end of your gardens, plantings, trees and wildlife edges. I suggest you do this at dusk to try to make sure your dog or cat can’t play with the cotton balls. In the morning, take a look at where you cotton balls were. Just about all will be gone.

 

Mice (mousies, as they are known around here) love cotton balls. They take the cotton to line their globes (nests) quicker than anyone would believe. Now the rotenone soaked cotton kills the ticks on the mice as the mice sleep away. Keeping the ticks off mice will protect you far better than shooting neighborhood deer!

[Bill]

My geranium oil of essence in almond oil (10-20 drops per tablespoon) seems to repel ticks very well. Neighbors have been telling me they have great success with powdered lyme in their yards.

[dcmom]

Damminix (you can find online) sells "tick tubes", which are what Shoemaker is talking about. Mice are a huge source of lyme/ ticks. They take the permethrin-soaked cotton from the tubes, back to their nests. This kills the ticks in one of their big habitats. Many people also make their own tubes.

 

I also just read that diatamateous earth (sp?) or sulfur sprinkled on lawn is good for getting rid of ticks.

 

Permethrin can be sprayed in yard perimeters, rock walls, etc. It can be sprayed on shoes and clothing, it will last a few weeks (I will not do this for my children, however).

 

Preventing deer and mice, in your yard, to the degree possible, is helpful. Keeping lawn short, perimeter areas trimmed.

 

Obviously, tick checks every night. I do not let my kids in tall grass, weeds, or woods (unless special circumstances, and then with lots of precautions).

 

We just moved to a particularly lovely, but tick infested, part of horse country, in NJ. I imagine it will take a few years of doing the above, to make a dent in our tick population. It is a real bummer, we live across the street from a preserved "meadow" with a large stream running through it. This would be heaven for the kids and dog- but now, we only frequent there when the ground is frozen. So sad.

 

Of course, my kids have ocd- so I need to remember to keep "balance" with all things we do....so, I do this all without panic, and without talking daily about ticks.