Tick control...is there such a thing?

[CRC]

I'm on 10 acres with about 5 of these partial woods, where I cut come trails thru to walk / bike /etc. thru.

Ticks are quite prevalent out by us, not sure if it's because we are within a mile of Lake Huron or just the area, but the woods near our older home were nowhere near as tick infested, yet we were only about 60 miles apart.

Just wondering if anyone would know of a receipe to help control these pesky critters.

Maybe my only options are to put up with them, or to call an air raid for arial spraying of agent orange-like toxins! LOL (but i'm trying to do it the natural, or more earth friendly way..) it's there's something out there...

CRC

 

[hudr]

I'm on 10 acres with about 5 of these partial woods, where I cut come trails thru to walk / bike /etc. thru.

Ticks are quite prevalent out by us, not sure if it's because we are within a mile of Lake Huron or just the area, but the woods near our older home were nowhere near as tick infested, yet we were only about 60 miles apart.

Just wondering if anyone would know of a receipe to help control these pesky critters.

Maybe my only options are to put up with them, or to call an air raid for arial spraying of agent orange-like toxins! LOL (but i'm trying to do it the natural, or more earth friendly way..) it's there's something out there...

CRC

best thing I have seen for ticks is guineas. If you can stand the noise and keep them from becoming Predator Poop, they work great. Around here a flock will "patrol" a certain area and woe be unto a tick, cricket, grasshopper or fire ant mound that trespasses on their turf.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Chickens will do almost as good a job as guinea fowl, but without the racket. Get some fancy ones that will add some character to your homestead, as well as give you eggs.

 

[pennwalk]

I have heard of putting out a deer feeding station that has insectecide rollers. The theory is that the deer are the keystone species for ticks. If you wipe out the ticks on the deer you wipe out the ticks in the area. You have the cost of the feeder and the corn and insectecide which all adds up. But if it prevents someone from getting lymes disease bad it really would be cheap.

Chris

 

[bugstruck]

Chickens will do almost as good a job as guinea fowl, but without the racket. Get some fancy ones that will add some character to your homestead, as well as give you eggs.

Deer and mice are the biggest carriers (vectors). I've since found a few things that help:
1. Cut or kill anything that can assist in transfering them to you. Low branches and weeds you can brush up against have to go in areas you frequent.
2. I pushed all the low growth back to my RF dog fence. Get a dog that keeps deer out and kills mice. Mine does both. Other animals as noted would work too.
3. If you're droping trees don't let them lay to finish later. De-limb and finish the day you drop them.

Others recommend long pants and shirts. I don't see allot of value for the occassional tick or two. I'd rather spot one on skin.

These few things have cut the ticks in close proximity to my house about 60% to 70% I'd guess. Cut the transference to us and dog nearly 90%. Also be aware that they run in cycles. If your seeing them on the dog (check them often) they are on an upcycle. Most years I've seen three to four cycles. Usually one in spring, one or two in summer, and (believe it or not) one in mid to late winter warm spells. The cycles shift some here so I haven't seen a fully predictible calander cycle.

After a spring weed treatment under my pine trees with Roundup they drop off to near zero for a month or so. They don't like that stuff.

I never used to pay a lick of attention to them. After my Lyme disease I pay lots of attention to ticks.

Hopefully you never do, but if you ever get a Lyme test the Western Blot is the best of the most used tests. Skip the Elisa (sp?) test, it's junk. Better yet, just skip Lyme... period.

 

[suttles]

Please do take ticks serious. I have lyme disease and I have been sick for almost 20 years and didn't know until a western blot was done two years ago.

Some of the information I have read says that lyme is the fastest growing epidemic there is. Other places say it is the second fastest.

Just do be cautious.

Travis,

 

[John47]

Ticks are a problem around here too, but as others have posted, keep grass and weeds short, they climb to the top and jump on to their prey!
Get some chickens, they eat everything!! including what you have in your garden!

I only wear long pants in winter, does give me a chance to see the little buggers crawling up my legs if I get them on me.

I've tried "Off" but it's about as much use against insects as water!

Make sure any ticks you collect are crushed!!

 

[EddieWalker]

There was an article in a recent issue of Progressive Farmer magazine that talked about ticks.

One of the methods that I liked was a tube with treated cotton in it. The mice will bring the cotton to their homes and build beds with it. The cotton is treated to kill ticks. This will break the cycle and cut donw on the numbers dramatically.

Of course I don't remember who makes those tubes or where you can get them, but the idea and reasoning sounded good to me.

Eddie

 

[BillG_in_TX]

Hazmat asked about a product called Mosquito Barrier in a recent post. When I checked their website - http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/ - I noticed that it is also supposed to be effective on ticks. Might be worth a try.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Ticks are quite prevalent out by us, not sure if it's because we are within a mile of Lake Huron or just the area, but the woods near our older home were nowhere near as tick infested, yet we were only about 60 miles apart.

CRC

Must make sure you know what kind of tick. Deer tick versus dog tick. I have attached a pic of a female dog tick that was trying to suck blood from my hairy arm (failed ). If a deer tick tries to suck my blood, I will take a pic and upload the little devil doing its dirty work.

American Dog Tick
[SIZE=+2]Dermacentor variabilis[/SIZE]



Not the dreaded Ixodes scapularis, the Black-Legged or Deer Tick