How about trying tick tubes? They are supposed to work well.

http://www.ticktubes.com/

Ticks are all over this area--It's not the rhododendron's fault. :-)

There was a thread last fall about Gardening and lyme ticks that might be helpful for you.

Claire

Agree, it is not the "fault" of the shrubs, but that is where they choose to hide. So I need to deal with that.

I need to now find good source of nematodes. I did see Amazon has it

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon link to nematodes

This post was edited by agurkas on Thu, Jun 19, 14 at 11:36

why dont you hire a professional lawn care type place ..

and have the place 'nuked' ... BEFORE you move in ...

there isnt very fine a line for me.. between bugs that are an annoyance ... and bugs that have the potential to kill you .. to be a bit dramatic about it ...

i dont have a lot of faith in nems... I THINK it takes a year or so for them to make an impact ... and frankly.. that is too long in my world ... with this threat ...

we have wonderful friends here on GW.. but too many of them.. live in some disney-esque movie.. where every bug is out friend ... pshaw on that.. kill the evil doers ... this aint disney ...

all the power in the world to them.. dont get me wrong ... but they tend to not want to listen to other options ..... more attuned to the potential threat ....

good luck.. from the devils advocate ...

ken

It's true that "this aint disney", but it's not Armageddon either. There's a whole range of options between benign neglect and wholesale slaughter.

Claire

Found even a better source of nematodes. Not a bad price either, considering I need about 50M to treat large lawn and shrubbery

Here is a link that might be useful: 50M Scanmask Spray

From the other pictures you have posted, it seems like you are moving to a house where the yard has been neglected. Between the overgrown rhodie and the stump graveyard. It doesn't help you right NOW, but just getting the whole area cleaned up and kept up will make a huge difference.

I had a similar problem with the house I bought - I'm the next town over. Finding ticks on my then 2 year old. Just getting the yard cleaned up and keeping the lawn mowed has made a huge difference.

In the meantime -

Start daily tick checks. My daughter is 9 now and knows that we still do tick checks every night before bed. There is evidence that a tick has to be on you for 48 hours for the transmission of Lyme. So nightly tick checks reduce the likelihood that the 48 hours will elapse.

If you find any ticks, save them. Place them in a piece of scotch tape folded over, right the date and persons name. Everyone talks about deer ticks (Lyme carriers) being small. At least where I am, dog ticks are more common - though they appear small, dog ticks are huge compared to deer ticks. But you want to save them on the off chance someone in your family is suspect of contacting Lyme disease - having the ticks can help.

Tcks cannot attach thru panty hose/tights. Not sure how old your daughter is, but my DD wears tights under her shorts whenever she is playing outside. She thinks of it as a fashion statement. And I wear pantyhose under my gardening clothes whenever I'm working on the overgrown areas. Granted the panty hose don't help with your torso, neck and arms, but at least it gets half your body covered, and the half that is in closest contact to the ground.

Lastly, think about deer control. Deer are the hosts for deer ticks. Eliminating deer from your yard helps to eliminate deer ticks.

Good luck. And welcome to the country!

I would agree that you should be concerned about the ticks, especially if you're just walking from your car to the house. It sounds like you have the conditions they favor there. And you are right about having shrubs that are too close to the house and too tall keeping it dark and they like tall grass, and maybe the pachysandra you have. Edges of woods and the critters like deer and rodents that they are looking for. Anyway, I found a link below that might help with specifics that you can do.

I rarely see a tick in my yard and I never use chemicals for anything for many reasons, but there is always a different way to go about it anyway. And using chemicals doesn't insure that your problem will be solved either.

Ken, I'm surprised that you promote that approach, 'to just nuke them' I'm sure you have read many posts from others on the forums that don't share your point of view. But since you've brought it up again, then I have to respond again, that there are lots of reasons not to use chemicals, but especially because you can't separate the bad bugs from the good bugs and to just kill anything that moves indiscriminately is pretty short sighted and will come back and bite us all in the backside in the end. Hence the severe problem with bees, etc. And to cause yourself a problem like that when you don't have to, is illogical. I've gone 25 years without using chemicals, and I manage to garden and grow food and I don't have a tick problem, so I guess there must be ways to work around chemical use if you make the effort.

Here is a link that might be useful: How To Reduce Ticks in Your Yard Without Chemicals

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Thu, Jun 19, 14 at 12:31

Oh, dear, ticks are a serious problem, especially if they're deer ticks, which carry Lyme - you have my sympathy.

I agree that mowing the lawn will be a great first step, and I've had great luck with Tick Tubes. They take awhile, just like nematodes, though. They target the ticks on mice, which are the main vector for deer ticks, despite the name.

I take Ken's point that this is a serious problem and deserves a serious response, but I can't agree that nuking the yard is the answer. You could be trading a known evil for something equally but more subtly damaging, and with kids that's an awful feeling.

If you have a dog, bring it to the house as often as you can, of course putting Frontline on it first - IMHO, the ticks far prefer dogs to humans. And, you want to use repellant on the humans, but not on the dog(s) because you want those ticks to seek out the dog and let the Frontline do them in. Some of the other 'spot on' tick controls have repellant in them, so avoid those.

I would be careful with permethrin because it is lethal to cats. Even if you do not have cats yourself, if a neighbor's cat should wander onto your property, get permethrin onto its fur from brushing against a bush sprayed with the stuff, and lick it off, it could have serious consequences. I used to use a spot-on permethrin based fly repellent on my horses because they were out in the pasture and unlikely to contact my cats, but I won't use it on my dogs, or around the house.

Ticks are a big problem. We had the vaccine series while it was available and our dogs are vaccinated annually. I used to vaccinate the horses with the dog vaccine and I keep hoping they will bring the vaccine for humans back again. Lyme and the other tick borne diseases are a great worry.

I haven't gotten the Lyme vaccine for my dog because my vet told me it's only something like 40% effective. And, I've read, in dogs that already have some exposure to the bacteria, it can trigger full-blown Lyme where the bacteria hadn't already produced symptoms on its own. At least until there's a reliable test for the bacteria, it seems like the vaccine isn't a great option.

Also, ticks carry other diseases, some of which are at least as bad as Lyme, so control is really the key.

Then again, my father died of EEE, which he contracted from a mosquito bite. Makes me think about just staying indoors.

DTD, you are so right. While I'm very careful about ticks, I think I'm more worried about mosquitoes. Its bad enough that there is West Nile and EEW to worry about. Now I read last week that mosquitoes here in the US are carrying dengue fever and chikungunya (the second one I never heard of, but doesn't sound pleasant). It certainly does make one think about staying indoors!

Dee

Digging, I'm so sorry about your Dad. I don't understand why they have not developed a vaccine for the various strains of Encephalitis and West Nile for use in people. My horses were inoculated against both diseases each year.

As to the LymeVax, I can't imagine why your vet would have told you what he did. Efficacy studies on the canine vaccine have shown it to be 78% effective. http://www.delawarevalleyacademyvm.org/pdfs/oct09/LymeDisease09.pdf
http://www.dcavm.org/08dec.html
Also they have a newer more comprehensive test for both Lyme and Erhlichia.

It's indeed worrying that the number of diseases spread by ticks and mosquitos is steadily growing. Dee, those newer tropical sounding mosquito borne diseases you mentioned give me the creepie crawlies just thinking about them, and with the recent rainy weather, the little blood suckers are out in droves.

People spray their shrubs with Sevin because their neighbor has aphids. They kill whole bee colonies because they heard that 900 miles to the south there are Africanized killer honey bees. They drench their lawn in Malathion because little brown beetles swarmed their porch light. But when they have bugs that can kill them or their families, they say "poor little things!"

ken_adrian is right. Ticks have no right to live. Get with the program and kill the little nasty things. Kill them with fire. Then kill them again. A lot.

I've admitted it before.....and I'll say it again. We have our yard professionally sprayed every year for ticks and mosquitoes. Let me preface by saying that we have a son with a rare genetic disorder, so there is too much of a risk when it comes to the possibility of EEE ( which three children in our town have contracted) or west Nile, or any of these other vile diseases ticks and mosquitoes carry. Would we still spray if our son didn't have issues? I'm not sure. I'm not keen on the thought of contracting any of these diseases either. DTD, I'm sincerely sorry to hear about you dad.

It was in a sense a difficult decision to make because I was worried about all the other "good" bugs being harmed, but the safety for our son had to come first. We researched and found a local company that has been in business for 90 years, where one guy came up with his own concoction for the spray. It is made up of many natural substances, but yes, there is a very small amount of insecticide in it.

They come every three weeks to spray the entire yard. They know I wish them to keep away from anything in bloom as well as any food in the garden. They mainly spray the wood's edge and into all the trees and shrubs, under decks and porches, etc. where mosquitoes shelter. Three weeks is the life cycle so that is why they have to come that often,

I can say that after a few years of having this done and also observing the insect activity in the garden, I have no less activity from any insects that we used to have, actually this year the wasp and honeybee population seem to have exploded.

The guy who made up the formula said it would not "harm" larger insects. Now, maybe it doesn't kill them dead, but I really don't know how it might affect generations of bugs to come. I also don't know how the spray is affecting the soil, not that the soil is drenched or anything. It's a light mist over the leaf mulch. I've yet to see deformed earthworms, and no, that is not a joke. I really do try to pay attention to how this could be affecting anything in the garden. However, I can say even if I did see a negative effect, we'd still have them spray as the safety of our family has to come first.

I guess I just wanted to make the point that not all sprays are created equal and spraying for ticks/mosquitoes doesn't mean it will by default kill everything the spray touches.

Oh, one more really positive thing about the spraying.....there are so many aromatics in it that it actually keeps the deer away. Double bonus!

I am referred to as "the tick magnet" in my household. It is not uncommon for me to walk across the lawn, spend 10 minutes in the veggie garden, and come in with a tick. I've gotten so I can spot a wood tick sitting on the top of a plant, waving its little legs and waiting to grab hold. I'm going to repeat what I said in the post from last fall that Claire linked.

I live on an old farm with a mix of field, brushy growing-up field, and woods. I use bug dope with DEET, though I put it only on my clothing and I don't always use it. I own several pairs of the pyrethrin impregnated socks and I tuck my pant legs into them. (Along with my bug net during black fly season I usually look pretty dorky when I am out in the garden.) I don't really worry about ticks because during the height of the season I might find 6 or 8 on me over the course of a day, but I do take them seriously. Instead of worrying, I do a complete visual and touch check whenever I come into the house in the spring and fall. Clothes get stripped off and examined along with my body. I again do a complete visual and fingertip check at bedtime every night (until it gets too cold for the ticks to be active) standing nekkid in front of a mirror so that I can see places like under my arms and the middle of my back, etc. in case I missed any the first time around. I also comb my hair with a comb having close-set teeth and do a careful touch examination of my entire scalp. Clothing I take off doesn't go into the bedroom. I view that nightly 15 minutes as the dues I pay for being able to get out beyond the lawn areas at my house. When we first moved here I used to freak out about getting a tick, but there are so many (mostly wood ticks, though there are some deer ticks) that I just don't have the energy to get worked up about them. I'd rather put the energy in to doing careful checks afterwards since it takes a day or more for a tick to get seated and spread disease. I do this check religiously, every single night, even if I have not worked in the garden. It's part of my bedtime routine, like brushing my teeth.

It is my understanding (and fits in with my observations here) that rodents are a large part of the cause of the "deer" (more accurately referred to as "black-legged") tick problem, so the tick tubes, which target the application of permethrin specifically to rodents, make good sense. I haven't used them, however, and studies vary in their evaluation of effectiveness.

Last season was the first we had appreciable numbers of black-legged ticks, so we are just starting serious consideration of management for them. I haven't previously seen reference to nematodes as good for controlling ticks, so I did some reading. It seems like around here they aren't too effective since nematodes live in the soil, and when are ticks are in or on the ground, it's too cold for the nematodes to be effective. They are also more effective on adults that the nymphs that often spread disease. However, I did come across a fungus that it supposed to be better in this part of the country, Metarhizium anisopliae, that has met with EPA approval for tick control. Unfortunately, it appears to still be in the product development stages.

As others have mentioned, keeping areas with brush or long grass mowed will help reduce shelter areas for ticks, and reducing areas like stone walls where rodents hide will help as well.

What Babs said. I went to a lecture by an Entomologist from Rhode Island (which is tick central). He did what Babs does. Strips in front of a mirror (which he said, gets more unpleasant every day) and does a tick check. One thing he said that is important, a deer tick has to be on you for at least 48 hours for a person to contract Lyme or other similar diseases. So the nightly check is the way to go to stay safe.

Steve

I enjoy gardening as well as foraying into woods and wild areas where ticks are rampant, and get bitten by at least 1/2 dozen deer ticks per year since moving to this house (12 years this August). I am primarily organic in my yard, except for a small amount of herbicide on invasive plants. I would absolutely NOT use a blanket insecticide for ticks, because of the risk of killing other beneficial and harmless insects (I like bugs).

Here are some relatively organic techniques I use to control exposure to ticks, which I suppose have worked because I've managed to avoid contracting Lyme despite regular contact with deer ticks for 12 years:

- Remove or keep well pruned all shrubbery and woody vegetation, remove all weeds and organic matter, and keep grass mowed in a minimum of 10-20 foot perimeter around the house and play areas for children

- If you have lush gardens, or venture into wooded, shrubby, or grassy areas, then wear long sleeves and pants, and spray a light application of DEET (Off, Cutter's, etc.) on your clothing beforehand - this repels ticks

- Immediately after working/gardening outdoors, or hiking into wild/grassy/field areas, remove all clothing and throw in laundry, and take a shower to wash off ticks

- Do tick checks nightly

- If you find a tick on your body, remove tick and clean bite with alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, and apply antibiotic ointment to bite for several days (i.e. Bactroban, a prescription topical antibiotic).

- If in doubt about a tick bite (>48 hours after bite), or observe a rash or other symptoms, see doctor and perhaps take a prophylatic or full dose of Doxycycline, the antibiotic most commonly prescribed for Lyme - THE EARLIER THE BETTER. (I have a stash of Doxy and occasionally take a prophylactic dose)

- Monitor pets! They get bitten and bring ticks in on their fur.

Very educational thread. Great to hear how everyone with more of a threat from ticks deals with them. It really is a worry. I will have to review what we are doing to see if there isn't more we should be doing.

DtD, so sorry about your Dad. That must have been such a shock. Can understand why you would be anxious about going outdoors. I hope you have a screened porch so you can enjoy the outside without worrying some of the time.

I seem to remember they discovered mosquitoes with EEE very early this year and sprayed heavily in Southern Mass. I’ve noticed much fewer mosquitoes this year and I wondered if that had anything to do with it, even though I’m not in those immediate areas.

I didn't mention it, but I also have a hat that I wear during the worst of tick season that is pyrethrin impregnated and has flaps that come down over my neck. Even when it's not the worst of tick season I wear a hat since there are also mosquitoes and deer flies, and I am not fond of bugs and bites in my hair and ears.

Worth mentioning again: Permethrin is toxic to cats, so if you have pet cats, or if you have new neighbors that have outdoor cats (which you might not know yet, if you just moved in), be sure all the cats are safely inside when you apply the poison, until it is completely dry - preferably keep them away from the area for at least 5 days after application, and don't let them out if it rains on the new application for a week. Since cats groom themselves, they ingest the poison when licking their fur. The clinical signs of permethrin toxicosis in cats may include muscle tremors, hyperexcitability, depression, ataxia, vomiting, seizures, anorexia, and death. Signs may develop within a few hours to 3 days following exposure. It is not AS toxic to dogs and children, but definitely do not let them out into the area until it is well-dried and ventilated. Personally, I'd rather have the occasional tick than risk huge vet bills from sick pets. I keep a bottle of dog/cat flea/tick spray under the sink for myself (I like the Frontline spray, Adams also makes a decent one). When I get a tick, I spray it a squirt then cover it with a bandaid. I take the bandaid off in 10 minutes, the tick falls right off. No big deal. But then, I also deworm myself when I deworm my cats (with Pyrantel Pamoate), so I may be "weird".