I take ticks and Lyme Disease very seriously, along with the mosquito-borne diseases we get here, but I don't let them stop me from gardening.

My first line of defense here in southeastern MA is bug sprays. During tick season I put on a product containing DEET or Picaridin (20%) as I go out the door in the morning. These are products for adults - they're too concentrated for kids. Someone else probably knows what's currently recommended for children.

I also rely on wild turkeys to nosh on the ticks (turkeys LOVE ticks). I actually haven't seen one on me for years (ticks, that is, I see lots of turkeys) but I'm not taking any chances.

We have an FAQ on the New England Gardening FAQ page, How can I protect myself and my family from ticks and Lyme Disease? that may be useful.

Claire

Kate, it sounds like you know a lot about preventative techniques ---- what to do about possible bites and how to protect your pets (do have any?) are important. Ticks are serious business when you have small children. But stopping ticks from coming into the yard is key.

Your control techniques --- a dry barrier to enclose your property and a well manicured yard --- are sound. That's what we do here at our house along a river in southern CT. We've never seen ticks in our yard. But ours is open and very sunny. Keeping everything open, clean and mowed is key. Even so, it's almost impossible to prevent smaller animals from coming up the river bank. Everyone worries about deer in the yards, but mice can also be Lyme carriers.

I don't know how you feel about yard spraying. Our river leads to the sound, so that's not something we like. If your new house is in a wooded area, you might want to research and consider seasonal spraying along the perimeter and kinds of sprays that can be used on children --- like Claire suggested. The link she provided has great information.

Molie

Everyone has to find their his/her balance between a nearly tick-proof yard (solid concrete, or heavily sprayed garden devoid of life) and a tick haven (shrubby, wild) - and I guess it's a good thing that we can make that choice. I rarely saw a tick in my yard until about 3 years ago, and that's when I started cleaning out beds a bit more, checking myself for ticks every evening, and staying out of the woods and grasslands around my town.

I also bought and set out Tick Tubes; I like these best, when it comes to insecticides, because they have much less impact than spraying, which negatively affects birds and other allies in the fight against ticks. As Molie says, treating the rodents - which exist everywhere, even if you don't see them -may be the key to controlling ticks.

I'm thankful that we both had the complete set of Lyme vaccinations while they were available, but I fear these immunizations' efficacy may be wearing off with time. Also there is now an increasing number of other tick born diseases which is especially worrisome.

I'm not sure I can add any advice that hasn't been offered in the other comments. Surprisingly this past year, I have found only two or three ticks on ourselves and the animals. The two I pulled off the dogs were dead (from the topical spot-on parasite repellent I treat them with) and the one on myself did not develop the bullseye rash. The map charts on the walls of the vet clinic show a disturbing increase in cases of Lyme disease in my area, and there must be similar charts of cases in humans. Climate change and travel have spread populations of these icky arachnids from southern New England up here to the north.

I refuse to stay out of the woods, but then I'm old and my woods walking days are probably numbered. If I was a young woman with a young child, I think my fatalistic perspective would be one of greater vigilance. On the other hand, keeping a kid from climbing trees and playing in the woods or meadows is probably not realistic. The tick situation is definitely worrisome and there just aren't great solutions.

I'm a little confused when folks say they have/haven't seen deer ticks in their yard. I can barely see one when its on my arm or leg; how can anyone see them in their yard? (Rereading this, it sounds like I'm bashing or poo-pooing people, but honestly I'm not. Serious question.)

Is it only these tiny deer ticks that cause Lyme disease, or am I mistaken? (hence the above question about seeing them! :) )

Dee

Dee, I would assume that people with yards would be counting only those ticks that have attached themselves and fed after spending time in their yards. I'm not sure I've ever seen a tick "in the wild" as it were, because, as you've said, they are tiny when not engorged with blood, and hard to spot.

As far as I know only deer ticks spread Lyme disease, but I'm not sure about the other tick born diseases, ehrlichia and others.

Deer ticks and ticks in general seem to be on the rise. I know moose in NH are being killed off by an over abundance of ticks feeding on them. That is the popular theory anyway. Chipmunks carry deer ticks, so we rid our yard of them. We had caught over 80 in one season so we really were overrun. If there are a handful, we leave them alone.

I must admit. We have professional spraying done for ticks and mosquitoes. We have a child with a rare genetic disorder and can't take any chances whatsoever with the insect-borne diseases. I wish we didn't have to, but we have to protect our child first. They spray the perimeter of the yard up in the woods, and when they spray directly in the garden beds they won't spray anything in bloom and never go anywhere near the veggie garden. We've been doing it for about 3 years and since then have not seen a tick or mosquito and we used to have tons of them, but I do still see lots of varieties and large quantities of bees as well as dragonflies, ladybugs and other insects. Not sure what the long term effect will be though which makes me sad.......

I am kind of nervous because we are building a new house and it is pretty close to a big wooded area. We had some options of where to put the house but anyway the back of the house is somewhat close to a big wooded area. So I will clear as far back as I can and install the gravel barrier (how thick do you all think?) and as much fencing as I can. the side and front yardwill be more open. It is werid though as we will be clearing more trees than we otherwise would have in order to open up the yard a lot specifically to try to tick proof. I read about those tick tubes and it makes sense but we have a nice brook bordering our yard and I hate the idea of pesticides. But if it comes down to it I will do it to protect our family. Basically I want to really fence off as big an area as I can and keep it super clean and also the gravel barrier. I am just feeling even unsure about planting gardens but I guess I will do well tended maybe smaller and less bushy gardens nd try to have as much open sunny area as I can. It is really a shame as I used to love walking in the woods and spending much of my time in nature but now I feel guarded from the tick scare. Also as a mom of a young kid I have to do all I can to provide a nice big yard for my kid to play in that is as clean as possible. sort of repeating my original post I guess, but also adding that it is a real shame that this problem hs gotten to this point.

does anyone have experience using diatomaceous earth for tick control in the yard? I read about it but don't know about it. Is it safe to put in the perimeter of the yard?

furthering this discussion I am also interested to hear more about people's personal experiences using the tick tubes.peremethrin. I am generally completely opposed to pesticides and have always been organic. But I think this lyme tick thing is out of control and not a natural thing and very dangerous.

Can you explain more about how they work? I would put them outside of my fenced in yard as I have a young child and also do not want them right in my living space.

So I would have a gravel barrier with a fence in the middle of it (so the gravel would extend to two sides of the fence.) possibly I will put diacemateous earth mixed in with the gravel but I have to research it. So would it be good to then put the tick tubes on the outside of the fence? I would rather be over the top prepared and reduce my risk by whatever means possible.

so it is cardboard tubes with permethrin soaked cotton in it- the mice eat the cotton so then what happens when the tick bites the mouse- does it kill the tick? And does that spread around to the general population surrounding my yard? Iam trying to understand how effective they really are. And then do they pose danger to the birds and bees and other things? and also, we are deciding soon about some woded areas we are thinning trees out of. We would like to leave some shady trees- so these days can one not sit under a shady tree even in well mowed grass? or does well mowed grass really keep them away?

me again :) Just wanted to say I just did some reading up on the tick tubes and I think I will get them for sure. They seem to really help. Do they have to be right in the yard to keep them out of the yard or can they b on the other side of the fence? I am glad to know there is something that can actually reduce the ticks as well as keeping them away with gravel and short lawn.

Just wanted to mention that if & when you do find a tick on yourself or your child, you can have the tick tested for Lyme and other common tick-borne illnesses. UMass Extension does the testing--you just mail it to them in a baggie. I have done it twice (once for each of my kids) and both times we were fortunate that the tick did not have any diseases.

http://ag.umass.edu/services/tick-borne-disease-diagnostics

I can't speak from personal experience vis a vis Lyme ticks since I haven't found any on my person (that I know of) despite living in CT. However, year before last I counted
(+ freaked out over) a total of 5 ticks on my person during the months of May & June after hanging bedding on my backyard clothesline, which is in full sun and not in a wooded location. That was a mere 10 minutes' time walking on lawn grass. The same year my near neighbors also confirmed discovering multiple ticks on themselves after working in their garden beds.

I was able to remove the ticks I found on my person but must admit the experience left me wondering if I'd missed any that were too small for me to see.

Has anyone Googled this issue to see what the most current data indicate in terms of the seriousness/escalation of the problem?

Several years ago I had granite paths set in concrete laid down edging a number of my garden beds for both practical & aesthetic purposes. I'm glad now that I made the effort so I can at least enjoy those beds which are nearest the house without worrying overmuch about Lyme ticks.

KateB22 - It is my understanding that the mice take the pyrethrin soaked cotton to back to their nests to cozy up in, so that the deer ticks are killed in the mouse nest areas or on the mouse's pyrethrin coated fur.

I don't have either kids or pets, so I just have to worry about myself. I live on an old farm with a mix of field, brushy growing-up field, and woods. Like Claire, 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. I do a complete visual check whenever I come into the house in the spring and fall. I again do a complete visual and fingertip check at bedtime every night (until it gets too hot or 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 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 something like 48 hours for a tick to get seated and spread disease.

gardenweed- and everyone--it is my understanding that the lyme tick problem ( or ticks that carry lyme and other infections) is the worst that it has ever been, especially increasing in the last 3-5 years. I did a ton of reading about it recently after a possible tick bite scare. And what I read made me want to do everything I can to keep my yard as tick free as possible. I also read numerous articles suggesting that lyme disease was a human manufactured thing, not something natural. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not, just pointing out that I read it. And if it were true it explains why the disease does not follow a more natural course. Also, it explains why there is such a huge outbreak of disease carrying ticks these days.

To that end I think people need to act with a much different approach than we ever had. This is why I , a longtime organic gardener, am strongly considering using the tick tubes even though they are a chemical. I would never use them for pest control otherwise but for the danger these ticks present to people.

As I said in my first post, I used to walk in the woods every day and garden for hours and never ever found a tick. These days ( I am in Vermont) people I know in my state and all over new England are finding ticks on them in their own yards, gardens and woods. Not just brush anymore. Because I have a young child I want to be as careful as I can be, and for my and my husband;s sake also.

Has anyone else here noticed the proliferation of them in the last few years in new areas? And also has anyone else here used the tick tubes after not ever previously using chemicals? I actually want to post a question specifically about the tick tubes too.

"I also read numerous articles suggesting that lyme disease was a human manufactured thing, not something natural. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not, just pointing out that I read it. And if it were true it explains why the disease does not follow a more natural course. Also, it explains why there is such a huge outbreak of disease carrying ticks these days."

That claim comes from extremely "fringe" literature and isn't taken seriously by the scientific community. And I am not sure what you mean by lyme disease not following a natural course. Lyme disease is carried by ticks. Tick populations have been on the rise. And ticks are not a creation of some shady government agency or biolab. What might be causing tick populations to rise probably inolves a lot of complex feedbacks. For example, deer populations have been on the rise for some time. And they are an important vector for deer ticks and lyme. And who knows how the small rodent population may or may not have changed over the last 20 years. The bottom line is ticks and lyme are here and I bet the population of ticks will vary a lot in the coming years and with it the incidence of lyme will rise and fall. We just have to roll with it and take reasonable precautions. The biggest precaution is to check the kids and yourself for ticks every night before bed. A tick must be attached and feeding on you for about 24 hours before lyme can be successfully transmitted. Some say it takes up to 48 hours. So if you check yourself daily and remove any ticks promptly, you will almost eliminate your chance of getting it. I have a friend in NH who has done research on lyme and deer ticks. Apparently about 50% of deer ticks at her field sites in NH carried lyme.

I don't use chemicals in my garden or my house, as a rule, so getting the tick tubes was a decision I made after careful consideration, weighing the seriousness of Lyme and the relatively light environmental impact of the tubes. I would not be comfortable spraying my yard, and I'm not in a position to raise guinea hens, which are supposed to be the most environmentally friendly control method.

Note, the tubes are most effective if placed during the nesting season - I'm not sure, but I suspect that most mice have their beds made already. Also, you want to place them in areas where there actually may be mice - in scrubby underbrush, not in gravel or open areas. Fences mean nothing to mice, so either side of the fence is fine.

Rockman, thank you for expressing exactly what I thought about that conspiracy theory! Kate, I sympathize with wanting to read everything you can about ticks, but be careful about believing things you read on fringe web sites. That kind of hysteria does *nothing* to help us understand Lyme and ticks, in my opinion. I try to stick to .edu, .org, and .gov sites, and look for reference material that indicates the source of an idea - a peer-reviewed study, for example.

Dee's comment about raising guinea hens as tick-eating machines is based on fact. My cousin raised them on her horse farm--- you could watch them eat their way back & forth across the fields. The only problem she had was an increase in coyotes, which eventually destroyed the guinea hen flock.

Rockman is also correct that deer populations are on the rise, perhaps also due to the fact that more residential areas have taken over forest lands. Homeowners build in the migratory paths of deer and then plant tasty and tempting gardens and shrubbery. To the deer, these landscapes are like delicatessens. My first home was in a highly wooded area. On my way to work, I'd see deer grazing on people's lawns. In the afternoon, I'd find them visiting my back gardens. For a time I worked at a large retail nursery where deer were (facetiously) referred to as "a garden center's best friend" because so many customers were replacing decimated shrubs and perennials.

I live in the Hudson Valley. This year I have had 4 tick bites. I had never seen a lyme tick in my yard before this year. I think it has to do with the fact that I eased up on my routine of throwing my outdoor clothes into the basement laundry everyday and not rewearing them (7 garden outfits are not unusual here), taking a shower before bed on any day I am outdoors (which is everyday during garden season), and never lounging in the house with outdoor clothes on. So I got bitten. Back to the routine...

All the bites had a really bloody hole after the tick fell out (or was dug out by me). They were in my forehead hairline, under my breast, and in my groin. One bite gave me a fever and weird muscle pains in the smooth muscles of my abdomen the next day for 5 days.

I went to an infectious disease specialist here and he put me on doxycycline for 2 weeks. He said the most true (90% sure) test comes around 3 months after the bite (it tests for your own antibodies). I tested negative for the other bites but will wait now to test for this one that made me sick. I caught it early. Don't ignore immediate symptoms of Lyme because it then goes unnoticed and can make you really sick, crippled and uncurable years later.

I was also tested for the other two diseases the ticks are carrying (mentioned above). It's not fun and I urge everyone to really take care of yourself.

I trap a lot of mice and voles in the garden because they eat my plants, but I'm wondering if I should let them live so the ticks will go on them! Those tick tubes look good and I will investigate them. They're new to me.

Also keep an eye on any bagged mulch you buy. I had a few bags of cedar mulch that had swarms of dog ticks in them. What a nightmare! This year the new bags of mulch brought those huge snake worms (look them up) which turned my mulch, pathways, compost and my whole garden soil into nothing but worm casting pellets, devoid of organic matter and too porous to hold water.

What a year...

Chiming in late, but I am curious what does a gravel barrier do?? It's not going to stop either deer or mice from crossing,

Yes I worry about Lyme disease and get bit at least a half dozen times per year, because I routinely walk through wild areas, and work in a yard full of shrubbery, long grass, etc. I don't plan on stopping these activities until my body no longer works or I drop dead (whatever comes first and I hope it's dropping dead). Also, the cat occasionally brings ticks in.

Thankfully, there are procedures to help prevent tick bites and when they do bite I notice the tick right away - it causes an itchy reaction. I have a stash of Doxycycline just in case the bite seems to warrant a prophylactic dose (rarely). Also, get a Lyme titre once in awhile to check for antibodies, which have been negative.

To answer your question about gravel barriers. I think this is right- I am still learning.
I think the tick and mice/deer connection is not so much that they are on the mice and deer ( maybe they are too, I don't know) but that I think they have a life cycle in which--
they ticks come out, and they ( so I have been told) do not yet have the diseases in them (not sure if this is true) and they feed on the mice and then get the diseases. SO this is where the tick tubes work because they feed on the mice and die from the permythrin supposedly.
As for the gravel, I think that means that th ticks themselves do not like to walk over it- I read it feels like walking on glass to them. So the ticks are in the brush or even nowadays the leaves on the ground and really who knows where else- I am thinking they are very many places.
So the idea is to have a gravel barrier around your lawn and between the lawn and the woods or higher bushes and brush. Rather than just having your yard end in brush. So it creates a safer space in the yard where the ticks don't cross over from the brush and woods. (they can still come in of course and also on birds or animals but I guess it reduces them).
I spent years in the woods and up until a few years ago it was fine but now I am paranoid about it and really want to create a well defined well manicured yard to try to keep our family in.