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Pennsylvania Gardening

Chiggers in PA gardens?

18 years ago

In the last week I have been suffering from a dozen or so 'bites' on my legs. The itching is sooo intense. While working in my shrubs/flowes I have been aware of many sudden 'stings', but saw nothing that appeared to cause them. After about 24 hours the dime sized red marks with a tiny blister in the center appears in areas where I remembered feeling the subtle 'stings'. In doing a web search, I have identified this problem as likely being 'chigger' bites. For some reason I always thought that chiggers were a problem in the South. Anyone of you in PA know anything about Chiggers in PA.

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Comments (6)

bulldinkie
18 years ago
yes years ago the kids and I went to pick raspberries wild..We got dozens chigger bites but the problem we have are the darn black & white winged flys and young horse flys when they bite ya know it.
FourSeasons
18 years ago
Well..hubby and I are now renting a home in Pennsylvania after living in Missouri the past 3 years. I got to know chiggers really well and can tell you that I never knew when I was being bit until it was too late...like the next day or so. They are sneaky and you suffer for it later...People have told me there are chiggers in Pennsylvania but thankfully I haven't found them yet :)

In Missouri, whenever I felt a subtle "sting" and got an itch the next day it was mostly from those "no-see-em's." Sometimes I swear they are worse than chigger bites. You can get bit by them just sitting on your porch!

I now have the same problem bulldinkie described...One of those black & white winged flies got into the house on Monday and bit me and today it itches like crazy!
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Lowraine, I am feeling for ya!! Those chiggers sound downright evil!! Biting little buggers!! I hope you can get rid of them. Mite larvae right, I looked them up. I can't believe how yucky they are. Sounds like drowning them might be the only way. The sight I saw said to drown them in soapy water a couple times a week, and they may not come back. Worth a try I guess. Good Luck!! g
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I have been having the same problem. I used to live down south, so I know what a chigger bite is like and these bites seem very similar. I don't remember ever having this problem before. Usually when I get a mosquito bite, it welts right away and turns a little red and they itch for a couple of days (moderately)...these bites are different...they do not welt (almost looks like a pimple), they aren't red, but they itch like crazy and nothing seems to help the itch. And they seem to itch for a week or more. And I never see them bite me, so I don't know exactly when or where I am getting them. I hope we can figure it out soon.... :(
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belmont8 - thank you! Easton must be the one I was remembering - Allentown and Bethlehem and Easton are so close, they are practically one town (but don't tell that to the folks in Bethlehem!). So sad about the roses - I must have read that article in Rosa Mundi you reference. I looked up the Allentown Rose Gardens - very pretty for a Govt. Park! Maybe I will visit that one, although my love is old roses. Ha! with your help I just found the 2006 Seidel article about the old roses in the Easton Cemetery - it was re-printed in a newsletter of the ARS Penn-Jersey District rose society in West Chester, PA in 2009. So sad that the roses are all gone - hopefully we can keep that from happening at the Sacramento Historic Cemetery Rose Garden. Government bureaucracies can be so bone-headed! Jackie
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castanea
18 years ago
A friend of mine said they have them in Cincinnati, OH. I grew up in NE New Jersey(zone 6b),and we never had them there. I've lived in the Catskills in NY State & they aren't there either. I now live in NE Pennsylvania and they aren't around here either. But, of course, we have other pests to take up the slack!
gazania_gw
Original Author
18 years ago
This is my first experience with these 'chiggers' and I don't like it! We have lived here just north of Pittsburgh for 6 years. I am a native Pennsylvanian, but spent 35 years in Ohio and Michigan before retiring 'back home'. Mosquitoes in Ohio were really bad, and the black flies in Michigan were worse. I don't have either of them here, but right now I would trade my chiggers for black flies and mosquitoes in a heartbeat! No, on second thought, no mosquitoes means that I can sit out on my porch in the evening and enjoy the sights and sounds of my garden, while scratching my chigger bites!
geoforce
18 years ago
Worst biters I've found around here are the ones my native (lived in PA since childhood) friends call 'deer flies'. These are little delta winged critters with white wing tips and the have both instant ouch and persistant itch value far beyond what you would imagine from their size. Don't know if this is what is being referred to as 'black flies' above or not. We have very few horse flies in our area, and a jillion annoying but not biting mushroom flies.
cnace01
8 years ago
My daughter had 1 red spot above her waistline and I shrugged it off. Now she has 2 spots and they're itchy. I had chigger bites when visiting Myrtle Beach and these look just like them! I'm treating her with Pain Oil I got in an Amish community which worked like a charm to get rid of mine. I think with the changing Eco system, we're likely to see more in PA.

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