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.

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...

Ken_adrian, I agree. My kids are more important than anything. Mostly I keep the back area chemical free because 1 child and 1 dog seem to have reactions to everything. This way I have not had to deal with rashes. Saltydawg, I have a wrought iron fence 6 ft high on the sides, and 4 ft on top of the 6 ft high retaining wall. No deer can get in unless they bring a bolt cutter or a ladder. Lol, I will probably need to start treating my dogs topically, at least a couple times a year, during the active months. I'll look into the frontline. Rhizo, yes my dogs get heartworm medication monthly. Heartguard brand. I have just never had a need for the flea/tick treatments. Probably because I bathe and groom my girls every two weeks, and their outside area has always been maintained at a small patch of grass and a large patio. Lucky I guess. My vet says it's okay as long as I am able to keep them flea/tick free. And for all of their life, they have been healthy, bug free little beggers. But your right, I need to educate myself on which chemicals are available for this type of problem. I thought I would start here with suggestions. :-)

I don't see how there could be any connection between mulch and ticks. They are animal parasites. Ants do not live in pine bark but usually nest in soil or decaying wood. They could nest in the soil under the mulch, but not in the mulch.