Tick Control Methods: Effective Strategies for Managing Infestations

Understanding Ticks and Their Preferences

Before you can combat any pest, you need to understand it, know where it lives, what it eats, and how likely you are to become its all-you-can-eat buffet. Ticks are tiny, so it’s shocking that they cause as much damage as they do. These little arachnids camp in grassy or wooded locations, so it’s not uncommon to have an abundance of them if you live near woods or forest areas.

Those who live close to the Jersey Shore might also have a heightened issue as the beach provides an excellent area for them to hang out. Cleaning your yard is of the utmost importance due to the preferences of these bloodsuckers. They love shrubs, piles of leaves, stacked wood, and overgrown grass. These areas are shaded and moist, giving them a prime location to lay their eggs.

Since these eggs are a delicacy to animals like rabbits and deer, they want to keep them out of harm’s way. Have you ever wondered why ticks are such a vast annoyance? Given their small size, it’s hard to imagine they create such issues. The problem is the pathogens they carry. The most dangerous ticks in this area are the lone star, deer, and dog ticks.

Remember, not all ticks are infected with Rocky Mountain spotted fever or Lyme disease. However, you should treat each one as if they carry these pathogens. The black-legged tick also called the deer tick in this area, is one of the primary transmitters of Lyme disease, but it also carries other harmful bacteria, such as anaplasmosis.

Each year, there are more than 400,000 cases of Lyme disease diagnosed in this country, but there are many other diseases caused by ticks that don’t make the local news. Ironically, entomologists predict that the number of ticks will only increase with climate change occurring worldwide, so it’s best to have a game plan in place.

Identifying a Problem

How do you know if your yard is infested with ticks? There are a few simple ways to tell. First, the time of year can help indicate an issue, as they’re most active from April through October. However, with climate changes, they can start earlier and go longer, depending on the temperatures.

Inspecting your yard during the warmer seasons is essential, as you can find them hanging out in bushes, wood piles, tall grass, and other areas. A flashlight is an excellent tool to help you see them, especially at dusk. Once you know that you have an infestation in your yard, the chances that you or your pets will be bitten are inevitable.

If you see ticks crawling throughout your home or are picking them off yourself, pets, or children, then it’s safe to say you need to take action immediately.

Physical Characteristics

Since there are a lot of smaller bugs, you want to ensure what you’re dealing with is, in fact, a tick. Here are some things to consider:

• Ticks can have many shade variations, from brown to red and even black.

• An adult tick has eight legs, while the larvae only have six.

• A fully engorged tick has been feeding for 12 or more hours, usually turning a shade of gray and becoming puffy.

• A tick that hasn’t recently fed is round, almost like a teardrop shape, and their bodies are flat.

• Seed ticks are often called this name because they resemble a sesame seed as they’re so small. However, adults can be as large as a raisin.

How Much Will It Cost You With DIY Yard Treatments?

Everyone’s concerned about money, and treating an entire yard for pests can be costly. However, you can expect the average cost to be anywhere from $35-$200 per treatment using the DIY method.

Of course, your lawn’s size and chosen method will dictate the cost. Remember, the DIY methods are labor intensive, so you may decide to have pest control professionals help with preventative measures if you’re not up for the task.

Six Ways to Secure Your Yard by Getting Rid of Ticks

When working with pests, it would be nice if you could treat them once and be done. Sadly, this is not how things work when dealing with nature. Pesticides and other methods to eliminate spiders, fleas, and ticks only go so far. However, if you do nothing, your lawn will be like a luxury hotel for all the creeping crawling critters that call it home.

The key is to make it an uninhabitable environment and do everything possible to make it a place they pass through onto greener pastures. Here are some ways to eradicate ticks or at least have them pack their bags and move on to someone else’s yard.

1. Scatter DE or Diatomaceous Earth All Around

One of the best products to use is DE, and the nice part about this product is that it’s inexpensive. You can usually get a 40 lb. bag for under $40. DE is a natural product that comes in food grade or traditional. If you have children and pets that play in the yard, it’s best to look to the food grade as it’s better for them.

The good news is that it’s not dangerous, and it won’t harm pets or kids if they ingest it. The product is made by grinding glass shells into a fine powder. The powder has a high silica content that sticks to the tick’s body and lungs. Eventually, the tick cannot breathe and will perish.

It’s best to put DE anywhere that you have an issue. If you live on a property with many acres, it’s impossible to do all of it. In this instance, you want to hit your hot spots, usually the areas closest to your home and where your children or pets frequent.

2. Don’t Skimp on Yard Maintenance

You must keep up with your lawn to avoid ticks or other pests. If you let the weed-eating go for a week or two, it may be enough to invite these critters into your home.

Additionally, ensure your shrubs are clipped and tree limbs are not hanging low to the ground. Remember, ticks like shade and moist soil, so exposing any part of your lawn to sunshine will deter them.

Many people have wood piles for their fireplaces, but these are not only a huge attraction to ticks but also to snakes and other vermin. To help protect them, keep wood piles covered and a good distance from the home. Additionally, any piles of leaves or brush on the property should be removed when cut and not let sit and collect moisture.

3. Change Your Landscaping to Things that Are Unwelcoming for Ticks

Some of the plants in your lawn can attract ticks. Did you know that popular things like Japanese barberry and glossy buckthorn shrubs tend to attract ticks and other critters? These bushes are popular because they’re inexpensive and hold their color all year long, but they are fast-growing and can quickly cover the ground, which provides a great space for ticks to hide.

Your best bet is to replace these attractive plants with repellent ones, such as mint, lavender, yucca, marigold, beautyberry, and pine. Certain smells, like garlic, repel ticks, so having some of these plants in your lawn will help keep them at bay.

4. Install Tick Tubes

You likely haven’t heard about tick tubes. However, this DIY trick can help you keep your lawn’s population down. You can buy these in the store or make them using toilet or paper towel holders.

The tubes must be treated and filled with cotton balls soaked in a pesticide. The most used one is permethrin. Place one of these tubes anywhere you have activity. If you have a lot of shrubs on the lawn, it’s a great place to hide a few. Plus, they will also create a diversion for other critters.

5. Deter Deer, Vermin, and Other Animals

Ticks want to go where there’s food, and they often hitch a ride into your yard on the back of a bird, mouse, rat, or deer. So, one way to deter them is to make your lawn a place where animals don’t like to come. It would be best to have a fence, as this is the best way to keep animals off your lawn.

If your fence is broken, you need to get it repaired to help secure your property. Don’t keep bird feeders or tubs of seed outside, and make sure to plant flowers and shrubs that are deer-resistant. When it comes to your trash, you want to make sure you keep it in bins that lock, as raccoons can’t resist this feast, and ticks are waiting nearby for their meal too.

6. Use Pesticides

Pesticides can be chemically based or all-natural, so the choice is up to you. Many folks see these as a last resort, but using a safe pesticide can be a great way to protect your lawn. Acaricides are the most popular type, and they’re a very good product that helps you to see a huge reduction in the number of ticks on your lawn.

The only problem with these agents is that you don’t want to kill off environmentally beneficial insects, such as honeybees or some spiders. If you need blanket spraying, which is an extensive area, it’s best to contact a pest control company to handle the job for you.

When to Get Professional Help?

Getting rid of every tick in your yard is impossible, but you can use a few strategies to help you reduce the population and chances of being bitten. If you live in high-traffic areas near the woods or a park, you will have a persistent problem as your location is more prone to these critters.

If your problem is extensive, you may consider hiring a professional pest control professional. Remember, the pros know best, as they fight mother nature from entering homes every day. These professionals can tell you the best time and place to apply pesticides and can help you with the process.

The best areas to spray are those with shade and are prone to moisture. A technician will likely focus on the yard’s edges and any areas with leaf or wood cover. Lastly, the benefits of having a pest control professional handle this issue for you is they have powerful spraying equipment and a vast knowledge of pesticides.

Not only do they know how to handle things safely, but they also know what products work best for your specific situation. If ticks are threatening the health and safety of your family, it’s time to act. Doing nothing will only allow the population to continue to grow and increase the issues.

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