Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeExclusiveHow To Treat Lawn For Ticks

How To Treat Lawn For Ticks

- Advertisment -

Ticks Love Darkness And Moisture

How to Treat Your Lawn For Fleas, Ticks, Mosquitoes, Ants and Chiggers

Ticks are drawn to certain areas of a garden. You can help by limiting the areas where they might find a home.

They especially like darkness and moisture, so messy firewood piles can be a home to them if you are not careful.

If you leave the wood loose in an shady area where it will get rained on, it will become a tick magnet. Instead, keep your firewood neatly stacked in a dry location away from the rain if you can.

A nice bonus is that the wood will also be dry when it is time to use it next winter.

Ticks love shade. Damp and dark piles of brush and dead leaves are like tick heaven. Dont let vegetation build up in your yard.

If you , use an enclosed tumbler, or keep the compost pile keep it away from play and pet areas and be sure to turn it often to keep it hot.

Restrict Ticks Access To Your Yard

You can keep ticks out of your yard by building a barrier out of gravel or wood chips between your lawn and wooded areas. Paired with proper lawn maintenance, such as clearing away excess long grass or fallen leaves and branches throughout the area, this barrier will restrict the entry of ticks, which cannot fly or jump. Ticks rely on hosts often animals or plant life to travel from place to place.

Why Should I Be Worried About Pests In My Yard

Many pests lurking in your yard can lead to much bigger problems. Ticks can carry many diseases that can be transmitted to both you and your pets. These include diseases such as Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Flea infestations end up in your drapery, carpets, furniture, and more importantly in your pets. More severe cases of flea infestation can cause anemia or even death in some cases.

Don’t Miss: What Is The Highest Rated Riding Lawn Mower

Spray Your Lawn With Pesticide

You’ve tried every solution you can think of, but your dog keeps bringing fleas and ticks into the house every time it goes outside. If nothing else works, it’s time to get serious about treating yards for fleas and ticks. Pick up a tick and flea control for your yard like Adams Plus Yard Spray With Sprayer.

Before you start, keep in mind that you don’t want to use just any pesticides. Some pesticides contain harmful chemicals that could poison the environment and cause potential health issues for your animal. Adams Plus Yard Spray is specially formulated to kill fleas and ticks without destroying your lawn. For extra protection, this product also kills fire ants that can cause painful bites.

To use this product, start by mowing your lawn to make it harder for fleas and ticks to hide in the grass. Attach the sprayer to the container, then spray this pesticide across your lawn to kill any parasites, eggs and larvae that might remain in the grass. You can spray grass directly, but try not to spray your flowers. To keep your yard clean, spray the grass with Adam Plus Yard Spray once every two weeks. You can use this product once a week if you have a serious flea and tick infestation.

What Should You Do If Your Yard Has Tick Infestation

Tick Yard Spray Safe for Pets: Amazon.com

If you suspect a tick infestation in your yard, its important to take some safety precautions. When working in the yard, wear a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, socks, and closed-toe shoes.

Wear light-colored clothing. Ticks are easier to see on a light background. We recommend using natural tick repellents such as cedar oil spray to protect yourself.

Frequent inspection and quick removal of ticks reduces the chance of infection by Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, and more. In addition, the risk of getting a tick-borne disease is related to the length of time it spends feeding.

Whenever possible, stay out of pest-infested areas, grassy pastures, prairies, and wooded areas. Restrict movement of your pets as well.

Recommended Reading: What To Use To Get Rid Of Mushrooms In Lawn

When Are Ticks Most Active

Depending on where you live, common ticks in your area may stay active year-round. However, tick activity generally kicks into high gear from April through September. It increases as weather warms and people and animals become more active outside, too.

Immature, pinhead-size ticks called “nymphs” are responsible for approximately 98% of all tick bites. Nymph activity and the transmission of tick-related diseases such as Lyme disease tends to peak from May through July.1

Ticks are commonly found among tall grasses and weeds.

How To Kill And Prevent Ticks In Your Lawn

Ticks and tick bites aren’t restricted to woodland walks and camping adventures. The truth behind these pests strikes closer to home. You and your family are most likely to contract common tick-related diseases from ticks encountered in your own lawn and garden.1 Understanding the answers to these common tick questions can help you protect your family:

  • When are ticks most active?
  • Where do ticks typically hide?
  • Why is effective tick control important?
  • How can you protect against ticks?

Don’t Miss: How To Restore Grass Lawn

Natural Tick Remedies For Your Yard

Cedar Oil

Cedar oil kills and repels ticks by causing dehydration, inhibiting breathing, disrupting pheromones, and emulsifying body fats.

You can find cedar oil spray at most garden stores, or you can also make it yourself. In a spray bottle, mix 1-2 teaspoons of cedarwood essential oil with 1 cup of water. Apply the mixture around the perimeter of your property every few weeks to keep ticks at bay.

Neem Oil

Neem oil is another effective natural insecticide. When ingested, neem oil causes ticks to lose their appetite, become infertile, and starve to death. When applied directly to a ticks body, neem oil clogs the ticks airways and causes suffocation.

To protect your yard from ticks, add 2 teaspoons of neem oil to 4 cups of water in a spray bottle. Apply the mixture on the ground, especially in shady areas with lot of grass and weeds.

Garlic Oil

Garlic oil works as a tick repellant because of its pungent odor, which discourages ticks from feeding and laying eggs.

To make garlic spray at home, finely mince 2-4 bulbs of garlic and let it soak overnight in 1 cup of water. The next day, add the mixture to a spray bottle and apply it around your yard or lawn.

Peppermint Oil

Peppermint oil is another essential oil with a strong scent that can be used to repel ticks.

Diatomaceous Earth

You can sprinkle diatomaceous earth around your home and yard to keep ticks out. Make a line around 1 to 2 inches thick around the perimeter to kill any ticks that try to pass through.

Treat Your Pet Ahead Of Time

How to get rid of ticks in your yard in 24 hours or less

If nothing else seems to work, you can treat your pet ahead of time instead of waiting until it comes home with fleas and ticks. Many pet product manufacturers sell shampoos, pills, chewables, collars and other products that keep fleas and ticks away from your pet. Some products are better suited to specific breeds, so make sure you do some research before using anything on your pet. You could also ask your vet if he or she recommends any preventative flea and tick products. Giving your dog a pill once in a while is a lot easier than giving it a flea bath once a week.

You May Like: When To Spray Lawn For Mosquitoes

Eliminate Deer And Rodent Attractants

Deer are considered a reproductive host for ticks. This means ticks are able to feed until they are engorged and have enough protein supply to lay between 1500-2000 eggs. Yes thats a whole lot of problem for your yard. The good news is that reproductive hosts contribute blood but no pathogens. So this means the ticks feeding from deer will not obtain lyme disease from that deer, but they are increasing the tick population in your neighborhood.

On the contrary, mice and small rodents are considered reservoir hosts which do contribute infectious pathogens. And unfortunately, its estimated that between 40% 90% of white-footed mice carry Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes lyme disease.

This is a two-fold problem that well focus on: reducing the deer attractants and reducing the rodent attractants .

Get rid of plants that deer like. Your local garden center/nursery will be a great resource specific to your region to help identify if your plants, shrubs, or trees are attracting deer and what replacements are available.

Keep plants away from house. If you have plants and bushes right alongside your house, mice and chipmunks use these as a runway to stay protected from predators in the sky. Keeping things nicely trimmed and spaced out helps alleviate some of this concern.

Why Trust The This Old House Reviews Team

This Old House has empowered homeowners for more than four decades with top-notch home improvement content in the form of television programs, print media, and digital content on its website and social media platforms. The This Old House Reviews Team focuses on creating in-depth product and service review content to help inform your purchasing decision for just about any item or resource that you might need for your home. The This Old House Reviews Team has written over 1,000 reviews on products in the home space, from cordless drills to kitchen trash cans, lawn mowers, and dining room decorations.

We recommend products in each review using an intensive research process, spending hours combing through the best available models on Amazon. For a product to make our list of top picks, it must hold a solid sales record on Amazon, have consistently positive customer reviews, and offer unique features, among other factors. After narrowing down our list of recommendations, we conduct additional research and sometimes in-person testing to ensure that the products meet our standards. Once we conclude the research phase, we craft a well-rounded, user-friendly article that includes our recommended products and additional information to help homeowners like you make the right purchase.

To share feedback or ask a question about this article, send a note to our Reviews team at .

Also Check: How To Rid Lawn Fungus

Natural Ways To Treat And Kill Fleas In Grass

Whether your pet is going outside to play or just relax, your backyard is likely a place your four-legged companion frequents and enjoys. However, fleas may be hiding in your yard and can latch onto dogs while they are rolling around in or even just walking through the grass during the spring, summer and fall months.

Luckily, there are safe solutions provided by veterinarians and natural lawn care experts for pet parents who want to rid their grass of fleas in a natural, non-toxic way.

Use The Right Insecticides

Black Flag Flea &  Tick Killer Concentrate Yard Treatment, Ready

Broadcast EcoSMART® Insect Killer Granules around foundations, lawns, and landscapes to eliminate or repel all kinds of problem pests.

If pest populations become intolerable, spot treat problem areas with a fast-acting botanical insecticide such as Safer® Mosquito & Tick Killer. This natural spray persists for about two weeks and has less toxicity than commercial chemical pesticides.

You May Like: When To Spray Weed Killer On Lawn

Prevention Is Often The Best Strategy

The Spruce / Alex Dos Diaz

  • Skill Level: Intermediate
  • Estimated Cost: $25

Ticks can spread Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and several other ailments, though most bites don’t result in illness. But it’s still important to consider ways to minimize their presence in your yard. There are multiple ways to approach this. You can keep ticks from coming into your yard by restricting animals that carry ticks, such as deer, and by making your landscape less tick-friendly. You also can deter or kill ticks by applying pesticides along the yard perimeter, though these products often come with their own health and environmental risks.

Consider A Targeted Approach

Following the four steps above will make your yard less inviting to ticks. But if you want to make a serious dent in the tick population on your property, youll need to focus on methods that kill them.

Many people opt for spraying their entire yard with pesticide, an approach that CRs experts say is ineffective and potentially dangerous.

Spraying your yard provides a false sense of security, explains Michael Hansen, PhD, senior scientist at Consumer Reports. Instead, consider products that treat the fur of mice or deer with small quantities of tick-killing agents.

Why target mice or deer rather than your yard? Mice play an important role in the transmission cycle of Lyme disease, says Laura Goodman, senior research associate in Cornells department of population medicine and diagnostic sciences. If you can stop critters from transmitting ticks, you can curb the tick population in and around your yard.

“Tick tubes” are one product we’ve encountered. They’re essentially cardboard tubes stuffed with cotton treated with permethrin, a tick-killing chemical. Mice collect the cotton and take it back to their nests. The permethrin binds to oils on their fur, killing any ticks that try to attach without harming the mice.

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station has found that such systems have resulted in statistically meaningful drops in tick levels after several years of use. And at about $4 per tube, they’re cheaper than tick bait boxes.

You May Like: What Does Mulching Do For Your Lawn

Whats The Best Way To Get Rid Of A Tick On Your Body

Let’s start with what *not* to do: Dont yank it off and smash the bugger. If you rip it out, the ticks mouth could remain, along with the germs that cause infection and disease, explains Dr. Schweig. Ignore the old wives tales, too: Nail polish, vaseline, gasoline, and matches are never safe tick-removal tools, says Dr. Schrading.

Women’s Insect Shield UPF V-Neck Tee
Women’s Insect Shield UPF V-Neck Tee

Create A Citrus Based Repellent

How to Keep Ticks Out of Your Yard | Consumer Reports

One of the questions I am often asked is How to get rid of ticks in yard naturally? This citrus tick spray for yards is one way.

Ticks avoid all types of citrus plants, which makes citrus an effective weapon. Home remedies for ticks in yards often make use of natural ingredients. To make a citrus based repellent:

Boil 2 cups of water, and add two chopped lemons, limes, oranges, or grapefruit. Let it boil for a minute or so, then simmer for an hour.

Strain the fruit out, let it cool, pour into the sprayer, and squirt it on you, your kids, your pets, your yard and anywhere ticks might be found in your yard.

The main thing to keep in mind is that a clean yard, free of refuse and well tended is far less likely to have ticks become a big problem.

Admin Note: This post first appeared on the blog in July of 2014. I have updated the article to add new information, photos a printable check lists card and a video for you to enjoy.

Don’t Miss: How To Green Up Your Lawn Quickly

Apply Pesticides Outdoors To Control Ticks

Use of pesticides can reduce the number of ticks in treated areas of your yard. However, you should not rely on spraying to reduce your risk of infection.

When using pesticides, always follow label instructions. Before spraying, check with local health or agricultural officials about:

  • The best time to apply pesticide in your area
  • The best type of pesticide to use
  • Rules and regulations regarding pesticide application on residential properties

How To Get Rid Of Ticks In The Yard Steps To A Tick Free Garden

Posted on Published: 05/02/2019

These tips show how to get rid of ticks in the yard as well as a few natural treatment options.

Summer is a time for being in the outdoors. But ticks also love the warm temperatures and can be bothersome in your yard and garden.

Ticks are a nuisance and can be dangerous as well, since they carry numerous diseases such as Lyme Disease. The bugs are drawn to dark moist places so there are steps that we can take to control them.

Most tick bites dont cause any harm and usually dont require medical treatment.

However, because of their potential to transmit diseases that are harmful to humans, its a good idea to keep your yard free of ticks. Read on for some suggestions.

Recommended Reading: What Time Should I Water My Lawn

Signs Of Ticks In Your Home

Unfortunately, because of their size, it can be difficult to find ticks inside until they have had a blood meal or become an ongoing issue.

Ticks like to hide in the woods, brush and tall grass where they clump together or hang out alone and wait for an animal to unknowingly pick them up.

As much as you may want them to go away for good, that’s not going to happen. Habit may tell you to run for the chemical sprays, but overuse of chemical treatments causes environmental and health risks and won’t get rid of ticks for good.

If you live in an area where ticks are known to be present outside , it is absolutely essential to know how to inspect for ticks, and to do so on a regular basis.

Kerrick/E+

Create A Barrier From Shaded Areas

Black Flag Flea &  Tick Killer Concentrate Yard Treatment, Ready

Add a 3 border to edge of yard. If you live near a tree-line or wooded area, adding a 3 foot border of wood chips or pea gravel creates a nuisance for tick movement and in most cases will avoid crossing. Its important to use traditional wood chip mulch and not the dyed variety, the latter of which can often be moist.

These barriers naturally repel ticks without any other sprays, as ticks dont want to cross such areas.

Keep recreational areas within the border. Placing swingsets, patios, and decks as far away from the treeline will drastically reduce your exposure.

Read Also: How To Rid Your Lawn Of Clover

RELATED ARTICLES
- Advertisment -

Popular Articles

- Advertisment -