More Tick Questions...

[soccerbabiesmama]

Raven is treated with Frontline plus, and had her last treatment a week ago. We brought her in last night after she had a nice long nap in the cool lawn and found a tick burrowed in her skin. She also has a marble sized, red, very angry looking bump where we tweezed the not engorged tick. More on the bump later.

The tick was an American dog tick, and likely came from the 2ft tall grass next door that was mowed yesterday. We treat our lawn with EcoSmart granules about every month or so. It says it kills ticks, spiders, and several other insects - but given our healthy population of spiders and now apparently ticks, I don't think it's effective.

We also have chickens and two human children who are often found running barefoot around the yard (although, occasionally, the chicks like to wear shoes... just kidding) so we are super careful about what chemicals we use. We are a pretty organic, tree hugging, eco friendly house hold - but I am almost ready to nuke the yard to be sure that the human and pet children are safe from tick born illness.

What chemicals do you all use to treat your yard? Are they effective?

 

[YorkvilleNewfie]

We're another family that won't put pesticides or herbicides into our soil. We actually import our bug control. We order live bugs and have them shipped to our house and release them into the environment...we use Preying Mantis', Lacewings, Ladybugs, certain bee species and most importantly, Nematodes. The Nematodes take care of a lot of stuff, including ticks. When the hubby comes home, I'll find out more from him so I can post information on where he gets it from and the type of Nematode we've released for tick control!

 

[soccerbabiesmama]

I've read about using the nematodes, but apparently I should have released them into the soil before the ticks came out of the soil from winter. I'm going to do a huge dose of Ecosmart tonight, neem oil and food grade DE before I have to pull out any big guns. Any info will be very appreciated!

 

[YorkvilleNewfie]

Yup, you're right. The hubs came home and told me. The bugs are his territory, definitely not mine! Although I do love our ladybugs and the Preying Mantis'...it's goes without saying that our neighbors think we're a wee bit on the strange side :lol:

 

[soccerbabiesmama]

Next year, we'll use the nematodes for sure... I'll even throw some over the fence for the neighbors who don't mow! They have a Great Dane who was COVERED in ticks last year. Very sad.

 

[heather pluciennik]

poor dog! think the humans should go lay in the tall grass for awhile!

 

[Garden_girl]

Spiders are predators and that's a great thing to have in your garden or yard, unless, of course, you live in an area that has deadly spiders. I don't usually kill spiders, even if they are in the house, I catch and release outdoors (ya wanna talk crazy, lol?) but we don't have Black Widows or Brown Recluse here in WI. Most spiders are non-aggressive anyway, they would sooner turn and run than make contact with a human. They probably view US as deadly-HA!

Chickens eat ticks, so do birds, attracting birds to your yard is a great way to cull the tick population. I have used beneficial nematodes in my garden for many years, mostly to stop wireworms from damaging seedlings, plants and crops. I have used DE for the slug and grub population, both products work really well when applied over a period of time, emphasis on 'over a period of time'. We don't really have much of a tick population in my yard anymore, my dogs usually pick up ticks when we walk in the woods.

Here is a great list of insect pests and organic controls:

Extremely Green

 

[soccerbabiesmama]

Thanks Garden Girl! We have food grade DE that we use for flies in the chicken run (really didn't work for flies) but with a 50lb bag, I'll spread it in the yard to take care of ticks. I wasn't sure if the chickens would feast on the ticks, but if so, I'm clipping their wings and setting them loose tomorrow. It's late for the nematodes for use, but I hear they work really well and am happy to use them next year.

We love the spiders and really enjoy the giant orbed weavers, but we also have brown recluse and black widows. We try to be really careful not to disturb the spider population though because they are so beneficial.

I'm worried that pyrethrin/rotenone combo will upset the insect population in the yard, but I think that I need to be aggressive and knock the ticks down.

 

[YorkvilleNewfie]

Good call Garden_girl! I forgot all about mentioning the benefits of attracting birds to your yard! Ooh, you know what else is good for tick and bug control? Frogs and toads. We've created a frog, toad and salamader sanctuary in our shade garden, complete with little pond, plenty of plant cover and toad houses. Toads tend to be territorial, so even if you transplant them, they probably will just try their darndest to get back from whence they came, but you can order toads too and release them. We also have toad houses scattered throughout the backyard. They eat 5000 insects a summer!