Natural deer tick control. Is it possible?

Natural deer tick control is something that everyone wants.  It’s natural so it must be good, right?  Yet there are two types of natural deer tick control.

The first type are products that have a federal 25b exemption.  If you’re unfamiliar with the exemption you should know that there’s an entire list of products that need no federal registration and the products do not need testing by a government agency.  The list has acceptable products that can be used as either the inert or active ingredients in natural pesticides.  On the list are things such as peppermint oil, vanilla compounds, clove oil, citronella extract etc.  These products sound like ingredients in a moisturizer.  However, I don’t mean to suggest that some natural deer tick control products don’t work.  In fact on a few occasions I’ve actually seen quite the opposite.   I’ve also seen them fail miserably and far more frequently when put up against some synthetic products.  In particular a miticide/insecticide called Talstar.

A discussion about pesticides could go one for days.  We could talk about long term exposure to pesticides , how the product has been misused in the past and why all pesticides are bad.  Most if not all of these points have some validity.  However, are there other options for natural tick control?  I think there is and I think that every homeowner should use them along with either a natural or synthetic product.

The second type of natural tick control starts with you and to often the following are overlooked.

 

Modify your behavior

How often do you do tick checks on yourself and your children after being in the yard.  If it’s only sometimes then that isn’t enough.  It should be every time.

Change your landscape

Natural tick control should also involve changing what your yard looks like.  Deer ticks spend the vast majority of their time at the yard perimeter, shady areas, stone walls and flower beds.  I’ve seen homeowners make a 3′ stone berm around the perimeter of their yard with great effectiveness.  For a deer tick this stone berm is akin to crossing an ocean without a boat.

Trim, trim trim them trim some more

If I had a dollar for every person that wanted 100% protection from ticks, but refuses to trim the forest that poses as their landscape I’d be a billionaire.  Tame your landscape so at a minimum we can see what we’re treating.

Know your arachnids and arthropods 

Do you know the difference between an engorged deer tick vs a dog tick vs a small spider?  How about the difference between a deer tick nymph and a dog tick? Probably not, the point is that although all different ticks have disease risks associated with them, not all carry Lyme disease.  Know what you’re looking at and if not know someone who does.

Change your dress code

It’s a nice spring day lets go for a long walk in the woods with shorts and a t-shirt on! Probably not a good idea.  Modify your attire to be less tick friendly.

Have great tick season!

We look care of the ticks now what about those pesky mosquitoes?

Need tick yard control.  Call Envirocare Pest Control, LLC at 1-888-879-6481