Lots of problems with ticks this year.

[Shellyann36]

North Carolina has had quite a bit of rain this year. Several areas in the state have flooded and we have more rain on the way. With the rain came plenty of ticks. These little pests are tiny in size. Most are smaller than a pencil lid. We have outside dogs but all of our dogs have brand new named brand flea and tick collars and they are bathed regularly with flea and tick shampoo. We are trying to come up with solutions other than using lots of poison on the yard. We did spray our porch with a dishwashing liquid and water combo that seemed to help the porch but was wondering if there was another "green" solution. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[claudine]

I'm looking for ideas too. In my area, ticks are are a real problem, I would love to get rid of them beacause as long as they're in my garden, I don't feel safe. Tick are so nasty and they transmit dangerous diseases

 

[Shellyann36]

claudine we always wear some sort of bug spray when we are going outside to work in the yard or in the garden but our ticks are so bad that we can't even step out to get something out of the vehicles without getting covered up. It is getting too bad. I am still hunting for something that will not be toxic (if I can find it).

 

[dconklin]

Ticks don't like garlic, but that doesn't mean that they won't bite you if you eat garlic. I have read before that you will never find ticks in a garlic field so that sparked an idea for me. Take note I have a small yard (quite small) so this is easy for me. I take a couple bottles of garlic powder and sprinkle it all over the yard. Yes my house smells like a pizzeria for a couple hours, but it does seem to keep the fleas down and I would imagine the ticks too.

We have ticks and some areas can be bad in NJ, but our yard gets more fleas and mosquitoes then anything and it helps with these pests. We don't have dogs, but we are surrounded by neighbors who do have them and everybody has small yards so some of these pests wander in easily. The fleas actually were so bad one year that they caused the death of one of my cats. But that was before I heard about garlic and I used a chemical in the yard that year but it didn't work one bit.

They actually make a potent garlic spray that you can buy online for your yard, but I remember it being quite expensive so I made my own. I have also used chopped garlic and soaked it in a big jar with water for a couple weeks and then sprayed that on the yard.

 

[claudine]

Dconklin, I'm so sorry about your cat!
Thank you for the tip, sprinkling the garden with garlic powder sounds like a good and natural solution. I think that I'll give it a try. I'm not a big fan of the smell, but it's still better than dealing with nasty ticks and other pests.

 

[Shellyann36]

Ticks don't like garlic, but that doesn't mean that they won't bite you if you eat garlic. I have read before that you will never find ticks in a garlic field so that sparked an idea for me. Take note I have a small yard (quite small) so this is easy for me. I take a couple bottles of garlic powder and sprinkle it all over the yard. Yes my house smells like a pizzeria for a couple hours, but it does seem to keep the fleas down and I would imagine the ticks too.

We have ticks and some areas can be bad in NJ, but our yard gets more fleas and mosquitoes then anything and it helps with these pests. We don't have dogs, but we are surrounded by neighbors who do have them and everybody has small yards so some of these pests wander in easily. The fleas actually were so bad one year that they caused the death of one of my cats. But that was before I heard about garlic and I used a chemical in the yard that year but it didn't work one bit.

They actually make a potent garlic spray that you can buy online for your yard, but I remember it being quite expensive so I made my own. I have also used chopped garlic and soaked it in a big jar with water for a couple weeks and then sprayed that on the yard.

Wow great idea. I have lots of garlic cloves that I could create a spray with. I will tell hubby about this as soon as he gets home. He wants to go and purchase a flea tick killer at one of the home improvement stores. I think we will try the garlic suggestion first.

 

[dconklin]

Wow great idea. I have lots of garlic cloves that I could create a spray with. I will tell hubby about this as soon as he gets home. He wants to go and purchase a flea tick killer at one of the home improvement stores. I think we will try the garlic suggestion first.

If you have lots of garlic cloves, you can try planting some of them too and see if it helps the following year. I do cover the yard really good with it and I have been doing it at least once a month, tho with the amount of rain we have been having I have been doing it a little more often this summer. I start early too like just before spring and I do this at least once a month up through part of October. But I am in NJ so it is a little bit cooler in spring and fall so you may need to go a little longer.

A couple years ago we used the chemical on the yard from Lowe's and that was the year the fleas were so bad that they caused the death of my male kitty- the chemical spray didn't help at all. Then starting last year we used the garlic and it seems to have helped quite a bit better then the spray we bought from Lowe's.

 

[dconklin]

I found the stuff I was talking about but I use my own garlic. It is called Mosquito Barrier but this explains how garlic also keeps ticks away. I cannot say how the spray is since I have never bought it, but the garlic does work.

http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/ticks.html

 

[Shellyann36]

If you have lots of garlic cloves, you can try planting some of them too and see if it helps the following year. I do cover the yard really good with it and I have been doing it at least once a month, tho with the amount of rain we have been having I have been doing it a little more often this summer. I start early too like just before spring and I do this at least once a month up through part of October. But I am in NJ so it is a little bit cooler in spring and fall so you may need to go a little longer.

A couple years ago we used the chemical on the yard from Lowe's and that was the year the fleas were so bad that they caused the death of my male kitty- the chemical spray didn't help at all. Then starting last year we used the garlic and it seems to have helped quite a bit better then the spray we bought from Lowe's.

Yes we did plant some this year. Thank you for the link. I will show hubby today. I told him about it yesterday and he said he was willing to try it before purchasing chemicals. I hope it works. Have a great weekend.

 

[btatro]

Lots of areas are struggling with the population of ticks this year it seems :/
Here in Wisconsin they also seem to be quite numerous. Luckily, we have not had any trouble with them yet, but I have heard stories upon stories from friends, especially in the Northwoods where it is, obviously, more "wooded" !

 

[Shellyann36]

Lots of areas are struggling with the population of ticks this year it seems :/
Here in Wisconsin they also seem to be quite numerous. Luckily, we have not had any trouble with them yet, but I have heard stories upon stories from friends, especially in the Northwoods where it is, obviously, more "wooded" !

My parents had the same problem and they ended up burning the side yards off. This seemed to help their yard but I don't see us doing that here. I am going to use that garlic spray that dconklin talked about above. If you end up with the same problem you should try it.

 

[Cammie27]

We're having problems with ticks here in Michigan too. Our yard isn't too bad except for one corner that backs up to a neighbor who doesn't keep things trimmed. Back there by the overgrown trees and weeds my dogs keep picking up ticks, even though they're on a systemic preventative and get regular baths with flea and tick shampoo. I don't like using poisons in my yard with 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 rabbits running around all the time, so I've just been checking them well and wearing long sleeves/long pants when I'm out there myself.

The garlic spray idea sounds interesting. I have enough plants that I could make some and try that out, and if it works I may just relocate some of the garlic plants to the problematic corner of my yard. I'm willing to try just about any non-toxic option once, and garlic should help with the mosquito invasion too.

 

[Shellyann36]

We're having problems with ticks here in Michigan too. Our yard isn't too bad except for one corner that backs up to a neighbor who doesn't keep things trimmed. Back there by the overgrown trees and weeds my dogs keep picking up ticks, even though they're on a systemic preventative and get regular baths with flea and tick shampoo. I don't like using poisons in my yard with 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 rabbits running around all the time, so I've just been checking them well and wearing long sleeves/long pants when I'm out there myself.

The garlic spray idea sounds interesting. I have enough plants that I could make some and try that out, and if it works I may just relocate some of the garlic plants to the problematic corner of my yard. I'm willing to try just about any non-toxic option once, and garlic should help with the mosquito invasion too.

Yes Cammie27 we are going to give the garlic idea a try as well. We had a busy weekend last week but I am hoping that things slow down this weekend and we can actually get to it.

 

[valedevento]

The garlic idea is very interesting! I have used apple cider vinegar to protect my dogs. I make my own ACV and dilute it about half with water. I put this in a spray bottle and generously spray over the dogs fur, rubbing it in. Ticks will die and let go and new ticks will stay away. You have to do this regularly though, but since then I only found one more tick on my dog.