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I use Permanone and have not found anything better. Contains .5% Permethrin and should not be used directly on skin. I spray my shoes/boots, and pants legs and almost never find any ticks on me and spend a great deal of time in the woods of East Central Minnesota. Applications work for weeks at a time even through multiple washings.
Has anyone tried diatomaceous earth? My dog has had a horrible tick problem since we moved to a new place.
But this does give me an idea for a new business model: Rent-a-coop! I would drop off a trio of chickens in your yard for a week or so and they would eat all the bad bugs. Voila - problem solved. And you could keep the eggs!
DE works wonderfully but only on contact...you would want to dust the entire yard with it (get food grade because of the dogs if they roll in it and eat it itll be safe) and put a good thick layer around the perimiter of the property...then re dust every few weeks ( a thick line will help prevent new ticks comming in) but id still dust regularly...it kills ants and grubs too though so its pretty good for lawn pest too.
its great stuff, we use it regularly.
you can also rub it in the dogs coats and let the cats roll in it and itll keep fleas and ticks off them too.
(again make sure its FOOD grade so its safe if ingested.)
i have a friend who HATED chickens but had a nasty tick problem...he met our chickens and talked to me, and then with my help whent out and bought a trio of bantam easter egger hens...the kids love the tiny blue/green eggs, the chickens are adorable, they dont eat or make as much mess as standards and no rooster means no neighbor complaints...they live in an old rabbit hutch at night, then in the morning they come out and meander around his yard eating all the buggs, he blames me for making him like chickens LOL! (we have 11 full sized hens) and his tick problem has literally dissapeared (he has about 1/8th of an acre) guinnea hens are better tick eating machines but noisy and messy (and dumb as rocks lol)
he also lived HOA but they allowed the bantams as long as there was no rooster.
our tick patrol involves:
1: k9 advantix on the dogs
2: a tall fence to keep the deer out
3: keep leaves and long grass, partiuclarly around the edges of the property shot/cleaned up. long grass and fallen leaves are tick magnets)
4: starting right around the time of the last frost date we run a Line of DE around the bottom of the fence, and dust the lawn lightly with DE. then once a week we check the property line to keep that line good and thick. about once a month dust the entire lawn with the DE.
i also grow lots of "tick deterant" plants around gates and propertylines intermingled in flower beds and neer all house entrances.
plants like rosmary, lavender, anything lemon scented (verbena, thyme, grass, citronella) mint (be carefull with mint and contain its roots so it doesnt take over your garden, we plant out mint in burried terracotta pots to keep them in check) catnip, penny royal, calendula flowers, marigolds, all work well
as a bonus planting rosemary by gates and doors is supposed to attract good fortune (luck and money)
you can then take leaves off the plants sttep them in hot water, let it cool and put it in a spray bottle to make home made bug repelants that ARE safe for on the skin use.
the best mixture ive found is citronella, pennyroyal and catnip, (catnip is actually an incredibly powerfull insect repelant), keeps fleas ticks, gnats and skeeters off...never been bitten by a horsefly either *fingers crossed*
i HATE ticks, and im in lymes disese country here in connecticut...if its not the ticks its the skeeters and their west nile...lol.
the chickens dont have acess to the main garden as the full sized hens wreak havok on flower beds, but they take care of our hillside (their free range area) which is impossible for us to mow, our fruit bushes are on the hill so we do spend some time up there during berry season and since letting the chickens roam the hill i havent had a tick bite.
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