How can I get rid of ticks in my garden?

Question

Is there anything I can buy or do to have less ticks in my garden?

Answer 1

Tick control in the garden is difficult. The best organic method is chickens or guinea fowl as mentioned in the other answers. Like a lot of tough pests the most successful approach combines a knowledge of their life cycle with a number of methods:

• ticks require mice and deer in most locations in the continental United States. This product, Damminix tick tubes, uses permethrin soaked cotton balls to kill the ticks on the mice which removes the possibility of transferring to deer.
• add a wood chip, paving or gravel margin ( around 6 feet or 2 meters wide) around your garden.
• keep grass short and the garden area dry. Ticks like long grass and moist soil.
• if you have dogs or cats consult your veterinarian for appropriate controls
• remove wood piles and trim weedy areas where ticks like to live
• rake up leaf litter in garden plantings
• do not use plants that deer like to eat
• fence to keep out deer
• if you have woodland or scrub areas adjacent to your property consider hiring a licensed pesticide applicator to spray the perimeter of your garden yearly with their recommended control agent.

Answer 2

You can raise some guineafowl or turkeys.

Answer 3

It depends on how big your garden. Guinea fowl is a good idea, if your garden is large enough to accommodate animals and even the things needed for breeding.

Another system, depending on your climate, is to implant some carnivorous plant. It is not a very effective therapy, unless ticks pass close to it. But, being a very hard infection, everything could help.

"With the possible exception of widespread DDT use in the Soviet Union, attempts to limit the population or distribution of disease-causing ticks have been very unsuccessful.[25] The parasitoid chalcid wasp Ixodiphagus hookeri has long been investigated for its potential to control tick populations. It lays its eggs into ticks; the hatching wasps kill their hosts. Another natural form of control for ticks is the guineafowl, a bird species which consumes mass quantities of ticks.[26] Just two birds can clear 2 acres (8,100 m2) in a single year. Topical (drops/dust) flea/tick medicines may be toxic to animals and humans. Phenothrin (85.7%) in combination with methoprene was a popular topical flea/tick therapy for felines. Phenothrin kills adult fleas and ticks. Methoprene is an insect growth regulator that interrupts the insect's lifecycle by killing the eggs. However, the US Environmental Protection Agency required at least one manufacturer of these products to withdraw some products and include strong cautionary statements on others, warning of adverse reactions." check wiki

If, in zones close to your garden are bred animals, especially sheep:

• Keep the grass cut around your entire perimeter for at least one meter
• Proceed to a regular pest control, in the area of your perimeter, environmental planning a treatment a week for at least 4 weeks in order to kill ticks barely out of the eggs before they lay more eggs in their turn.

Pay attention to your pets. Frontline is a very good non-toxic prevention spray. Keeping your pets free from infestation helps to limit environnement infestation.