Your tick control options include recurring barrier treatment of tick habitat, tick tubes that reach the rodents carrying immature ticks, and landscaping changes that dry out their territory. Most properties do best when combining different kinds of treatment because it reaches ticks at different stages of life.
Ask about tick control and you’ll often hear about spraying first. It’s a good option, but it’s not the only one. It’s worth knowing what options you have available to choose from.
Barrier treatment is a workhorse for tick control, and about that, there is no question. It is applied to places where ticks wait for hosts. This includes tall grass, leaf litter, and brushy transition zones between yards and woods. The treatment knocks down ticks on contact and provides residual protection for about three weeks, with the added benefit of reducing mosquitoes. If you want to rapidly thin out the nymph and adult ticks waiting to ambush your ankles, kids, and dogs, this is how you do it.
Tick tubes also work, but the mechanism is different. Immature ticks pick up disease agents by feeding on mice. Then they overwinter in mouse nests. A tick tube is a small cardboard cylinder that holds treated cotton. That cotton is then taken by mice, who carry it home. Larval ticks riding on those mice are treated by the cotton. Basically, the mice do most of the work for you and as a bonus, you can treat in places you wouldn’t be able to reach unless you happened to be a mouse.
There are also unglamorous ways to better control ticks. One is simple yard maintenance. Ticks dehydrate fast without cover so mowing the lawn and raking leaves can help a lot. This is also true for thinning out brush. If you have a really bad tick problem, you can always add a three-foot strip of wood chips or gravel where lawn meets woods.
You don’t have to stick to just one treatment. You can always stack multiple on each other. Given that Fairfield County sits deep in Lyme disease territory, this is a good idea. Treating ticks at several life stages at once reduces your odds of falling ill.
Sick of ticks? Mosquito Squad of Greenwich can help. Mosquito Squad offers barrier treatment, tick tubes, and property-specific guidance. This can help you to protect your family with up to 90% reduction in pest activity on a recurring 21-day cycle.
