How Do Wooded Brewster Properties Invite More Ticks In?

Ah, Brewster. Wooded, mature trees are around every turn. A green landscape, open space, and beautiful stone walls adorn the town.

But, unfortunately, all the things you love about Brewster produce one thing you definitely don’t like: ticks. 

Those beautiful trees are the perfect tick habitat. And with Putnam County consistently reporting Lyme disease cases each year, tick control isn't something to put off until next season. Wooded edges, leaf litter, and tall grass commonly seen throughout Brewster yards give ticks exactly the environment they need to survive and find a host.

So, where are ticks hiding on your property? And what can you actually do to reduce the risk?

What Spots on Your Brewster Property Do Ticks Love Most? 

Ticks never chase their hosts. Instead, they wait. 

And ticks won’t hang out in every part of your backyard. For example, a freshly mowed yard won’t likely have ticks crawling through it. However, there are a few areas of your yard that could be tick hotspots: 

• Wood-lined edges - these give ticks easy access to your yard, as they thrive in wooded environments.
• Leaf litter zones - they love to lurk and hide in your leaf litter and yard debris. 
• Stone walls - these provide a moist, shaded environment for ticks as they wait for a passing host. 
• Ornamental ground cover - any yard decorations or yard ornaments could be housing ticks.
• Dense shrub borders - ticks love to rest in dense vegetation.
• Wildlife travel corridors - ticks use wildlife (like deer and raccoons) to access your yard. 

All of these conditions give ticks opportunities.

Ticks rely on opportunities to survive, mainly because they cannot jump or fly. Because of this, ticks exhibit a behavior called questing. Questing involves climbing on tips of tall grass or other vegetation and extending their front legs, waiting for a host to pass by. This behavior keeps them in shaded, humid, and brushy areas where moisture stays at ground level.

How to Reduce Tick Exposure Around Your Property

The first step in reducing ticks on your property is changing the environment. And for the most part, it only takes a few small tweaks. 

Here are a few things you can do to make your Brewster yard less tick-friendly: 

• Keep grass mowed on a regular, shorter cycle (especially along fence lines and wooded edges). 
• Rake and remove leaf litter from shaded corners and along the back of the property. 
• Keep play equipment, patios, and high-use outdoor zones away from brushy or wooded areas.
• Move woodpiles off the ground and away from the house. 
• Use EPA-registered tick repellent according to label directions when spending time outdoors. 
• Perform full-body tick checks on yourself, your kids, and your pets after any outdoor time. 
• Consult your veterinarian about tick prevention products for your animals. 

None of these steps will remove 100% of ticks from your property, but they will help reduce how often you encounter them.

When to Call for Professional Tick Control in Brewster

Yard maintenance + professional tick control = your best battle plan against ticks. 

That's where Mosquito Squad of Northern Westchester can help. Our trained technicians apply EPA-registered products to the areas where ticks are most likely to be hiding and waiting: in shaded vegetation, leaf litter zones, wood-line edges, and dense ground cover around your property. 

And ticks never stop. So, neither do we. That’s why treatment is always applied on a recurring schedule throughout the active season so ticks don’t bother you during outdoor events or Saturdays out on the lawn. 

Professional treatment can help reduce tick activity around your property, but no tick control service will remove every tick.

Need help with tick control around your Brewster property? Call Mosquito Squad of Northern Westchester at (914) 353-4921 or request a free quote online.