Ticks hide in the shaded, humid parts of a yard: leaf litter, tall grass, ground cover, and the edges where your lawn meets the woods or brush. You can check for them with a simple "tick drag" where you pull a light-colored cloth over these areas and inspect it for ticks that grab on.
Finding ticks in your own yard is mostly about knowing where they hide and doing a quick, deliberate check of those spots, rather than hoping to spot one by chance.
Ticks avoid open, sunny, mowed lawn, which dries them out, and concentrate instead in the cool, damp, sheltered zones. The best places to check are leaf litter and the shaded areas under trees. It’s also wise to check tall grass and unmowed corners, dense ground cover and ivy, and the edge where your lawn meets woods or brush. Sometimes ticks will gather near stone walls and woodpiles too, as well as ornamental plantings that hold humidity. Anywhere shaded and humid in your yard is worth a look.
One of the best ways to measure the tick presence in your yard is by doing a tick drag. For this, you'll need a square of light-colored cloth and a stick or a rope. Take the cloth and attach it to the stick or rope. Then drag it slowly in areas where you think ticks might be hiding. Ticks looking for hosts grab the cloth instead, and since it's light in color, the ticks are easy to see in contrast. Do this on a warm day when ticks are active and check the cloth every few steps.
Once you know where the ticks are, you can act. Keep grass short and thin vegetation. If you have leaf litter, clear it. And if you need to, you can add a three-foot dry barrier of mulch or gravel between your lawn and the woods.
If you're tired of not knowing whether your yard is putting your family at risk, Mosquito Squad of Northwest Indiana can help. Mosquito Squad treats the shaded, brushy zones where ticks hide. This can help you to protect your family with up to 90% reduction in pest activity on a recurring 21-day cycle.
