Here’s How to Keep Ticks Out of Your Home

How to Keep Ticks Out of Your Home

Thanks to Dr. Thomas Mather, director of the Center for Vector-Borne Disease at the University of Rhode Island, people in New England are buzzing about the tick explosion taking place this summer. According to URI’s TickEncounter website, tick activity will be high in most of the eastern United States, the Midwest, the Plains states and the West Coast. The spring and summer is a prime time for ticks, which means you’ll need to do anything you can to protect your home from the tick explosion.

To keep ticks out of your home, we turned to the helpful guide released by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES). Here’s what they recommend.

Create a Lawn Edge

Deer ticks are found in wooded areas, particularly where humidity levels are high. They enjoy cooler places rather than sunny, manicured lawns. That’s why you don’t find ticks crawling in the middle of your yard. CAES says that 82 percent of deer ticks will be within the first nine feet of your lawn. Adding an edge around the yard is the best way to keep ticks out. This edging could be made up of gravel pathways, mulches, decking, stone, tile or other hardscapes. Check out our best lawn edging ideas and tips.

Put Up Deer Fencing

If deer ticks are the problem, its make sense to get rid of the deer. The best and most humane way to do it is fencing off your property. If you live in a remote area, a fence will certainly help keep the ticks to a minimum around your property. Here’s how to avoid deer ticks.

Shut Down The Deer Feed

Deer like to eat plants, so if you have plants close by, they will come. Limiting food sources or planting vegetation deer won’t eat means they won’t come into your yard with ticks in tow. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, deer tend to stay away from fragrant plants with strong scents such as sage, ornamental salvias, lavender, peonies and bearded irises. Here’s how to safely deter animals that steal from your garden.

Apply Acaricides

Lastly, chemicals should keep the ticks away. Acaricide is a pesticide that kills ticks and can be applied to lawns and woodland edges. However, only a licensed professional can apply it since it requires specific spray equipment. Regarding other pests, a few do-it-yourself pest control methods don’t require professional help. You could also try natural tick repellents such as cedar oil spray, apple cider vinegar and others. Here are some tick repellents that really work.

Speaking of pests, you may have seen centipedes crawling around your house. If that’s the case, here’s why you shouldn’t kill house centipedes.

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