Control ticks around your home

A pesticide designed to kill ticks is sometimes called an acaricide. Acaricides can be very effective in reducing tick populations. If properly timed, a single application at the end of May or beginning of June can reduce tick populations by 68-100%.

The Environmental Protection Agency and your state determine the availability of pesticides. Check with local health officials about the best time to apply acaricide in your area, as well as any rules and regulations related to pesticide application on residential properties. Or contact a professional pesticide company to apply pesticides at your home.

Create a tick-safe zone

Use landscaping techniques to create a tick-safe zone around homes, parks, and recreational areas. Ticks that transmit Lyme disease thrive in humid wooded areas. They die quickly in sunny and dry environments. Here are some simple landscaping techniques to help reduce tick populations.

Remove leaf litter and clear tall grasses and brush around homes and at the edges of lawns. Place wood chips or gravel between lawns and wooded areas to restrict tick migration to recreational areas. Mow the lawn and clear brush and leaf litter frequently. Keep the ground under bird feeders clean. Stack wood neatly and in dry areas. Keep playground equipment, decks and patios away from yard edges and trees.   Courtesy of CT Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven ( PDF - 72 pages, 24,038KB)

New tools for tick control

Other methods for controlling ticks currently under evaluation include vegetation and habitat modification, devices for applying topical acaricides to deer, fungal agents for biological control, and natural extracts that safely repel ticks.