Intresting article. I'm a little dissapointed in the WSJ though, the article spends more time talking about the history of ticks and who got bitten than actually talking about the number of solutions for tick control.
I did a bit of research on this a while back because ticks FREAK ME THE HECK OUT! I know i'm a guy and they shouldn't but there is something about the little blood suckers that just weirds me out.
Anyhow let me add to the information provided in the article:
There are two types of ticks. There are the hard ticks (the ones we are most familiar with) these ticks get onto people/pets by "questing". Then there are soft ticks these ticks are likely to be found in animal nests/burrows.
Keeping your pets away from nests/burrows will lessen the likely hood they encounter any soft ticks so we'll focus on the hard ticks for now.
Questing is when a tick sits on a blade of grass, a leaf, or a twig, with front-most legs extended. Ticks' legs can detect carbon dioxide from the respiration of a passing animal or person, as well as body heat and movement. If a victim gets close enough and lingers long enough, the tick just crawls on.
There was a picture of a questing tick in the WSJ article.
High grass, flower beds, wooded areas with downed trees, leaf piles. These are all prime locations for ticks to quest. Removing downed branches and twigs from your property, placing cedar chips in the flower beds keeping your grass cut. These are all things which can help minimize tick encroachment on your yard.
For the flower bed to be safe I would add the cedar chips then sprinkle some food grade diatomaceious earth over the flowers. This will kill any existing ticks/nymphs which are already "questing" on the flowers. It'll take a few dry days but as long as you use food grade DE there is no enviornmental impact and the stuff is completely safe for humans/animals once it's settled.
A good rule of thumb is that the neater your yard appears, the less likely it is to be infested with ticks. Ticks like to live in overgrown weeds, leaf litter and decaying wood, so it's good to clean up any such areas in your yard.
If you discover an infestation, it's a good idea to treat your home, your property and your pet at the same time. However, treating your entire lawn with a pesticide may do more harm than good. Ticks generally live in tall grass, weeds and shrubs, so they don't spend much time in mown grass. If you're treating your property with a pesticide, focus on shrubs and overgrown areas you can't reach with a lawn mower.
I know some people are reluctant to use pestacides, so again I'll reccomend food grade DE, as well as some of the natural tick repellants available on the market. The trick with the DE is that you need to apply the stuff when you know you've got 2-3 good sunny days. Once it's wet it still works but the coverage is lessened.
So unfortunately, I'm going to have to try k9 or frontline.
