We have ticks, and we have Lyme disease too, in this area, bad.   Ticks seem to be an epidemic in SC PA this year, and they are nasty little buggers even if they aren’t carrying Lyme disease.  Lyme disease is a serious medical issue, sometimes debilitating people for years.  Deer ticks are the ticks that normally carry that, but now some people studying ticks seem to think regular dog ticks can carry it too.

I’m always interested in solving any pest issues without poison as often as possible.  It’s bad for the environment and sometimes other species that you’re not trying to get rid of.  My cat goes outside with her leash and harness, and my family next door has two big dogs.  One dog is white and ticks show right up on him. The other dog is brown, well, exactly tick colored.  Poison around outside (and there is never any inside here) is just such a bad thing.

So I got on line and did some research and found another answer, that seems to be working.  I started this research one day when I had been outside trimming bushes and had 3 ticks on me in one day.

Diatomaceous earth is the skeletons of tiny sea creatures.  It is widely used in pool filtration systems.  But, it is also widely used for pest control, for pests like ticks and also bedbugs.  Any bug with an exoskeleton is what it will work on.  It cuts their skeleton and dehydrates them and they die.  There is info all over the internet about other uses, and all the research I read says it will not harm other bugs, birds, our pets, the environment, etc.

I called our local pool company and asked if they had it, and whether they had ever heard of it being used for ticks.  She said that people buy it for ticks all the time and her family has used it on their property for years.  So, seems like everybody knew this….except me, lol, and now I do too.

So I got a bag of it and spread it around now 2x, about 2 weeks apart.  It’s a heavy white powder that you shouldn’t inhale, of course, but it doesn’t go airborne easily since it is heavy.  I sprinkle it rather than tossing it around,  at a time when the air is still with no wind, and have had no problems to myself from spreading it.  And I haven’t had any more ticks on me and haven’t heard about any on the dogs.

I also learned in my research that you don’t need to worry about treating areas in the sun for ticks, cos they don’t like warm and sunny places, they like cool, shady, not disturbed places and especially where there’s a lot of vegetation.  So I pick and choose where I spread the diatoms.

Everybody needs to do what feels right for themselves, and this is just a suggestion I’m making, cos this stuff seems to be working around here.

Good luck if you’re in a tick area, and don’t forget to do that personal inventory after you come in from areas that are likely to have ticks.