UMass Extension Landscape Message June 24, 2011

"Along with plenty of mosquitoes and ticks, it is a thriving season for slugs and snails. Deer tick nymphs are active and there have been numerous reports of people finding deer ticks on them. The deer tick nymph is very tiny and it is this deer tick stage often associated with the transmission of Lyme disease. The following paragraph, written by Roberta Clark, is taken from the June 6, 2011, issue of Hort Notes and provides some good advice: "Prevention is the key! Thorough tick checks should be done after working in grassy or brushy areas. Toss clothing worn outdoors into a dryer and run it on high for ten minutes. Shower shortly after working in tick habitat. Insect repellents are one of the first lines of defense against ticks and the diseases they can transmit. The most common products contain DEET and are applied to skin. An alternative strategy is to apply repellent or toxicant products (usually permethrin) to clothing or other fabrics rather than directly on the skin. This method has many positive features, including that chemicals are not applied to skin, potentially reducing chemical exposure as well as increasing the duration of efficacy, which can last through multiple launderings. Be sure to treat shoes as well. There are commercial lines of clothing available that come pretreated with permethrin. If you find an attached tick that is obviously engorged, it can be sent to the UMass Tick Assessment Lab to see if it carries the Lyme disease bacterium. Go to http://www.umass.edu/tick for information on submitting a specimen."

Claire