Dragonlady,

We had a really severe problem with ticks our first couple of years here in Oklahoma. They are hard to control, in general, and even harder to control if you are committed to organic methods. Like you, we could not walk through the pastures or woods without finding ticks on ourselves upon returning to the house.

The first thing we did was to commit ourselves to keeping everything around the house, yard, garden, barn/garage and shed mowed down short at all times. Ticks will not live in grass kept at 3" to 4" tall. They prefer to attach themselves to grass or plants that are a foot or two tall so they can jump onto somebody walking through the tall stuff. Just keeping the grass short on the 3 or 4 acres closest to the house has helped a lot. We also cut wide pathways through the woods and keep those clear with underbrush cut way back from the pathways. And, even in pastures further away from the house, we cut 6' to 8' wide pathways which help keep the ticks further away from us and also help us see snakes on the pathway ahead of us.

The second thing we did was remove all the cedar trees in our open areas. Our primary reason was that cedar trees are just explosive in wildfires/grassfires. Our secondary reason was that we noticed that whenever we walked through the cedars, mowed around them, or worked around them with the weedeater, we always had ticks on us. So we concluded they were either living in those trees or sheltering under them.

The third thing we did was get guineas and chickens. Our poultry is locked up in predator-proof pens/coops at night, and they are allowed to free-range during the day when the weather is agreeable. Guineas in particular have a reputation for cleaning out the ticks and I must say it is a well-deserved reputation. We have had the guineas about 7 years now and they keep our place virtually tick free. If we climb over the fence from our land onto our neighbor's place, we'll have ticks on us within minutes, so I know the ticks are still around, but they aren't around us.

Finally, you can dust your yard, your dog, etc. with Diatomaceous Earth, which is made up of crushed fossil remains. It is a very fine powder but the edges of those tiny grains of powder are sharp and are very helpful in controlling all kinds of insects. If you use DE be sure to purchase the food grade type which is safe for use around people, plants, and pets and not the swimming pool type which is processed in a different manner and is not meant to be used in your yard, garden, etc. I've linked a page from the Dirt Doctor's website that discusses the use of DE in tick control.

All the things we have done have paid off enormously. In the beginning of our time here, we couldn't walk anywhere outside without getting ticks on us daily. Now we can go a month or two and never see a tick. The dogs and cats get them occasionally, probably because they walk through the woods and back pastures and don't stay on the cleared pathways, but they still don't get them all that often.

Some people have used garlic sprays in their landscapes with some success, but they have to be reapplied often. Some people take garlic supplements daily and feel like the garlic in the body helps repel the ticks. I haven't tried that myself and don't know if it is effective.

Good luck,

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: D.E.

Okiedawn - thank you so much for taking the time to share all this. Will try to find some food grade DE tomorrow. Garden Warehouse used carry all kinds of organic gardening stuff but they went out of business. I'll check with Hornes and TLC.

Sigh - I loved Garden Warehouse and would drive to it from central OKC just to get plants and other things. I'm thinking that Lowe's, TLC, and other places helped put them out of business.

Susan

I second the guinea hens for ticks, and I think fleas too. Although I keep Frontline on my dogs all summer, I don't treat the cats and they don't get fleas (knock on wood!). I think that alone has helped keep the yard cleaner. My neighbor has six guinea hens that roam the neighborhood and I think they really help in getting ticks and fleas, especially those on the ground. Plus they "sound the alarm" if anything strange happens, which I usually check out. They chatter at sunset, too, which is charming. I live in Midwest City, but in an older area where everyone has at least 1/2 acre lots, so there is lots of space here. I also think we are in a wierd zoning area, so some of our unusual neighborhood characteristics - like roaming hens - are grandfathered into the zoning codes. Anyway, ticks suck! (pun intended) And they can make you very sick (and so can some of the chemical remedies). Carolyn

Found some DE at Farmer's Grain in Edmond yesterday. Was going to put it out today but there is an 80% chance of rain. Should I wait?

I would love to have some guineas. But....although everyone in this neighborhood has five or more acres, the neighbors would probably light torches and burn me out if I got any. Never seen such a bunch of picky people in my life (or people more interested in other people's property and business). They are all so worried about their property values instead of actually living here and enjoying it. Many of them think that beauty is bulldozing down all the trees (one of the few remaining forrested areas in Central Oklahoma), putting in burmuda grass and automatic watering systems and hiring illegals and ChemLawn to take care of it all. I value the trees and the wild life that lives here, love to garden and try to do it all myself with as few chemicals as possible but I'm the bad guy here. Honestly, had we known the neighborhood was like this, we wouldn't have bought this house. What is wrong with people?

Like you, I miss Garden Warehouse but knew it wasn't going last long. The owners absolutley refused to do anything about the water/mud problem. Everytime I went there to buy trees and bushes I had to slog through the mud. Why in the world could they not have put down some gravel between the rows and rows of stuff? I even asked one of the people who worked there and they said the boss wouldn't let them do anyting about the mud/water problem. Can't tell you how many times I went there to buy and the mud was too deep so I turned on my heel and went somewhere else to buy trees.

I would wait and put out the DE after the rain. It is very fine-grained like talcum powder and it gets sort of cakey/gummy after it gets wet. It does eventually dry, but it seems to take it a while. Avoid inhaling it.

We are lucky in that our neighbors don't mind the guineas roaming onto their property and eating bugs too. We have 14 acres and the guineas stay mostly on it, but they do like to go to the place south of us (45 acres) and to the ranch across the street from us, which is a couple of hundred acres.

And why do people like your neighbors move to forested land or prairie-type land in semi-rural to rural locations and then try to turn their new place into a city type area? That sort of thing happens here, also, but hasn't happened too close to us yet. And, you know, a lot of those types of people complain that they don't have a lot of birds, butterflies, frogs, etc. Duh!

Bad weather in the forecast for later and it is pretty dark and gloomy-looking here right now. I can't remember a spring when the sun has been so elusive.

I have heard that ducks also do a good job cleaning the ticks off of grass blades. Dragonladytoo, will your neighbor's even be upset if you keep a few ducks?

Thanks for the duck suggestion, Katrina1 but no joy. The covenents read "no domestic farm animals" - I'm pretty sure a duck would be a domestic farm animal. If it's not, my neighbors would say it was anyway. These people are obsessed with their idea of "beauty" and their property value. They worship at the feet of "property value" - truly we would not have bought this property had we known that we would be surrounded by such stupid, shallow people. Tried to bring up the tick problem and possible natural control at the neighborhood meeting - was met with cries of "what ticks?" I'm not surprised that I'm the only one aware of the tick problem - these people never go outside except to stand by their front door to pay the illegals they hire to take care of their property. This is not exactly a super dooper expensive neighborhood either - the houses have all been built over time over the past thirty years or so by various builders of various styles (all on a minimum of five acres) and the County Tax records show them to be valued at a low of 150,000 to one of a high of 320,000. In fact, the owner who screams the loudest about his "property value" has not even yet built a home out here. Now he wants to spend thousands and thousands of our accumulated home owners dues (that are supposed to be used to maintain the road) to install a fancy dan automatic gate system, digital camera system, professional landscaping with in ground automatic watering system and lighting system in the entry area. There are many in the association who agree with him. Sometimes I feel like we are the last people in the State who want to stay one place, garden for the long haul and enjoy it. What is wrong with wanting to see trees that you planted actually mature? Increasing property values just means having to pay more property taxes at a time in life when income is fixed. Sorry to gone so much, guess I needed to "unload."