How to Keep Ticks out of Your Yard in the Summer and Fall on Long Island

How to Keep Ticks out of Your Yard

It’s important to take preventative action to keep ticks out of your yard, and away from your pets and family. Here are the simple tricks we recommend”

1. Get rid of other pests

Pests like raccoons, rats, mice, squirrels, and other rodents can introduce pests into your yard. To get rid of ticks, it’s important to address these underlying infestations, as well.

Mark areas where you’ve seen mice or other pests and hire a pest management team like Smith’s to help you get rid of pests at the source.

2. Practice good yard hygiene

Ticks love to hide in dark, sheltered places like wood piles, leaf piles, and scrub brushes. With this in mind, follow these tips to make your yard uninhabitable for them:

• Get rid of any yard debris. If you rake leaves in the fall, avoid leaving piles sitting around. instead, bag them in leaf bags and dispose of them properly. If you burn firewood for heat, keep it stacked neatly in a dry area. This keeps rodents away and prevents them from carrying ticks into your yard. Finally, get rid of any old furniture, trash, or organic matter in your yard, which could be giving ticks a place to hide.
• Maintain your lawn. Cut your grass regularly, remove tall grasses or shrubs, and be sure to pick up all grass cuttings promptly.
• Create a barrier. Keep all playground equipment, patios, and decks at least 8 feet from the edge of your lawn.
• Construct fences. Use tall fences to keep deer, raccoons, and stray dogs from entering your yard and bringing ticks with them.

3. Create a barrier

The CDC recommends keeping a 3-foot barrier of gravel or wood chips between wooded areas and laws to make it harder for ticks to migrate into recreational areas.

4. Plant tick-repellent landscaping plants

Some landscaping plants repel ticks. Garlic, sage, mint, lavender, rosemary, marigold, and beautyberry are some of the most effective tick-deterrent plants.

For best results, plant these varieties in landscaping borders, around decks and pet runs, around patios, and anywhere else you’d like to keep ticks away from.

You can also put these varieties in containers and place them near windows to discourage ticks from entering your home.