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How To Get Rid Of Ticks In Your Yard (5 Expert Tips)

Pacific Coast Tick

If you live in a home with a large garden, or if you have pets or farm animals, you surely know the nuisance of dealing with ticks every single day. Sometimes you may think these pests are impossible to get rid of, although there are a few sure ways you can eradicate them or at least reduce their numbers. Their presence can pose a significant risk of your pets catching deadly diseases. Ticks can also infect humans, so if you’d like your children to be able to play around your garden freely, you should deal with ticks first. There are several methods for eradicating ticks, and below, you can examine the most effective techniques.

garden flower divider

The 5 Expert Tips to Get Rid of Ticks in Your Yard

1. Regularly Mow Your Grass

lawn mower on grass
Image By: Skitterphoto, Pexels

One of the most essential pieces of advice you can get to reduce the ticks in your garden is to stay on the schedule of regularly mowing your grass. Since ticks dislike hot and dry areas, tall grasses provide the pests with enough shade and moisture to enjoy their stay. The best way to mow your lawn is to let your grass grow up to 4 or 4 ½ inches tall before cutting it down.

To keep your grass healthy, it’s ideal to trim it regularly to about 3 inches. Another important thing to remember when cutting your tall grass is to dispose of the clippings in a plastic bag. Leaving out long grass clippings on the ground can be an excellent protection and environment for ticks.


2. Treat Your Pets

Another significant reason you may often encounter ticks in your yard is your furry, innocent pet. This is why treating your pets can be a crucial first step in treating your yard. Since a single tick can produce as many as 5,000 eggs, eradicating as many as possible can significantly improve the situation in your yard.

Your dogs can become hosts for these pests, especially when going for long walks. They can bring several ticks on their fur and disperse them across your yard. You must frequently check your pet’s fur for ticks and treat them with shampoos, collars, pills, or other methods.


3. Remove All Weeds or Tall Grasses Around Your Yard

Mowing the grass using string trimmer
Image By: Nadezda Verbenko, Shutterstock

Trimming the plants, hedges and trees in your yard and garden is an equally essential step when fighting ticks. Weeds, tall grasses, and bushes around your fence and garden can be excellent environments for a thick infestation, which can quickly transfer to the inside of your yard. Hardscaping is a perfect solution for eliminating ticks from anywhere near your garden; you can line the borders of your yard with gravel, stone, or mulch. This layer should be around 3 feet wide, and you could also add bricks or stone paver to reduce the chances of ticks entering your yard.


4. Clean Out Clippings and Add Mulch

One thing you can do to significantly improve your odds of eradicating ticks is to clean out any grass clippings or dried leaves that may be sitting around. Your animals can spread ticks from one area of the yard to another, and several piles of clippings or woody areas can be perfect surroundings for these pests to multiply. You must create a hot and dry environment, such as very short grass or mulch around the garden and its borders.


5. Use insecticides

neem oil
Image Credit: Ninetechno, Pixabay

If you’ve already tried all the steps above and are still looking for a solution, it might be time to add some insecticides to the game. Once you take all the measures to ensure no new ticks are spreading through the yard, it’s time to kill the ones that already inhabit your property.

You can try a few possibilities, such as natural remedies or strong chemicals. Spraying neem oil, insect growth regulators, tick tubes, and other strong substances such as bifenthrin and permethrin can effectively solve this problem. It is essential to avoid using insecticides near bodies of water because they can pollute the rivers and endanger aquatic life.

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Conclusion

Reading about various methods for getting rid of ticks in your garden can significantly help you with this ongoing battle. Every gardener, pet owner, or homeowner knows the struggle of dealing with ticks on a daily basis. These little pests can harm your pets and farm animals, spreading deadly diseases. There are several ways you can fight them while also ensuring they stay far away from your yard. Following these techniques will ensure you have a healthy and pest-free garden that your kids and pets can enjoy safely.


Featured Image Credit: South12th Photography, Shutterstock

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