Settling blood-sucking arthropods in a dacha among grass and trees is not a pleasant neighborhood, since these parasites are capable of not only biting people, but also transmitting infections (encephalitis or borreliosis). Therefore, folk remedies for ticks on the site can be the safest and non-chemical way to protect against such pests.
How to detect ticks on your property
In order to make sure that “bloodsuckers” have appeared in your garden plot or dacha, you need to sit down and carefully examine the soil, grass and shrubs. These arachnids are quite small in size (1-4 mm), but they can be seen with the naked eye.
If ticks are not visually noticeable, then you can conduct a small experiment with a piece of white fabric measuring 40-100 cm. It should be tied to a long stick and walked around the area in the morning, passing such a “flag” over the growing grass. To make a “white flag”, it is recommended to take fabrics with a rough surface or a waffle towel, then the parasites will quickly cling to it with their paws. If there are ticks in the area, they will definitely get caught on the fabric, which will be clearly visible on the snow-white surface.
Important!
The use of strong insecticidal and acaricidal preparations in a summer cottage causes severe harm to plantings, animals and people - toxic substances penetrate the stems, leaves and fruits, which become unsuitable for food. Poison from food can enter the body of animals and people, which is dangerous to health, so not everyone is ready to treat the area with acaricides.
Now you should think about how to repel ticks from your summer cottage without using strong chemicals. The easiest way is to plant various fragrant plants and flowers in the tick-free area.
Why is a tick bite dangerous?
The tick clings to its victim, be it an animal or a person, with the help of marigolds and suckers on its legs, first on the neck, chest, stomach, then looks for a “secluded place” to dig into the skin and suck blood.
Ticks are dangerous because they are carriers of diseases - viral tick-borne encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and bacterial disease - bacteriosis (Lyme disease). After being bitten by an encephalitis tick, the victim is vaccinated within a week after the bite and treated as an inpatient for two weeks.
If Lyme disease is detected, the risk of death increases. In both cases, complications include paralysis and disorders in the central nervous system. Fortunately, 80% of tick species do not carry diseases. If a tick is attached to your skin, remove it with tweezers so as not to tear off the proboscis. After extraction, wash your hands with soap and treat the wound with a solution of iodine or alcohol.
The tick should be sent to the laboratory to find out whether it is contagious or not (this cannot be detected by external signs), and the patient should be urgently taken to a medical facility.
If you seek medical help immediately, complications will be avoided and the patient will make a full recovery.
Preparing for the fight
First, you should clean the area, since excess vegetation especially attracts arachnids and insects.
Tick control
It is recommended to carry out the following activities:
- remove garbage and unnecessary things from the territory;
- mow the lawn, weed the weeds, remove last year's leaves, since tall grass and leaves help ticks to hide well;
- cut tree branches to a height of about 50-60 cm from the ground, clear bushes, removing old branches;
- declare “war” on rodents (mice, etc.), which can be carriers of infections - put poison in set traps;
- put up a fence that will block access to stray cats and dogs, forest hedgehogs, i.e. animals that carry the infection.
Now you should use protective equipment to repel parasites from the area. The choice is best made based on information about which plants ticks do not like.
Tick habitats
In Russia, ticks live in the forest climatic zone. Ticks are widespread in the northern and central countries of Western Europe and northern China. The habitats of ticks are areas of land covered with grass and low shrubs. These can be the edges of deciduous forests, meadows, clearings, shores of lakes and rivers, sunlit slopes. In coniferous forests, ticks prefer to settle in rubble of dry branches and litter. In places where there are no thickets of grass, there are practically no ticks.
How to protect yourself from ticks in nature. In populated areas where the grass on the roadsides is not mowed and there are piles of leaves and branches, it is easy to suffer from tick bites. On unmown lawns in cities, children and pets can become victims of blood-sucking ticks. Ticks need plant debris; they live in grass and climb it to a height of 1.5 m. The main concentration of ticks is in areas along roads and paths.
Folk remedies
The main advantage of using traditional methods is their safety for people living on the site, pets and fruit trees and plantings.
Non-chemical methods of tick control include:
- manual collection using the “white flag” described above - every morning, run such a cloth over the surface of the grass and branches, collecting them and subsequently destroying them - this will help reduce the number of parasites;
- planting anti-tick plants along the perimeter of the territory - calendula, chernobrivtsev (marigold), peppermint, wild rosemary, Dalmatian or Caucasian chamomile (pyrethrum), etc.
Solutions and decoctions that can be used by spraying with a spray bottle over the garden area:
- an aqueous solution with the addition of citrus fruit juice (lemon, orange, etc.);
- prepare an infusion of herbs with a pungent odor (wormwood, geranium, Persian chamomile, sage), you can add drops of fragrant essential oils (mint, rosemary, etc.) or chopped garlic cloves to it;
- Parasites do not tolerate certain substances - baking soda or boric acid powder, which can be scattered in places where they live - this will help repel parasites.
Treating the area against ticks using folk remedies
Benefits of Natural Insecticides
Over time, synthetic analogues of pyrethrins were obtained - pyrethroids, which showed an even more powerful effect on insects.
However, recent years have passed under the sign of environmentally friendly agricultural production and people have begun to return to natural means of pest control. Pyrethrum has again become a popular insecticide and is widely used in green farming.
Natural insecticides based on pyrethrins are among the safest.
The active substances have a selective effect and are non-toxic to other animals, so they are often used to treat cages or enclosures in zoos, fur farms, and animal shelters. Natural insecticides can be safely used at home to protect indoor flowers or seedlings.
Pyrethrins degrade very quickly when exposed to direct sunlight into harmless compounds.
Such plants can be applied shortly before harvesting, rather than waiting several weeks until the products become safe for humans
.
Therefore, preparations based on natural pyrethrins are used both before and after flowering, and when the ovaries have already formed and the harvest is ripe. Another advantage of pyrethrins is their ability not to cause resistance (resistance) in insect pests, while almost all other insecto-acaricides suffer from this.
That is why it is recommended to change chemical insecticides every 3-4 treatments, and pyrethrum always remains an effective means of pest control and does not require replacement.
Folk personal protective equipment
Many residents of summer cottages, especially those located near forest plantings, also use individual methods of protection - applying non-chemical natural substances or their solution to clothes or skin, which are prepared from plants that repel ticks.
The following substances can be used
- essential oils (citronella, fir oil, etc.);
- spraying clothes with formic alcohol (one of the ancient methods of protecting experienced taiga tourists) is also a good remedy for “bloodsuckers”;
- applying Vietnamese anti-tick balm to the skin.
The influence of plant odors
Few people know what plant ticks are afraid of. They are afraid of strong aromas:
- Garlic.
- Lavender.
- Ginger.
- Carnations.
- Citrus fruits (lemon).
But there are differences in the behavior of different species.
Garlic
The forest tick continues to look for a place to suction after it has overcome its aversion to clothing:
- grated with garlic;
- soaked in sunflower oil.
A general negative reaction in ticks was caused by aromas emanating from:
- Wormwood.
- Thyme.
- Walnut.
- Elderberries.
- Tomato tops.
Essential oils
Those who want to know what odors ticks are afraid of should pay attention to essential oils:
- bergamot;
- geraniums;
- sandalwood;
- tea tree.
No less damage is caused by arthropods due to oil odors:
- Juniper.
- Myrtle.
- Patchouli.
- Ylang-ylang.
Mite tar and other substances
Since ancient times, birch tar has been used to combat harmful arachnids. This substance is obtained from birch bark by distilling it at high temperatures. In the process of oxidation of substances contained in the bark (phytoncides, cresolam, etc.), their effectiveness increases almost 2 times.
The main advantage of tar, which helps repel ticks, is its sharp, unpleasant odor. Preparing a tar-based solution with the addition of essential oils will help protect the area from pests. The solution is used as a natural repellent that can be applied to clothing and pet fur to repel blood-sucking insects and arthropods.
Birch tar for ticks
On a note!
Many people are interested in whether tar helps get rid of parasites living in the apartment. Its pungent odor will repel insects and ticks, but it will be too unpleasant for humans. Therefore, tar is not suitable for indoor use.
Rosemary
Rosemary is a fairly popular seasoning for meat and fish, known for its strong, pleasant aroma. The smell of the grass becomes noticeable thanks to essential oils, which repel not only fleas and ticks, but also flies, bedbugs and aphids that affect plantings.
Rosemary oil is included in most insect repellent sprays, but can be used alone.
Rosemary is a Mediterranean plant, and therefore grows well only in warm, sunny regions and does not tolerate frost. To protect a private home in the spring, it is recommended to grow seedlings, which can be transplanted into flower beds when the ground warms up enough.
To remove fleas in a private home, use an aroma lamp with essential oil, and to get rid of fleas on an animal, their fur can be treated with a decoction of the leaves of this plant.
