What do you use for flea/tick control in your lawn?

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I'm interested in the answers myself only I have a 17 month old little girl so are there human safe products? I'm building on 5 acres of what used to be mowed for hay and ticks are already out. I need to control them for the family.
 
I haven't been treating my yard. With one healthy young dog in the house, I didn't do much at all for several years. I started using Revolution 2 years ago after 10 year old Aster came to live with us. She has a flea allergy from before the good stuff was widely used. I haven't seen a sign of fleas on either dog the last 2 years. Aster did have one tick last year. She gets a walk in the woods most days and a run at the river most Sundays.

Let's hope you find something that works on ticks and you never need this advice. I have never had much luck with any of the old remedies, the match, kerosene,
Vaseline, etc. on dogs or people.
On dogs, simply pull it off with tweezers or your fingers. Pulling slowly
reduces the chances of the head being left behind.

A freshly attached tick on a person will quickly drop off if given a shot of
insect repellent, the DEET containing stuff. I have tried that on dogs and it
never worked.
 
I think the EPA has banned all of the good stuff.

You might want to try the once-a-month flea drops that you apply directly to the dog. I am using "Frontline" for the first time this year. (BITOGers recommended this to me last year.) I've heard it's the best, but it's expensive.

To save money, I added up the weight of my 3 dogs, then I bought the Frontline for that weight and put the drops on in proportion to each dogs weight. On Ebay, there is a seller from Australia who beats all of the US mail order dealers. I paid about US$45 for the 80lb-132lb Frontline delivered (quickly) to my door.
 
I can't recall exactly what the stuff was called, but they have it at Sam's. Stuff works, it comes in small pellets that you throw around your yard. Has worked pretty good in the past for me and it's heavy, meaning it's not a dust and will settle on the ground relatively quickly.
 
The dogs are already on Frontline Plus, plus I have the Frontline Spray for spot treatment.

I buy my dog meds online.

drm7, OTC spray and granules for flea/tick control are safe for humans. Jut do not let your little one near the insecticide while stored of course. Otherwise, once it is applied, it's safe.

The granules once applied need to watered down by a sprinkler to either activate it or disperse it.

Any one else treat there lawns?
 
You should also keep the grass as short as possible. Ticks like to wait on the top of tall grass to then drop on a passing, prospective host. By cutting the grass short you make the habitat less than ideal for ticks. Also keep rodents and deer off your grass.
 
If you can control access to the lawn with a fence (cutting out all but squirrels, etc), then going organic works well.

Core areate the lawn now and in earliest September (preferably after a rain when ground is soft; otherwise, water; rent a BLUEBIRD #530 from Home Depot, work over lawn from at least two directions); use items such as beneficial nematodes, molasses, and a fertilizer such as GREENSENSE 6-2-4. Have a look at Howard Garrett's website, www.dirtdoctor.com, and his books. While not perfect, he's a great source as is the site. Stick with it, will take a couple of years.

I like to aerate and topdress with finely-ground compost, and heavily compost and mulch all beds. Get a soil sample from worst three areas and send it in for an analysis, and then use organic supplements to help correct defiencencies.

I've spread as much as one ton of supplements, and 8-9 cubic yards on a 5,000 s/f lawn (after double-digging beds) the first year, and had -- by far -- the most attractive yard on the block the next year. I generally dig the lawn its perimeter, add a little compost and a heavy cover of mulch to establish a "firebreak" from neighbors, from trees, and all other structures.

I also use a backpack sprayer to keep growth steady and lush.

And I use less water than those around me by year two, without having made the switch to xeriscape. From a neglcted, hard-as-concrete weed-filled former rent house (where water ran off in the street and there was more Dallis grass than lawn), in one year of steady work did 80% of the recovery, and by year two was more bug free than ever it had been before.

An organic program will bring a better variety of insects, etc, that keep problems like fire ants and fleas down. By the second year you will likely start to see more birds, different birds, toads, etc. Bug problems go way down (june bugs about disappear, as do roaches). Ton's more earthworms.

Trying to sterilize -- whether herbicides or pesticides -- is a disaster. Mowing too short is a bad idea as well. With either Bermuda or St Augustine, 2-3" at summer peak is good, gets those roots spread out and deepened. I mow twice weekly to keep growth spreading out, and clippings to a minimum during spring & early summer.

Just work with the dogs as to "landscaping".

Keep beds cleaned out (into a compost pile if you like), and use mower 1-3 times monthly even in Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, March to keep leaves and other litter from accumulating.

Frontline/Revolution medication is a given, but the animal needs to be healthy. Healthy meaning truly clean water and best quality food, not just apparent absence of illness. If the immune system is built up, then fleas aren't quite the problem as before. The usual grocery-store food is generally lousy. You can try MUENSTER brand as a start, price is quite reasonable.

Inside the house, get everything off of the floor that isn't furniture, and vacuum every inch of every floor every week, including closets. If this necessitates a re-organization, then so much the better.

I know that South Texas is really badly off from the drought, and this can intensify the flea problems.

Have a look, too, at DVM Shawn Messonier's columns in the Dallas Morning News website on natural pet care.

Obviously, the public library on alternative pet care.

Good luck
 
I use whatever they have in 10-12lb. sacks at WalMart, usually containing permethrin. Applied heavily.

I throw some 5% Sevin dust on the cat (100% outside cat & she hates it) whenever I can catch her, and I use Bengal Flea Spray (less odor & has growth inhibitor) in the house & car.

And if you have roach problems, use Harris brand roach tablets. Harris's work best. They're a low-profit item, so try a hardware store (a real one, not a "home center"). Drop a few behind the stove, a few behind the refrigerator, etc. If your house is on piers, throw a handful under the house. The roaches will die out over about 3 months. Don't leave them out where toddlers can find them, because, although toxicity is not extremely high, they do pose a choking hazard.
 
I'd not poison my back-yard, as the dung beetles have moved in, and are working marvelously (and for free)
 
You need DIATOMACEOUS EARTH ! It is made up of fossilized diatoms and it will pierce and cut the underside of insects bodies to shreds. The insects it does not cut into it strips the waxy coating of of thier bodies accelerateing water loss. It works great to get rid of fleas but do not know how well it works on ticks. It will not hurt children or pets and is pesticide free! The none heat treated varity can be used to keep insects from eating food stuff like grain. The heat treated kind sold by pool supplies places is not suitable for food usage. Hardware stores usualy sell the stuff this time of year.
 
I simply follow the Scotts 'plan'... they used to have the good stuff for insect control, but as others have said that is all gone, but whatever they put in the summer fertilizer works real well.

You would put this stuff down twice over the summer... it kills everything.
 
I hose the yard down with whatever is on sale with premetherin in it. it is the same insecticide that is used in lice shampoo, flea spray, etc. I also use sevin regularly. it has taken care of the earwig problem I had.
 
Tansedan....you obviously don't have a mole problem in the Dallas area. If I did all that, I wouldn't have a yard anymore, but a an **** of moles. I've tried everything known to man, and the only thing that works is getting rid of their food supply.
 
True, no moles here. My barber lives out east of DFW and has kept me in stitches for years with his "solutions" at eradicating same.

I'd still do exactly as I said, as good dirt tends to keep bug problems down. My experience is that most folks want -- as when presented with health problems -- a one-stop fix. The fix can be as bad as the problem.

Get rid of the toxins, period. Something less harmful will work.
 
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