"Daniel B. Martin" wrote in message
...
me wrote:
"doctoroe" wrote in message
...

We are seeing more ticks this year than ever before. Lots of nymphs.
Check yourself even after walking in grass. They seem to be everywhere.


No kidding. I have been using a tick drag behind the tractor on the
trails around our property and the cloth has literally thousands of them.
I worry about Rocky Mountain Spotted fever and Lime (although I must be
immune to Lime by now)

I, too, have seen more ticks this year. I've pulled some off my clothing
and
some off my skin.

Please elaborate on "tick drag." Is this homemade or purchased? Does
it
reduce the number of ticks on your land or merely serve as an informal
census?

Daniel B. Martin


Hi Daniel,

To answer your question it both reduces the population (for a time) and
serves as a census.

We share horseback riding trails cut with a bushog with two of our
neighbors. The number of ticks on the horses, dogs and people this year
seems many times worse than in recent memory.

When I bushog the trails, I drag a big piece of old flannel cloth spread out
behind the bushog (about four-five feet wide with a couple of sticks that
form a crude frame to keep it spread out. I then either spray the cloth with
insecticide and use it again or on the final run I burn the cloth. It does
seem to reduce the tick population along the trails for a time. However
after it rains we get a resurgence of ticks.

I would imagine that this method could be used in the garden too although I
have not tried it. The ticks seem to stick best to flannel.