preview

What You Know About Ticks Case Study

Decent Essays

What You Can Do Know About Ticks
By Jim Doyle, Hartney Greymont, a Davey company

Ticks and tick-borne diseases are continually rising in the United States. In fact, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just found that tick-borne diseases have more than doubled in the last 13 years.

Unfortunately for us in Massachusetts, those numbers hold true. The number of confirmed Lyme disease cases rose 65 percent from 2005 to 2009, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Each year, there are there are more Lyme cases than the year before! This untreatable disease accounts for 82 percent of all tick-borne diseases, according to the CDC.

As someone who works outside (and loves to be outdoors even when I’m not at …show more content…

At this stage in their life, they’re only the size of a poppy seed, which makes them easy to miss. Plus, the CDC says most humans are infected through the bites of these immature ticks. Right now, they inhabit our lawns and gardens–and love hiding along the edges of stone walls or in shady, moist spots on the ground.

But there are simple solutions to minimize the tick population surrounding your home.

Solutions and Treatment
Hartney Greymont arborists like me recommend the following steps to help reduce your tick population. Remember: no natural, vegetated area can be considered free of ticks. Instead, the goal is to give ticks fewer places to hide.

Here are a few ways to do that!

1. Take away the places ticks love. Ticks prefer damp, humid locations and are extremely susceptible to dehydration. When done correctly, this reduces your property's humidity by improving light and air circulation.
2. Clean it up! Get rid of brush piles or areas with lots of green debris. If you see any other overgrown areas of your garden, cut those back.
3. Deter deer. Add a physical barrier, like a fence, to keep deer and other tick-carrying animals out of your yard. Deer repellant spray may also be ap¬plied onto the plantings around your home to keep deer

Get Access