Table of contents
- Natural enemies
- garden maintenance
- Plan planting cleverly
- Plants against ticks
- citrus water
- tick rolls
ticks (Ixodida) like to spread in domestic gardens. But fortunately there are effective preventive measures and control methods, so you can significantly reduce the risk of a tick bite!
Natural enemies
Ticks have a variety of natural predators, such as songbirds. These can be lured into the garden with birdhouses and feeding stations. But be careful: songbirds are not only natural friends of ticks, they can also be hosts! It is therefore advisable not to place birdhouses and feeding stations in the immediate vicinity of the house or children's playground equipment. In addition to songbirds, the following predators also make life difficult for ticks:
- some types of mushrooms, e.g. e.g.: Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana
- roundworms
- zebra wasp
A notice:
Large ant nests can also keep tick populations low.
garden maintenance
With the right garden care, not only plants grow and thrive, because ticks can also be prevented with a few simple steps. First of all, you have to know that ticks love moist and shady environments. In the garden there are often many places that provide the ideal conditions for the pests, such as tall grass. Undergrowth and weeds provide the ideal hiding place for mice - the most important hosts of ticks. Equipped with this knowledge, hobby gardeners can counteract a tick plague:
- Mow the grass regularly
- from spring to autumn
- Remove loose leaves quickly
- Remove undergrowth and weeds
- especially near stone walls, timber harbor and lawn edges
Plan planting cleverly
Not only the care of the garden plants, but also their planting should be well thought out. If you want to reduce the risk of ticks in your own garden, you should choose the plants and decorations so that as much sunlight as possible gets into the garden. Because ticks like neither sunny nor dry places. Fencing the garden also prevents hosts, such as hedgehogs or foxes, from entering the green oasis and bringing in ticks. In addition, hobby gardeners can take the following preventive measures:
- Spread paths in wooded areas
- Only use ground cover sparingly
- Buffer zone between lawns and shrubs
- separates living area from ticks and humans
Plants against ticks
The garden is ideal for growing anti-tick plants. Because numerous plants exude an intense scent that the pests don't like at all. The practical thing is that many people perceive the essential oils as having a pleasant scent. In addition, some of the plants can also be used in the kitchen. If you want to keep ticks away from the garden with plants, you should therefore grow the following plants:
- tansy(Tanacetum vulgare)
- catnip(Nepeta mussinii)
- Narrow-leaved lavender(Lavandula angustifolia)
- rosemary(Rosmarinus officinalis)
- Dalmatian insect flower(Tanacetum cinerariifolium)
A notice:
Catnip is considered a medicinal plant that is said to have numerous positive effects. A freshly brewed tea can, among other things, have an antipyretic, antispasmodic and antibacterial effect.
citrus water
Another home remedy for ticks is citrus water, which hobby gardeners can quickly and easily make themselves. Only 500 milliliters of water and two citrus fruits, such as lemons, limes, oranges or grapefruits, are required for the preparation. The water is first brought to the boil and the fruit is cut into slices. Then the lemon slices land in the water and are cooked for about a minute. The citrus water now has to simmer for another 60 minutes before it is cooled and poured into a sprayer. To drive ticks out of the garden with citrus water or To prevent this, it is best to proceed as follows:
- Spray on cool, damp and dark areas in the garden
- apply regularly
- refresh after every downpour
tick rolls
Tick rollers have proven to be extremely effective in fighting ticks, while also having the benefit of being biodegradable. The rolls are lined with natural cotton and treated with a tick-killing agent. However, the ticks are not lured into these roles per se, but their most important hosts: mice. These feel particularly comfortable in the lined tick rolls and like to nest there. While the rodents are not harmed by the active ingredient it contains, it kills ticks. It is also practical that the use of tick rolls is very simple:
- Lay out tick rolls in the garden twice a year
- in places where mice like to hang out
- near compost heaps or garden sheds
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