Permethrin sprayed on clothing, shoes, hats, especially socks and pants. Picardin or deer on exposed arms and legs and nightly tick checks. We’ve dealt with multiple tick infections started from Lyme and it’s a nightmare. We’ve sadly cut back our hiking and camping. Boys in mid elementary are most likely to get it. Our neighbors house had infected ticks in their yard. I would recommend either having a service or saving paper rolls and stuffing cotton balls with permethrin sprayed on it and placing around yard.

Permethrin is made from chrysanthemum. https://dearcrissy.com/diy-tick-tubes/

We got tick boxes for our yard (which backs to a wooded area) and have not had a tick. A study in the Journal of Medical Entomology found that that four nine-week deployments, tick abundance was reduced by 97 percent on treated properties. https://www.consumerreports.org/pest-control/bait-boxes-are-a-safe-way-to-keep-ticks-out-of-your-yard/. They take longer to take effect, but are very effective once you have them for a couple of years.

Then for the kids, good old deet.

DEET is practically the only thing that works to repel ticks, if you look at actual data.

It is not safe long term but you can wash it off when you get home.

Synopsis of recent research (2021):

Pesticides Tied to Widespread Health Threats
https://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/journal/II%20Pesticides%20Tied%20to%20Widespread%20Health%20Threats.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We spray the yard and spray the kids. I'm not messing around with Lyme.

Don't spray the yard!

Agree. It's just pointlessly spraying poison. Focus on your kids and their clothing.

Too much work. The yard people come on a schedule. And so far we haven’t had any ticks and it also gets rid of all the mosquitos so our yard is usable. Otherwise we may as well live in a condo for all the good the yard would do us.

Looks like the sprays are having the placebo effect on you.

Pretty confident I can tell the difference between mosquito bites and no mosquito bites. The decreased ticks are just a bonus. Don’t worry, I don’t need your approval Karen. Judge away.

Yeah, I don't think I'm the Karen (how original) in this scenario. You're the one who spraying pesticides because "it's too much work" to take more effective and less destructive measures. It's sad what you are doing to the environment and your children but have fun.