Hey, does anyone know a good method for repelling ticks, or at least reducing the frequency that they will land on you? We went for a hike the other day to visit some vernal pools, and came back with a tick each. We didn’t encounter any deer ticks that I know of, but I wondered if anyone uses a particular strategy for fending them off. I heard that they tend to like the damper areas, but with the rain we’ve been having, we’ve found nothing but damp.
Pennyroyal (a mint variety, so strongly minty that it repels) apparently makes great tickbane and chiggerbane. I suppose one could make an herbal oil or just rub the plant all over oneself.
Keep in mind the tick lifecycle: an engorged tick drops off its host, lands on the ground, gives birth to babies, the babies then mature and after mating crawl to the top of grass leaves and such plants, with little arms outstretched in a motionless embrace (it looks kinda creepy), just waiting for a warm-blooded host to bump into them so they can hug onto their meal.
So, you can avoid ticks somewhat by avoiding grassy areas. They do find hosts by crawling along the ground too, but they prefer the perch and wait strategy. Note: ticks do not rain down from trees.
You might consider eating lots of garlic. Living in SE Missouri, in high tick season and country, constantly walking through the tall grass barefoot and in shorts, I picked off a couople every night, but it never got crazy (I ate a LOT of garlic), and it gave me the opportunity to develop a ‘tick sensor’ - I could tell when an itch meant a tick, and when it just meant an itch. I recommend developing this, by going into heavy tick country a lot, and doing nightly checks, just so you can get some sense of comfort about it.
In all truth, I think the ultimate tick defense involves learning to feel them on your body, and having a close companion who will check spots you can’t see, every day. Who wants to avoid ‘grassy areas’ anyway?
hope this helped!
A lot of people in Heber Springs, Arkansas, where I grew up, swore by the sulphur water in the springs that the town was named after. I don’t know how you could get a hold of palatable sulphur if you don’t have access to any mineral wells, but I just thought I’d throw it out there.
Now that I think about it, isn’t it sulphur in onions that becomes sulphuric acid when it meets the moisture in your eyes that causes you to tear up? It may also be the principle in garlic that helps repel the critters.
I’ve never lived in a place that had a lack of wild-growing onions, garlic and garlic mustard.
I also remember reading somewhere that farmers would make roosts for their chickens out of sassafras wood to keep them bug-free. Maybe drinking sassafras tea would help as well?
I have to concur with Willem’s advice, too, about learning to feel the ticks on your body. They may get on you, but that doesn’t mean they have to get their needle in you.
I thought I’d had this conversation before, and I had over at Aftermath. Check out their article: Practical Skills: Insects and How You Can Keep Them Away
Thanks so much! I’ve got most of those herbs in my garden now, so I’ll do some experimenting…
Willem, thanks for the life cycle explanation; do the nymphs not feed, then? In researching Lyme disease, I read that the nymph stage tick most easily transmits the bacteria through the bite.
We didn’t cross grassy area at all, that I can recall. Though I suppose I did see some grass on the side of the road where we entered the forest - maybe we picked them up there . We did do some serious tromping through soggy areas and dense mountain laurel brush. The deer ticks are usually so tiny (nymphs get to the size of a poppy seed), that they can be difficult to spot or feel, though having never been bit by one, I suppose an experienced person could recognize the feel of the bite. Not looking forward to becoming an “experienced person”, though. 
I compiled this information with the Aftermath blog article I posted above into a new wiki page: ‎Keep Insects Away
Does anyone know if the carcinogen in sassafras essential oil is harmful if used externally or only when ingested? I’ve heard its a good mosquito deterrent and it grows all over where i live in southeast virginia.
Wildman Steve Brill indicates that safrole is not even a carcinogen for humans, and if it were, it wouldn’t even compare to the carcinogenic properties in beer.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed sassafras from the health-food stores because astronomical quantities of concentrated synthetic safrole caused cancer in rats. Rats convert safrole, which is not carcinogenic, into a carcinogen. Humans do not. Nevertheless, beer, with a carcinogenicity index fourteen times that of sassafras for rats, is still on the market, and gourmet stores sell gumbo file powder. People have enjoyed sassafras in moderation for thousands of years with no ill effects and consumed it in root beer before it was replaced by artificial chemicals. I think sassafras is safe.–Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So wild) Places
Awesome! Thanks for postin that.
My pleasure. Thanks for reminding me of the power of sassafras to ward off no-see-ems.
Ticks are real real bad here in georgia so I have a lot of experience with them. First thing I wanted to add was I find more ticks in dense thickets and shady areas than in open areas where it gets lots of sun. It seems that the ticks like moisture and shade.
The second is that ticks have three stages in their life cycle larva aka seed tick, nymph, adult. The way I understand it is that seed ticks have not feed before therefore they cannot make you sick. These guys are small, the size of the tip of a sharp pencil. They will make you itch. A couple of years ago I had about 70 bite up my right leg and 40 on the left. This happened twice that summer.
Willem mentioned developing your ‘tick sensor’ and that’s a great tip. I have done this and can usually find nymphs and adults crawling up my legs before they can get a taste of me. American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) is a plant that I just learned can be as effective as deet for repelling ticks and other biting insects. Folks would just crush up some leaves and rub on your skin. I experimenting with a rubbing alcohol tincture. Check out this link http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060703091932.htm
A lot of people in Heber Springs, Arkansas, where I grew up, swore by the sulphur water in the springs that the town was named after. I don't know how you could get a hold of palatable sulphur if you don't have access to any mineral wells, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.Now that I think about it, isn’t it sulphur in onions that becomes sulphuric acid when it meets the moisture in your eyes that causes you to tear up? It may also be the principle in garlic that helps repel the critters.
This is an old thread and maybe this has already been mentioned in one of the links but thought I would throw this in here:
I use powdered sulphur when I’m going to be out in tick country. You can buy it at drugstores or pharmacies (you have to ask quite a few of them as only certain ones have it available) by asking for “flowers of sulphur”. Sometimes they look at you funny and ask what you are using it for, but just say “for ticks” or “to repel insects” or whatever.
What you do is put some in a sock and use it like a powder puff and bang it against the places like your ankles, neck and other areas where ticks could easily get to the skin. Army folks have been using this method for a long time and it’s the best thing that works from my experience. I only chew on garlic to repel the mosquitoes.
Sulphur repels insects of the arachnid type so it also works against other arachnids such as chiggers.