help with bad tick problem?

Sorry to hear about you tick problems.

I'm originally from GA and had a coy dog who naturally avoided fleas and ticks with a 2 step plan. She would climb the chain link fence around my cousin's yard to go play with his dog and swim in his pool (clorinated water system)l and she would sleep in beds of "dog fennel" that grew around the property. Never found a single pest on her over the years. Dog fennel was the name local farmers gave to a wild fennel that grows about 8 feet tall because their dogs slept in the stuff when out on the farm or ranch. I'm pretty sure bronze and Florence fennel can do the same thing when plants in your gardens and yards.

Another plant that's known to repel fleas and ticks is American Beauty Berry. Mosquitos hate it as well. Unusual and beautiful plant and the berries are edible - Permie Bonus Points!

I remember my uncle, a Creek Indian chief in FL, saying something one time about how the pennyroyal that was growing everywhere around the village had the benefit of driving off all of the fleas and ticks from the sandy soil. The problem is that the oil in the leaves can soak into your feet as you walk on it bare foot and can cause misscarriages in pregnant women. Haven't confirmed this with research.

I used pyrethrun for years as a vet tech in GA to treat animals for tick, fleas, lice and mites. It works great. Naturally found in chrysanthemum, so you can add these flowers to your landscape and garden so you have them to rub on your clothes as you go about your day.

Prevention - Prevention - Prevention

I read a paper where researchers linked the use of Barberry plants to an increase in tick numbers and Lyme disease cases. That cute little thorny shrub that's sold EVERYWHERE as a cheap landscape plant with pretty fall colors is actually a great home for rodents carrying Lyme disease ticks. The predators can't get through the thorns to the rodent nests, so the numbers of rodents and ticks explode through the spring and summer - just when we're out and about to become a tick target. The research has been redone over the years with similar results, and now some eastern states are trying to ban the sale of these bushes as a human health hazard.

Hope this helps and much luck.

I was told by a landscaper to put lime down on the grassy areas to get rid of ticks. My brother did this on Cape Cod and it has helped. The ticks are killing the moose here in New Hampshire.