How to Spray Your Yard for Ticks

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Project Overview
  • Total Time: 2 hrs
  • Skill Level: Intermediate
  • Estimated Cost: $25

Ticks can spread Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and several other ailments, though most bites don't result in illness. But it's still important to consider ways to minimize their presence in your yard. There are multiple ways to approach this. You can keep ticks from coming into your yard by restricting animals that carry ticks, such as deer, and by making your landscape less tick-friendly. You also can deter or kill ticks by applying pesticides along the yard perimeter, though these products often come with their own health and environmental risks.

How to Prevent Ticks in Your Yard

The Spruce / Alex Dos Diaz

Warning

Be careful when applying pesticides, as both the chemical and organic products can have toxic properties. Read the product's instructions and safety label closely. Wear protective clothing, including a breathing mask. And keep pets and children out of the area.

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

  • Garden sprayer with hose attachment
  • Protective clothing (long pants and shirt, breathing protection)

Materials

  • Organic or chemical pesticide

Instructions

Materials and tools to control ticks in the yard

The Spruce / Almar Creative

  1. Choose a Pesticide

    You have two options when spraying for ticks: organic controls or synthetic chemical acaricides.

    Organic controls: Some experts recommend natural tick repellents that contain Metarhizium brunneum or Metarhizium anisopliae fungi as the active ingredient. These fungi already exist naturally in the soil, and studies have shown them to be effective in controlling tick populations while not being harmful to other bugs. However, it's important to note that many organic controls aren't as effective as potent synthetic chemicals. And they might require more applications to get the job done.

    Synthetic chemical acaricides: Chemical treatments are often categorized as acaricides, a class of pesticides that targets ticks, mites, and other related invertebrates. The chemicals tend to be similar in these products, so the choice will depend on your preference. They typically come in one of three forms: a ready-to-use product that attaches to a garden hose, a ready-to-spray product that comes in a pump bottle, and a spray that you mix yourself and apply with your own garden sprayer.

    Different spraying pesticides for killing ticks

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

  2. Plan Your Attack

    The correct place to apply pesticide is any border between a potential tick habitat (woods, brush, etc.) and your lawn. Spray several feet onto both sides of such a border. This practice is termed "perimeter spraying."

    Pesticide bottle sprayed on border of lawn

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

  3. Apply the Spray

    Put on your protective clothing and breathing mask. Then, attach the hose sprayer, or mix your pesticide in a garden sprayer. Apply the spray all over the potential tick habitat, focusing on the border areas. Especially if you're using synthetic chemicals, avoid widespread application across your entire lawn. Keep children and pets out of the location until the spray dries or for however long the safety label recommends.

    Tip

    Before deciding to do it yourself, consider calling in a pro. Professionals have more powerful spraying equipment, allowing for better penetration of the pesticide, and they know how to safely handle the chemicals.

    Pesticide sprayed on grass to kill ticks in lawn

    The Spruce / Almar Creative

When to Spray for Ticks

The best time of year to spray is when the ticks are in their early nymphal stage. For deer ticks, this means spraying in May or early June. It's generally sufficient to spray once in late spring, as the feeding and reproduction season for ticks is relatively short. By mid-summer, the ticks are unlikely to be much of a problem.

Preventing Ticks

Any pesticide comes with one enormous liability: It will kill other creatures in addition to the targeted pest. If you're applying a broad-spectrum pesticide, you might be killing many beneficial insects, such as honeybees, ladybugs, and mantises. Responsible gardeners need to think long and hard about using such chemicals. If you are environmentally conscious, first try organic products combined with prevention methods.

If you're specifically trying to control deer ticks, one of your objectives should be to keep deer and similar animals away from your landscape. There are three common ways to achieve this goal:

More generally speaking, experts recommend creating an environment in which ticks are less likely to survive. Ticks need two things: humidity and a host upon which to feed. In addition to deer, common hosts are pets, rodents, and birds.

Certain landscaping changes can help. For instance, you can modify your yard, so you won't brush up against shrubs when walking along pathways. Dense ground covers can also harbor ticks, so consider removing them. A neat, tidy yard with dry conditions and minimal wildlife holds no appeal for ticks.

Backyard lawn and shrubs with garden hose on border

The Spruce / Almar Creative

Tips for Preventing Ticks

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers this list of preventive measures to discourage ticks from your yard:

  • Remove leaf litter, tall grasses, and brush.
  • Add a 3-foot barrier of wood chips or gravel between your lawn and a wooded area to restrict tick migration.
  • Keep your grass as short as possible by regularly mowing.
  • Neatly stack any wood pile, and keep the wood dry. This helps to deter rodents.
  • Don't place playground equipment on a border near trees. Likewise, don't build a deck or patio close to a wooded area if possible. Try to pick a sunny location that ticks won't like.
  • Discourage unwelcome animals (such as deer, raccoons, and stray pets) from entering your yard by building a fence.
  • Don't leave old furniture or trash in your yard, as it can provide shelter for ticks.
Grass kept short with lawn mower to prevent ticks in yard

The Spruce / Almar Creative

FAQ
  • Is it worth spraying for ticks?

    Spraying for ticks has its pros and cons. It will reduce the number of ticks in the area but still not completely eliminate them (or the chance of you acquiring a tick-borne disease). Sprays also can damage the environment, kill beneficial insects, such as butterflies, honeybees, and ladybugs, and harm humans and pets.

  • Does spraying the yard for ticks work?

    Spraying for ticks can help to mitigate a tick problem. However, you will still need to make sure your yard doesn't have any optimal tick habitats, such as ample brush and grasses, if you really want to be effective in lowering your tick numbers.

  • How long does tick spray last in a yard?

    It depends on the type of spray. Many sprays are applied monthly during the warmer months of the year, though people in warm climates might spray year-round.

  • Do ticks live in home lawns?

    Ticks usually don’t live in short lawn grass. However, they might take up residence in nearby shrubs or taller ornamental grasses

  • How do I get rid of ticks in my yard naturally?

    The key to repel ticks naturally is to remove habitats that ticks like, as well as to deter animals, such as deer, that can bring in ticks. For instance, remove leaf litter and brush where ticks like to live. And erect fencing to keep out larger animals.

The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Ticks and Lyme Disease. Johns Hopkins Medicine.

  2. Fischhoff, Ilya R., et al. The Tick Biocontrol Agent Metarhizium Brunneum (= M. Anisopliae) (Strain F52) Does Not Reduce Non-Target Arthropods. Plos One, vol. 12, no. 11, 2017, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0187675

  3. Preventing Ticks in the Yard. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.