How To Make Your Own Natural Tick Spray For the Yard
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- čas přidán 23. 04. 2022
- In this video I show you how to make your own non-toxic (to humans) tick spray. This spray will both repel and kill ticks. I make and apply this spray once a year and have reduced my tick sightings from multiple per day to less than 10/year.
The ingredients are cedar oil, and diatomaceous earth. I use about 8oz of cedar oil and about 2 cups of DE for 1 gallon of spray.
1 Gal Pump Sprayer: amzn.to/3OaTV0N
32oz Cedar Oil: amzn.to/3MvcTxP
8oz Cedar Oil: amzn.to/3xQdztC
Diatomaceous Earth: amzn.to/37yCoj2
You could buy this for $40, which is basically diluted cedar wood oil, and mix it with the Diatomaceous Earth: amzn.to/3xXNKre - Jak na to + styl
I love the part of putting DE into the wet sprayer. saves so much time so you don't have to hand crank dust afterwards.
Thank you so much. I use this recipe every year!
Great info!!
Great video! Ticks also despise vinegar, so a 2/3 vinegar and 1/3 water mix in a spray bottle on your lower legs and hat works wonders if you're trudging through the puckerbrush. Seems to last about 2 hours, but the tick I found crawling on me last time, after 2 1/2 hours might have been looking to jump off when I found him. Anyway, hope it helps someone.
Vinegar is a good idea. I'd want to avoid spraying that on the grass though.
I spread the diatomaceous earth with a small Makita blower and plastic container. It creates a huge cloud that goes everywhere. I just wear a face mask so I'm not breathing it.
I'm thinking about trying this this year. Sunday nix ticks works great but for $25 it is a bit pricy. I'm gonna try to put it in the spray bottle that connects to the hose and reduce the amount put in.
I see so many people spraying the diatomaceous earth and it sprays fine. My bottle always gets clogged up even if I remove the filter at the bottom of the straw that goes into the bottle
this is a helpful video! will the DE or cedar oil kill any flowers or planted vegetable?
Good question!
I haven't tried it on my flowers.
The DE is food grade, so no real concerns there. It might dry out what it touches, but other than that you shouldn't have issues.
I'm not sure about the interactions of cedar oil and plants. It is fine for grass.
One thing to consider is that this will kill other arthropods like ants and mites. You may not want that in your garden... or you may.
Great timing. My dog seems to be picking up fleas either on walks or possibly in the yard? This is a new one for me and I HATE fleas. Just a few here and there, thank God he isn't infested. We have a huge bag of this because we used to rub it on dry if we ever found any but some people said it would dry out his skin so we stopped. Then when I thought about adding water to it, they said that once it's wet, it doesn't work? I'm guessing you'll say different, for the yard atleast? This is definitely on my to do list for this weekend....
I don't think it works well when it is wet, but it will eventually dry out and work again. After spraying this I can see my boots are covered in dry DE. The water is really just a mechanism of disbursement.
@@willworkforliberty yes that's exactly what I meant....instead of worrying about dry dust everywhere, water is added to get coverage then when it dries out, it works? That's my hope for my anyway....and I'll do the yard too👍
What will act as a flea repellent?
The system can be used but be willing to spend time cleaning any sprayers to use with. Using blower or light raking. Then apply the oil mix.
Tried this and my sprayer kept clogging. Have you experienced this at all with yours?
You can do a tick drag first, if you want.
cedar isn't good for our pollinating friends. May want to find another oil. Thank you for the video.
It states right In instructions that when it rains out it will need to be re applied … so wouldn’t think MIXING WITH WATER is wise… it’s made to work DRY
This is true of many pest sprays as the rain rinses them off if they are not systemic or oily.
If the water isn't breaking the DE down it makes sense that it would work once the water evaporates. And I don't see how water would break it down considering that DE is actually the remains of hard-shelled micro algae.
Considering the above, spraying DE would seem to be the most effective application method.
@@mikerollin4073yeah, dusting with it dry is good for small applications, like to an infested plant or something.
Should I use the whole container on my lawn? Or will the mixture keep if I don’t use it all?
Depends on the size of the lawn, but I think it would be hard to "use too much". So IMO, better to use too much than too little. 🙂
How often do you spray this in a year?
If I can’t afford the oil is it still effective with just the DE and Water?
DE and water will probably go a long way. The goal is the kill the ticks and the DE does that. Here is another reply I left above to the same question.
---
More applications are always better. The primary goal is to kill the ticks. The secondary goal is to repel them. This combination of DE and cedar oil kills and repels. I typically like to do 2 applications. The first being in early spring when we start to discover ticks (this is rare on our property, so I usually wait for my wife to tell me she read about the neighbors finding ticks on facebook).
By applying when the ticks are active you get the opportunity to kill them with the DE.
I then usually do an early summer application as well to keep them repelled and kill any others.
I don't have any science backing up the cedar oil, but it is an oil so it flows slower and isn't carried off by water. I think it probably sticks around even after a couple rain storms. If you are applying to an area cover in leaves, it will probably attach to the leaves and be blown away by the wind.
Finally, you may also want to consider a permethrin application on your lawn if you have a significant tick problem. Note that while permethrin is said to be safe for humans at low concentration, it is an endocrine disruptor, so I would recommend not applying it close to a garden or drinking water source. It is also toxic to fish and cats. Safe for dogs.
amzn.to/3Vgd8Ey
Will swimming pool grade DE work as well?
I suppose it would. But I don't know about the safety profile of swimming pool DE. I have a lot of kids and animals running around my property so I've only ever used food grade DE.
I Have a question. I thought DE only works when it's dry on the exoskeletons of the bugs. And when it got wet it does not work? Or maybe it dries in your yard then it starts working? Thanks for your reply. 🙂
Yes (to "it drys out and works")
The water is used just for ease and efficiency of application. The DE blend nicely and evenly in the water - then sprays evenly.
It's tough to apply dry - although one can use the dry pump applicator. I prefer the water spray method for a couple of reasons. 1) as mentioned, it's easy to apply. 2) no dust to inhale.
Hope this helps.
@@kickinghorse2405 how does it work when it is in animal feed? I'm sure it stays wet after being ingested.
Birds are a huge transporter of ticks. I do enjoy feeding the birds in my yard so I’m looking for ways to kill any ticks that may drop off at my feeders.
My daughter and I have had our health decimated from indoor mold and tick bites- ticks in SW wisconsin as well as in upstate NY. I nearly died from bartonellosis several times between 2016-2018. I am still sick but thankfully nowhere near as badly as before. I have been in treatment since May 2016 after I had a tick on me for about 2 days in NY.
My physical stamina has been greatly reduced- I used to run trails 10-30 miles regularly until tick disease. Now I’m lucky if I can walk 2-4 miles at a time.
I live in town so I can’t have chickens. The DE idea is interesting and I will be trying that. I am open to other suggestions on how to enjoy the birds while controlling ticks in my yard.
My LLMD who is now retired told me he has a friend in Canada whose job is to count the ticks on migrating birds.. he said there were ALOT. Ugh.
How were you treated ?
Multiple antibiotics for several months at a time. Often we have to switch up which antibiotics are being used.
I initially tried the herbals. It I just kept getting sicker. And it was super expensive and I was barely able to work part time.
Now I have seen that I react to pretty much all plants except coconut so I wonder if that was part or all of the issue back then.
Now I am on 4 antibiotics again and several nutrient supplements. I quit eating all plants except full fat coconut milk with no guar gum. I consume 8-12 raw eggs daily, and meat, usually pastured beef, venison, elk, sometimes chicken, turkey or duck. Rarely fish. Doing much better now with this dietary change. I eat high protein yogurt with no sugar and I crave raw salty butter so I eat a fair amount of that daily as well
About how long does this work for the lawn ?
It really depends on the surface, and how much rain you get.
One nice thing about the cedar oil is that it doesnt wash away easily.
The goal is not really to repel the ticks so much as kill them. With ticks they have a delicate lifecycle, so if you cause significant disruption to that cycle you impact an entire generation of ticks.
If you do this 2x per year, the next year you will see much less ticks.
www.cdc.gov/ticks/life_cycle_and_hosts.html
How long does this mixture last after a rain?
I haven't run any studies but it seems to have a significant impact on the tick population.
Hello sir, what is the expiry date of the DE bag you're using? I'm interested in buying one, but i have to ship it to my country, so knowing the expiry date helps.
I don’t think it expires ever. It is a type of dirt. But if it gets wet it is less effective
So the cedar oil is being used as a surfactant to help stick, can any oil be used like vegetable or olive oil? That cedar is expensive and someone commented that it’s bad for the pollinators if that’s true
The cedar oil repels the ticks, the diatomaceous earth kills them. You can omit the cedar oil completely and just use water.
Will this also work for all kinds of insects? Spiders, Beatles ect common yard bugs
I think it kills anything with an exoskeleton.
I just applied this today with 1 gallon of water, 8 oz. cedar oil, and 1 cup diatomaceous earth. It smells great and I am very hopeful to deter the deer ticks here. But I was only able to cover half of my yard and need to get more cedar oil.
Is cedarwood essential oil in a glass bottle as effective as the cedar oil in a can?
@agape7349 … did it work?
@@sb9442 Unfortunately, it did not seem to work for me. One of my kids had a deer tick crawling on them very shortly after the application. And that was in the half of the yard that I sprayed generously (my house bisects the yard). Perhaps we would have seen even more if I hadn't applied it? No way to say really. I also noticed there was seemingly no decrease in other bug activity, which was surprising because people mentioned cedar oil is bad for pollinators etc. Perhaps it would have gone better for tick control if I doubled the D.E., but I didn't want to clog my sprayer.
This past weekend, I tried neem oil. Based on an article I read a while ago, I diluted 6 tablespoons of neem oil in 1 gallon of water. I also added 1 tablespoon of dish soap and a few droppers full of lemon eucalyptus oil. I can't say if this worked yet either. One encouraging sign for me was tha after this treatment, I saw a beetle crawling furiously out of the grass and onto the sidewalk. So at least one bug didn't like it haha.
The deer ticks are really bad where we are. Lyme is prevalent. I have some bottled bug sprays I bought for topical / clothing application, which contain cedar oil or lemon eucalyptus oil. And the other day someone recommended rose geranium oil. I still want to try that one. Just has to be diluted in a carrier oil for skin application, like all essential oils, to protect the liver.
Let me know if you have any success!
Why add the cedar oil to the water DE mix???
Cedar oil repels ticks. DE kills ticks.
Where can I get a sprayer like yours?
Here you go! amzn.to/3OaTV0N
$10 at Walmart
How often are you recommending to do this, and does rain wash away any previous application? 🙄
More applications are always better. The primary goal is to kill the ticks. The secondary goal is to repel them. This combination of DE and cedar oil kills and repels. I typically like to do 2 applications. The first being in early spring when we start to discover ticks (this is rare on our property, so I usually wait for my wife to tell me she read about the neighbors finding ticks on facebook).
By applying when the ticks are active you get the opportunity to kill them with the DE.
I then usually do an early summer application as well to keep them repelled and kill any others.
I don't have any science backing up the cedar oil, but it is an oil so it flows slower and isn't carried off by water. I think it probably sticks around even after a couple rain storms. If you are applying to an area cover in leaves, it will probably attach to the leaves and be blown away by the wind.
Finally, you may also want to consider a permethrin application on your lawn if you have a significant tick problem. Note that while permethrin is said to be safe for humans at low concentration, it is an endocrine disruptor, so I would recommend not applying it close to a garden or drinking water source. It is also toxic to fish and cats. Safe for dogs.
amzn.to/3Vgd8Ey
Is this kill fleas, too?
To kill fleas use one cup of original Pine-Sol to 1 gallon of water mix up and spray your yard do not spray the cats nor spray your dogs
I read that once diatomaceous earth gets wet it becomes ineffective.
Did it really work?
I've been using this method for about 5 years. We used to have really bad ticks. Every time we would walk outside we would get covered. Spraying this and making tick tubes (see the other video on my channel) has reduced them to almost 0.
We actually had pretty bad ticks this year. Then I sprayed this and about a week later... nothing.
yes tick tubes are cool too because the mice carry the nymphs that jump onto deer so if you treat the cotton balls in the tube the field mice take them for making homes.
@@3pendont4 I use dryer lint for my tick tubes. Check out the video here: czcams.com/video/jhLiRf1rCDk/video.html
@@willworkforliberty I never thought of that. that's even better. You often find dryer lint in mice nests. Thank you
is this harmful to cats and dogs?
Do your own research, but I have found that both cedar oil and DE are generally considered safe for dogs and cats. I don't have a cat, but my dog had no adverse reactions.
De will kill bees and butterflies so don't spray near you flowers
This went as bad as I thought it would. DE + water = muck. Add a little oil to that. What do you have? Nothing that will ever come out of a sprayer hose, I can tell you that. Ten seconds of spraying, two minutes of taking off nozzle, taking off rubber valve, blowing out valve, replacing nozzle. Rinse, repeat (without much rinse, I might add). 🤮
oh no! What was your ratio?
I usually only do about 1 cup of DE for every gallon of water.
Or maybe the pump sprayer you have is more fine than mine.
Sounds like you put wayyyy too much in
@@willworkforlibertyin your description you say 2 cups
I’m very interested in trying this out but based on your results I’m a little skeptical 🤷♀️no sense in purchasing all these things for no gain… but I do have DE & it works perfectly (DRY) on insects that crawl thru it… but I really wanted to cover a very large area outside on tick population & thinking how much easier a liquid application would be … but ONLY if it works…🤷♀️🤷♀️