Tick Tubes

In our constant quest to rid our yard of unpleasant biting things, we have used a service to spray our yard (despite my misgivings about it affecting other bugs we want to keep around, like bees and butterflies). For the last two summers, we also used two GAT devices, though we sometimes forget to maintain them throughout the season. This year, we added something else to our arsenal: tick tubes.

We opted to try homemade ones, though we failed to plan ahead and save the dozens of toilet paper/paper towel tubes that would have been necessary. We worked with what we had available within the span of a weekend and decided to give it a try. It seemed silly to spend $50 or more when we had all the ingredients so readily available. When we set out new ones later in the year, we will plan better.

Cardboard tubes, dryer lint (and some additional cotton balls, because - again - we didn't plan ahead very well) and permethrin and BAM, tick killers. There are lots of online instructions to find. The basic idea is to soak the lint in a permethrin solution of about 7-8% strength (so dilution depends on how strong the solution is that you have in the bottle already). Let them dry out and then stuff them in toilet paper tubes. In theory, mice will use the lint for building nests and the permethrin, which is harmless for mammals, will infect the ticks that also settle there.

Again, because we waited until it was "go time" to do this, we didn't realize that it required far more tubes than we expected (they're supposed to be every 10-15 ft, around the edge of the property). But we tried with what we could. Timing seemed more important here than getting it perfect, because th aim is to do it right around tick breeding season in late April. In fact, we may have been a week too late even then, because we found a tick a couple of weeks earlier. But again, it's our first time - we'll do better next round (which I guess is in July some time).

Our tick tubes are gently buried in the leaves, hopefully where the mice will find them. The one in this picture is practically invisible, and pretty near our GAT, in fact. This picture kills two biting insects with one shot...And that weak play on words probably makes you want to groan.

Fingers crossed that these efforts actually help. It would be so nice to go in the yard and not feel like I'm a feast to all sorts of disease-carrying critters.

More Outdoorsy Updates

Really, April and May posts should just be "here are lots of green things" because we end up spending so much time out making our yard pretty (or our attempt at pretty) that that's the extent of our home improvements for spring. It's even hard to find a common theme beyond that. And while we have other ongoing projects, they're on the back burner for the few months we can actually get outdoors in moderate weather and relatively bug free (though I did get my first bug bites this week, so I think the season is coming to an end).

One of the main things that we (ok, really just D) has done, was finish dismantling the brick oven in the back corner of the house, to make way for a potential shed. Then it was time to dispose of the junk, especially after our pest control company mentioned that the brick pile was a breeding ground for ticks. D experimented by putting a few of the smaller pieces out for trash pick up. No dice. Not that I blame our public works people - even these small pieces are heavy. Our town wouldn't even take them away with a "bulk pick-up" request. Construction material evidently wasn't acceptable.

 So how to get rid of this giant pile?

Fortunately, we found a local company that would come haul it all away. They didn't even charge much extra to take it directly from the back yard (we would have saved something like $40 if we brought it to the driveway, but our backs were very much in favor of paying the money and saving us from aches and pains). And so this:

 turned into this:

D specifically wanted to keep those extra wood rails and individual bricks. In one afternoon, he used the extra bricks to make this border and weed and mulch it. Isn't it pretty? He's hoping it will help prevent some soil erosion we've been experiencing in that area.

He's been using a lot of the soil we had delivered in April to fill in low spots in our yard and plant with grass seed, something the kids have enjoyed helping with.

A few unrelated observations and questions (unrelated except for the fact that they are yard-focused).

First, our Japanese Snowbell bloomed! We planted it in fall 2017 and don't recall that it flowered last summer (probably was acclimating and sending out roots). It's beautiful and fragrant and we're thrilled we haven't killed it (yet). This picture is a week past the peak but still shows the blossoms, I hope.

Second, our hammock is dingy, which we know is what we deserve for leaving it outside spring through fall. Anyone have an idea of how to clean it (the wood boards at both ends are permanently knotted in)? Maybe I have to try to give it a swirl in the bathtub?

And finally, our new maple tree in the backyard (also planted in fall 2017) has spots on the leaves. That can't be good. A quick google suggests this is "tar spot" and a type of fungus and that we have to wait until fall to treat (by raking away the infected leaves). But if you have any other suggestions or diagnoses, please share.