# Is there a type of Pine or spruce less likely to promote ticks?



## Treewerk (Apr 1, 2010)

I have an area in my back yard that I will be clearing of mainly box elder trees that I want to replace with a row of pine or spruce trees. We have a nice deck out back of our house and it is a nice area to view the wildlife and various bird species. The area where I will plant these trees is about 10-15 yards away from a nice fire pit. 

Not sure if this is a dumb question or not, but are there any kinds of spruce or pine that are less likely to promote the carrying of ticks on them? We have 3 kids ourselves and lots of nieces and nephews who like to come to our place since we have a nice chunk of acreage to play in. It gets a little windy sometimes on our hill so we are thinking of planting this row of spruce or pine as a bit of a windbreak. Any suggestions?


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## caotropheus (Apr 2, 2010)

I will try to help you, despite I live in Europe and my knowledge of course is about European plants and animals.

When you speak about tick, you're referring to creatures like these, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tick


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## Treewerk (Apr 5, 2010)

Yes, nasty little buggers.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Apr 5, 2010)

Treewerk, the short answer is, "No."



The long answer is, "Nope."

Those buggers are nasty. We've had several cases of Lyme in our family. 



I read about this stuff last year:

http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/

I'm planning to give it a try. I'll post results when I've had time to evaluate it. Probably late summer or early fall.


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## caotropheus (Apr 7, 2010)

For what I know about ticks, they need vertebrates like birds, mammals and reptiles to thrive. So, if a species of tick is associated with a certain plant, it is in an indirect way. Most probably the tick is waiting for a certain host to pass near the plant, so it can "jump on", like a dog, a cat, a deer or any other animal. It might happen that certain animal hosts are more common in proximity of certain species of plants and so ticks are more common on those species. What animals and what plants and what ticks are related, I do not know exactly.


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## Treewerk (Apr 8, 2010)

BlueRidgeMark said:


> Treewerk, the short answer is, "No."
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks for the info...I may give this stuff a try. We have a big area that backs to the woods and a creek further down the hill so it may be worth a shot.


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## Treewerk (Apr 8, 2010)

caotropheus said:


> For what I know about ticks, they need vertebrates like birds, mammals and reptiles to thrive. So, if a species of tick is associated with a certain plant, it is in an indirect way. Most probably the tick is waiting for a certain host to pass near the plant, so it can "jump on", like a dog, a cat, a deer or any other animal. It might happen that certain animal hosts are more common in proximity of certain species of plants and so ticks are more common on those species. What animals and what plants and what ticks are related, I do not know exactly.



Yeah, sort of figured that there isn't a whole lot I can do about them in regards of what they may be on. My kids like to go down to the creek so I may be SOL on getting them outta my life.


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## makomakoman (Apr 13, 2010)

Just remember that Lyme disease comes from the White footed mouse. Eliminate the rodents. 

I just had my yard sprayed. I didn't like to do it, but this year is supposed to be a banner year for deer ticks in Maine.

They will come back to spray in May, June and Sept. 

I am sick of these creatures.


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