I saw a sign posted in a coffee shop recently. 80 percent of the deer ticks in my county carry Lyme Disease. I don't know the stats of the bigger dog ticks, but at least some of them carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Then there are chiggers.
In North America, chiggers don't carry disease, but they don't need to. The ferocious itching caused by chigger bites are enough for me.
It's that time of year again, and time to do something about it this time.
Take a minute to read up on Permethrin, a synthetic version of a chemical found in chrysanthemum plants; it kills a whole slew of noxious insects on contact. (Ticks will apparently drop off clothing treaded with Permetrin before they get a chance to dig in. I don't care - as long as they don't bite me.) It repels mosquitos, chiggers - all kinds of things, and it has a very low toxicity to mammals. Except cats. And it is highly toxic to fish.
Permethrin bonds tighty to clothing fibres and will last for 6 or more washings. FYI it's not for applying to the skin. Interestingly, the reason is that it metabolizes in fifteen or twenty minutes, not that it is harmful, but don't do it anyway.
Browse for Permethrin + Sawyer and read up on the product. If you enjoy the thought of being tick and chigger bitten as little as I do, you might think it over.
BTW - doyourownpestcontrol.com sells it in larger, concentrated quantities. Write them and they will tell you that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) buys it from them and mixes it with water to soak their clothing it, and give you the ratio.
