If you hate ticks as much as I do, this post will help you banish them from your yard. Here are the best tick repellents for your yard. They include chemical spray, natural spray, and natural prevention methods to keep ticks away. Choose the best combination for your family.
Ticks are one of the worst types of bugs you might find yourself dealing with around your yard.
Not only can ticks infect pets that spend time outside, but they can also bite and infect humans. These bugs carry diseases that include Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Learning the best tick repellent for the yard to use can help you avoid these insects and stay safe.
Let’s take a look at the 13 best repellents for your backyard.
Table of Contents
7 Best Tick Spray for Yards
Here are the best sprays to prevent, repel, and kill ticks in your backyard. There is a mixture of natural and chemical sprays.
1. Black Flag Flea & Tick Killer Concentrate
This product from Black Flag is one of your best bets when looking for a tick killer. The concentrated formula includes 32 ounces of liquid that kills ticks on contact.
You don’t need to worry about using the right amount of water because you simply screw your garden hose onto the cap.
Order Black Flag Flea & Tick Killer on Amazon
When you spray, the bottle mixes the right amount of chemicals with your water.
One bottle can treat a yard of up to 5,000 square feet in size. It works on both fleas and ticks and will continue killing them for up to 12 weeks.
2. Ortho Home Defense Insect Killer for Lawn & Landscape
You can use this Ortho spray to treat outdoor spaces such as your lawn and garden along with your patio or deck. As with the other sprays, you attach your garden hose to the end.
When you pull on the trigger, the concentrated formula mixes with water and quickly creates an effective tick repellent.
This spray works on more than 200 types of insects. As a bonus, Ortho claims that it works on both adult ticks and their larvae.
3. Bayer Crop Science Complete Insect Killer
If you want to use chemicals, consider this spray from Bayer that comes in a concentrated formula you use with your garden hose.
When ticks come into contact with this spray, it gets inside their bodies and attaches to some of their receptors. Ticks may suffer from paralysis or convulsions before they die.
Bayer claims that one application of the spray will treat your lawn for three months or longer. It works on ticks as well as more than 500 other types of bugs.
4. Wondercide Flea & Tick Spray
Though you may not know the Wondercide name, this company makes one of the best tick repellents for your yard. The formula uses three top ingredients that kill ticks before they can attack your pets.
You don’t need to worry about your pets bringing in fleas as this spray also works on those bugs.
Each bottle comes with 32 ounces of spray, which is enough to treat a yard of up to 5,000 square feet. Many like that the formula uses natural ingredients that are safe to use around kids.
5. Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Yard and Kennel Spray
Vet’s Best makes one of the only tick repellents that you can use on both your yard and kennel.
Clove extract and peppermint oil are among the natural ingredients.
Check out Vet’s Best Tick spray
This spray attaches to your garden hose and provides enough repellent to cover a large or small yard.
As the formula uses natural ingredients, you don’t need to worry about it damaging your lawn or plants.
6. Cedar Oil Spray
Cedar oil spray is the best tick repellent for yards if you want a natural remedy. This oil is safe enough to use around kids and pets.
It has a pleasing smell that many users like. You can apply it on your skin or on top of your clothing.
Cedar oil also works on other types of insects such as mosquitoes.
7. Apple Cider Vinegar
Not only does apple cider vinegar have some health benefits, but it can also repel ticks and other insects when used outside.
Make a mixture of four tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and two cups of water. You can also add up to two tablespoons of neem oil or another oil.
Once you mix the solution, pour it in a spray bottle and use it on your skin or clothing before you head outside.
6 Natural Tick Repellent Methods
1. Mow Your Lawn
Mowing your lawn is one of the best natural ways to keep ticks away from your yard. You should try to keep the grass between three and four inches high.
Try mowing your grass before it climbs above 4.5 inches high.
When you allow your lawn to grow too high, it attracts ticks and gives them more places to hide. You may find that you have a hard time getting your tick problem under control when your grass is too high.
Here are more suggestions by the Center for Disease Control.
2. Use Mulch
You likely had experiences with ticks in the past when you hiked through the woods. Many types of ticks prefer living in areas with lots of woods and places to hide.
Though they do not usually seek out clean lawns, they will if those lawns are close to their natural habitats. Using mulch is a good way to protect your lawn because it creates a barrier around your property.
You can use any type of mulch made from natural ingredients.
3. Take Care of Weeds
Taking care of weeds is a good way to get rid of ticks and repel them. Focus on any patches where you see common weeds along with tall grass.
Not only do ticks hide in those areas, but they can easily attach themselves to people who move through those spots.
Learn more about other tiny black bugs around the home.
More reading: How to Get Rid of Spider: 15 Methods
4. Bag Your Leaves
While you might like seeing the leaves change, you should take care of the leaves that fall in your yard.
As those leaves break down, they form a damp or warm environment that ticks love. Use a blower to move the fallen leaves into larger piles that you bag and throw away.
You can also use an attachment on your mower to turn those leaves into mulch as you mow.
5. Garlic
Another natural way to repel ticks is with garlic. You might try planting garlic in your garden or around the edges of your lawn.
There are garlic pills that you can take and products that use garlic oil you can use on your skin.
As garlic is potentially dangerous to pets, talk to your vet before using these products on your pets.
Did you find a tick? Here are 14 Ways to Kill a Tick
6. Attract Natural Tick Predators
There are a number of animals that are natural tick predators. Some homeowners keep guinea fowl or chickens to keep the ticks down around their property.
Other animals that eat lots of ticks include fire ants, opossums, and turkeys. Learn more about other tick predators.
Keep reading: How to get rid of sand fleas (6 steps)
Your Turn
Ticks can carry many diseases and infect both your family and your pets. With the 12 best tick repellents for yards, you can use natural and chemical methods to get rid of these pests.
- About the Author
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Bryan Haines is a co-founder and writer at The Buginator. And is working to make it the best resource for taking back the outdoors from biting, stinging pests.
He also blogs about travel at Storyteller.Travel and photography at Storyteller Tech. Bryan is a partner at Storyteller Media, a publishing company he runs with his wife, Dena.