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TICKS! Should You Spray?

Jimmy Kane • Jan 25, 2023
Long Island has seen a boom in tick populations and right behind it, a boom of an industry for tick spraying applications. We have all seen it. Every march at all the main intersections. Big signs advertising "ORGANIC TICK CONTROL" "TICK SPRAYING CALL NOW". Does all this stuff even work? That's what we set out to find out in the past couple years, and here's what we found.

When applying pesticides, an applicator needs to ask themselves a few questions. 
  • Is this product labeled to kill the target pest? 
  • How is this product labeled to be applied? 
  • Where does the target pest live? 
So lets answer these questions together. Yes, most organic oil insecticides are labeled for ticks. The organic insecticides are designed to be applied in a liquid emulsion by a hand, or backpack sprayer. Ticks live most of their lives rehydrating under dense leaf litter. So is a backpack sprayer the ideal way to treat these insects?

So, here's the skinny on the organic sprays from our experience. They are great at killing mosquitoes. They can kill ticks. They don't last very long when exposed to rain and water runoff, and they don't penetrate very well into thick leaf litter. Making a standard backpack application will certainly kill some questing and hunting ticks in the yard, but we wanted to find a way to better treat the areas they prefer to live, and we found our answer. Granular insecticides. 

Granular insecticides excel in a number of ways. Instead of washing away with rain, they are activated by watering and rain, soaking into the soil and leaf litter. Now the wet and humid summer season works in our favor instead of working against us. When the ticks are down rehydrating themselves, they are going to uptake this insecticide, and die off before they even have the chance to emerge and latch on to a host. It also has a longer residual and will treat the area for longer, meaning a reintroduction from a deer or racoon walking through your yard won't mean you start from square one again. 

Through a couple years of trying out different combinations of treatments, and monitoring populations before and after using tick drags. We found our largest population reductions through programs using granulars, as opposed to standard organic foliar sprays which have been the industry standard for years. This year we are launching our proprietary Tick Assault package to all of our clients, so they can finally breathe easy knowing that their family and pets can enjoy the yard all summer long without these parasites.

We have always been pushing the envelope in trying to find new, safer and effective ways to keep your homes and properties pest free, and we are pleased to bring a new revolution to the lawn care sector which will blow these disease carrying parasites out of the water. 
By Jimmy Kane 23 Feb, 2021
The short answer is yes! However, I like to dig a bit deeper to explain why for people, so they don't think I'm shoving off the question to an easy, quick answer. What I describe usually leaves people surprised. When considering safety of any product, you have to consider a couple things. First thing you should look at is the emboldened signal word on the label. You've all seen it. "Caution" "Warning" and "Danger" This single word is used to quickly describe how acutely toxic the contained substance is. If you rummage through your kitchen or bathroom cabinet, you'll likely see all three of these. One thing that I get the biggest kick out of, is that one of the most common household cleaners, Bleach , carries the strongest word, DANGER with the skull and crossbones. People use bleach with bare hands every day. The second safety concern is the mode of application. Is it an aerosol spray? Is it a liquid? A solid or gel bait? All of these have their own safety considerations and instructions to be followed. For instance, they don't make bleach as an aerosol, or people would be harming their families every day. At Kane Exterminating, when it comes to our products, our strongest ones boast the signal word CAUTION . We will never make an application with anything even remotely as poisonous as that bottle of bleach under your sink. All our technicians are all certified by NYS with 30 hours of core training on safety and label laws. Learning how to read and comprehend a label, and how to apply it safely. Heres one that also boggles my mind. Our strongest liquid product, Termidor NY, shares the same active ingredient and dilution as frontline flea and tick prevention that you apply directly to your animal. Termidor NY: 9.1% Fipronil, Frontline Plus: 9.8% Fipronil. Check it out for yourself, it's crazy to say the least. ALWAYS READ YOUR LABELS! Since I probably lost you in all that jargon, I'll circle back. Yes, our products are meant to kill organisms, but they get a bad rap. With every spray and bait we use, one would have to ingest significantly more than we would ever apply in your home to have any affect on oneself, ones pet, or otherwise. For those still wary of the "C Word", we happily supply organic options as well! The organics aren't as efficient and smell quite strongly, but we will carry options for every client. If you have any specific concerns about a product we would use, just ask us for a copy of the labels to be emailed to you and we can help you read through it and understand how it all works. We all stand behind our products, our tools, and our skills to ensure a safe, effective treatment. For 50 years, Jim Kane Sr. would tell every hire he made at Kane, "We protect health, and structure. If the solution is worse than the problem, we don't do it."
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