Sunday, July 12, 2009

Ticks and Trellises

I am fed up with ticks. I don't know if I'm traipsing them in from the garden, if the dog is bringing them in, if they're availing themselves of our home by their own volition or what, but they have got to go.

I don't recall ever having ticks on me before, but I've had five lovelies this past month who have sunk their piercing jaws into me, held on, and wouldn't let go for love or money. I've found one on the boy, the man's had two and tonight, we found one on my mother that she obviously picked up at our house (No, Mom, I wrote it and deleted it three times. I'm not going to tell them where it was although now I'm sure they can all guess).

I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm going to call and talk to our bug man tomorrow. There's not much he can do if they're hitching a ride on us from the outside in, but what if they've started their own commune or love nest or whatever. I'm highly irritated. Every time my hair brushes the back of my neck or something the like, I immediately think, "TICK!" and jump around waving my arms like I'm fighting a pterodactyl. The boy has even asked me to stop grooming him like a chimpanzee.

*sigh*

So what do I do to calm down? Go out to the garden, what else? :)

I planted another set of pole beans where the bush cucumbers and purple beans were in the side yard.

I was just going to let them sprawl all over the place, but I found these two short trellises 50% off, so I snagged them. They'll at least allow them a little height. Yes, I need to straighten up that yellow pear tomato. I'm thinking of running a line from the top of the retaining wall to hold it up.Speaking of which....This location gets really, really good sun all year, but it directly faces my neighbor's house, so I've tried to keep it tame, but I'd love to put a real trellis here for beans and peas. Questions: will beans/peas climb single lines or does it have to be mesh? Here's my thoughts. I could double up a few lengths of stringing by looping it around the top rail and securing the loose ends to the box. Now, I couldn't go straight down because that would be too close to the wall, but those boxes are only 2 ft wide. If I brought them down and secured them to the front of the box, it would give a slight slope to the line. I'm thinking individual string would be less unsightly and easily covered by the vines than full blown trellis weave.

Does it sound like it would work? Can you even envision it? If I can find a way to trellis this area simply when needed, I wouldn't have to erect an entire huge stand alone trellis for my other corner yard box.

While you're mulling that over, look back to the picture and then to the tomato bushes on the right. Do you see him?

Yup! There he is. Much happier, tucked away in his safe home. We're about to have our first thunderstorm since he came here. I know it's silly, but I want to go and bring him inside.

The morning comes early. Dream about that trellis idea for me, okay?

22 comments:

  1. Of course the single strings would work! I planted my pole beans against chain link and they had a difficult time trying to climb it. I'm going to do another planting this week, but run single strings to the top rail so they can grab onto them.

    Santa Gnome looks very happy in his new home.

    Ticks...ICK!!

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  2. I have pole beans planted in pots along my arbor thingy, and have run just plain old string from the top of the fence wire to the pvc pipe on top. The KY Wonder pole beans are having a grand old time climbing up it. Once they get going, the foliage will cover the string. I suppose, if you wanted to get fancy about it, you could use fishing line or weed whacker line so it's transparent. Probably would look better, but I don't think the beans care...LOL!

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  3. Pole beans will climb a string no problem. Peas may need a little more support once they are full grown though. I hope you can get some spraying or something done for the ticks. I have never seen one before but I have heard of people picking them up in feilds & woods.

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  4. My stepson (who is working this summer studying parasites & showshoe hares) told me last week that you shouldn't remove ticks using the hot match (etc) method that we've always heard. I guess the tick ends up spitting more germy stuff into the skin than if you just yank it out. Also, don't squish the body in the process. You may very well know these things, but I did not, so I'm telling you anyway (I'm just telling it less gross than he told me) :-)

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  5. Amy, I don't know if it's any better or not, but we slather them in vasaline (sp?) and within a few minutes they drop off. I'm so afraid to just pull them off after one left its head in the man and we had a devil of a time getting it out.

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  6. Dan, that's my point exactly. Woods and fields. Not houses. We do have that thick tatch of woods behind the house that the dog goes in, and I can understand them falling out of the trees onto me while I'm in the garden, but we've never had the problem before. The chicken farm behind us is up and running again, and the man thinks the surge in ticks may be linked to that. Who knows.

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  7. sb158, you're right. I think we'll go with some fishing line or something white to blend into the wall.

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  8. Granny, it's over 6 ft to the bottom of the rail would that be enough? This year, mine didn't get that high. Ok, this year, mine didn't grow well at all which is why I'm looking at moving them.

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  9. I feel your pain, We get ticks in summer here and boy they even come in to the house. Nasty little buggars. Tuck your pants into your socks? Looks like a nerd, but I am a nerd, according to my kids.
    Rosey

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  10. Ribbit, your question brought back great memories of my mom's back porch-she always ran strings from the ground up to the top of the porch (about 10ft!) and planted one bean per string. Within a short time, she had a wonderfully shaded and private retreat. An added bonus?-the beans were very easy to pick from the house! Have a great day!

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  11. How awesome, Sue! And what a great way to shade a porch and get enjoyment from it!

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  12. Rosey, I wish it were that easy, but they're totally in the house. We checked everyone before we went to bed last night and the man woke up with one on his back this morning. I'm so irritated.

    I called the pest control man and he said they can't live in the house. They obviously haven't been here. The man's coming Wednesday to take a look.

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  13. Wow - same problem here! We never had ticks before this year, now I seem to find them at a rate of 2-3 per week. Sounds gross, but I am hoping they bite the dog, since the Frontline always kills them! Funny thing about that is that after they bite the dog and die, they don't fall off so I have to go through the dog and pull off dead ticks...better than live ones, though! Mine I think came in with a huge load of hardwood mulch we had delivered. We cleared an area at the back of the yard, put raised beds in, then filled in all the pathways with mulch and within a day or two I saw a few climbing the boards on the raised beds. I think we will have to spray for them back there even though I have been holding out since I don't want to kill my beneficials, which we have alot of. What I really need is Kate & Crew's chickens to spend the weekend here eating ticks!!!

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  14. Ribbit, my chain link fence is 6' high and the pole beans are probably about 8', but once they reach the top they just sort of wave around in the air. I would use heavy garden twine, I really don't think they would cling well to fishing line.

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  15. Ribbit-I have noticed a bad case of them at my house. Here lately, we haven't had them visit the family but before, we were finding one on someone every day. I wondered if it was the dog as well. We put flea and tick stuff on here so we wondered if they were hitching a ride on here and then coming to see us. Mom actually had one crawling in her hair. She was brushing her hair and thought "what is that black stuff? Is it a leaf?" nope a big black tick EEWWWWW!!

    My daughter had a little tiny one on her bottom eye lid. Of course I freaked! So did she. She had a friend in school in the hospital from lime (is that the right spelling?) disease or whatever it is you can catch from them. I tried to get him out, but I cut him in half DOUBLE EEWWW!! Again, I freaked. I called the pediatrician and they said "be sure and don't try to jerk him out quickly. It will cut him in half". uh.. whoopsie! I told her "uh...what if that has already been done?" She said, "well, then you will have to wait until it comes out on his own". I said "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HEAD STILL IN THERE! WHAT ABOUT LIME DISEASE!?!" She said "his head in there doesn't determine if she will have it or not. The tick will have it, or not." Aaahhh so just having a tick could or could not make you sick. Not the head staying in there. I think it is just a "the head detaches easily so be careful when trying to get him out so it doesn't stay in there" like "ick" kinda thing. I dunno but that is my conclusion.

    No advice on the trellis but I do want one of those, arbors I think it is. The thing that is kind of an arch or a gate that you can lets vines or viney plants crawl on that is so pretty. I wanted to run something like cucumbers or watermelon or something and let the fruit hang down. BUT! they are like $300. Boy do I need a rich husband.

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  16. You know, ERin, that's my nieghbor's idea, too. He and the woman on the other side of him just cleared out their entire back woods are. He thinks the ticks have been freaked out and are running for cover. They're having a huge problem with them as well.

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  17. Jen, 300$ is a bit steep, but I be you can find one now on clearance. It's worth a look.

    The eyelid would most likely be my undoing. Ours have been mostly on legs and bellies. The boy's was in his hair. I'm so worried their 'in' the house that I'm afraid to let the kids sit on the sofas, but they're sure not sitting on the floor. It's driving me nuts. Lyme disease is a scary, scary thing. I'm watching the places we've been sucked on for symptoms.

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  18. Granny, that's why I need you. Thank you!!

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  19. The word "tick" makes me want to scream! That is one thing I DO NOT miss about living in VA!!!

    I don't have the time to read other's posts at the moment so I don't know if anyone has said this(I'm sneaking a peak while the boys eat snacks), but the correct way to remove a tick is by using pointy tweezers, getting in under their belly & grasping their heads, then gently and continuously tug, and turn as you tug. Be VERY aware of any rashes that you get. SERIOUSLY. My dad has been battling Lyme Disease for a *very* long time, and it is NOT something you want anyone to have.

    The vasaline, match, or similar methods of removal can actually make tick burrow deeper...

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  20. Momma_S, thank you! We've been using the vasaline and it seems to work, but I'll take your advice. I'm so sorry for your father. I hear that it is one disease that you have a devil of a time getting rid of, if ever.

    They are E V I L, evil. I'm not sure they have one redeeming quality at all.

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  21. I do want to correct what I said about tick removal: You put one side of the tweezers under the tick's belly & head, then the other end above it, then slowly/gently tug & twist.

    EVIL indeed! It is a terrible, and still little known about disease... Some Dr's out there still don't even believe it's anything to worry about.

    My dad's had it for 15+yrs, but wasn't "officially" diagnosed until Nov' '07 (after years of misdiagnoses, being called a hypochondriac, etc). He's been on all sorts of antibiotics & herbs, and probably will be for the rest of his days. Fortunately, he's working with one of the leading researchers on Lyme Disease.

    There's a scary film out called, "Under Our Skin" that I think everyone should watch. It's a real eye opener...

    Sorry for the rant, it's just a topic that hits home for me...

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  22. I understood how you said to grasp them and by all means, I value your experience in this, and it's not a rant. The sharing of experiences what this blogging thing is all about. Your experience is invalueable. Thank you!

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