Dill, Garland talk with BDN about ticks, gardening
Griffin Dill and Kate Garland talked with the Bangor Daily News about ticks and gardening. “Gardening-yard work” was the most common activity during which people encountered ticks, according to the 2019 Maine Tick Surveillance Program Annual Report. “I think sometimes that people have misconceptions about where they’re most likely to encounter ticks,” said Dill, who manages the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Tick Lab. “In reality, it really is an issue in that home landscape as much as anywhere else.” Adult tick season also peaks in the spring and fall, which are popular times to do yard work. “The timing is right, the habitat is right and it really kind of puts people and ticks on this kind of collision course,” said Dill, who recommends creating a physical barrier with clothes and a chemical barrier with a repellant. “You can also combine these two types of barriers using something called permethrin [to] treat clothing and gear. It tends to be the most effective repellent against ticks,” he says. Garland, a University of Maine Cooperative Extension horticultural specialist, keeps multiple tick removal spoons in easy-access locations — the car glove box, kitchen junk drawer, medicine cabinet and her purse.