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PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:02 am 
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We have an area of our yard that apparently has some mites. We can't see them but they get on your skin and burrow and the medical cure is application of a neurotoxin from head to toe. They die and it itches like crazy when they do.
We now treat them ourselves at home with 3-4 daily applications of tea tree oil. It itches for longer but it works.

Unfortunately I got the mites again last week -but I wasn't in the corner of the yard that we know typically has them. So now I feel as if I need to come up with something to treat my entire yard - I have small kids and I would hate for them to get these critters.

Any advice on something I can spray on my shrubs/plants to rid me of these house guests that I first discovered in 2002!

ETA -we also seem to have a bunch of ants - not fire ants, just the regular ones.


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:39 am 
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Forgive my ignorance but what kind of mites are they that burrow into your skin like that? If they live in the soil, possibly beneficial nemetodes would help.

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:43 am 
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sandih wrote:
Forgive my ignorance but what kind of mites are they that burrow into your skin like that? If they live in the soil, possibly beneficial nemetodes would help.



I don't know. From what we can tell they are on the bushes -normally we know when we get them from where we have been. Usually they seem to deposit as a leaf or branch brushes the skin.
ETA- we can't ever see them though.

Here is a pic I found of what they look like
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2048/222 ... 6f.jpg?v=0

They might start in a ball an then you get the lines or track marks as they move.


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:14 am 
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Please pardon my lateness to the party. It seems that you are experiencing the outdoor enemy called redbugs or chiggers. My most memorable chigger event happened while visiting friends at their wooded country property. They warned me of the certain chigger attack if I did not want to spray Deet on my shoes and lower pants area. I politely declined and determined that I wouldn't stand still in the tall grass. These critters climb up on the ladder-like leaves to hitch a bloody ride on any leg that the leaf briefly rests against. Well, about 80 or so itchy red welts and a doctor visit later I became a big fan of that most stinky but wonderful product called Deet. On the what-do-I-do-about-these-welts front, I think you might want to try a clear sticky drop of a product called Chiggerid on each welt. It is sold at some drug stores. I understand that the suckers need air and this medical glue stuff will smother them. A friend said that they have used a drop of clear fingernail polish to do the same thing.


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 6:41 am 
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Location: Arlington, Texas
BUGAPEST is right. You have chiggers. Although it is true that they burrow into the skin, it is not true that putting nail polish on your skin will help. That is an old wives tale. Also, I suspect that the Chiggerid folks are making money but people are still itching. Not sure about that but I think they're product is something along the lines of the nail polish on the skin tip...

I am terribly sensitive to spider bites and their venom. Chiggers are in the arachnid family. So, after a lot of research (and ruling other pests out), here's our program to be free of them:

1. Tuck your pants inside your socks when you're working outside where you know the chiggers are.
2. If I'm going to be working outside for a number of hours, I sometimes spray my pants legs and shoes with OFF! (a no-no in the organic world but saves me from DAYS of itching...)
3. Get out of the work clothes as quickly as possible. The chiggers will hang out in your clothes. I put them immediately in the laundry basket (at the least) and sometimes right into the washer.
4. Bathe with warm, soapy water. The soapy water kills the chiggers.
5. Although it's kind of a pain to do this, I have started taking a break after about 2 hours of outside work, take a shower, change clothes, and then go back out and work some more. Gotta get those chiggers OFF ME!

One thing I found out is that chiggers are territorial. They won't migrate to other places in the yard like other pests do. But that also means that they'll show up every year in the same bushes, or patches of weeds, until you kill them.

As you will see from the copied Library text below, chiggers like arid, infertile soil. If you water, fertilize (organically, of course), and treat for chiggers, you will get rid of the horrible, little pests.

We have broadcast diatomaceous earth and I look forward to a chigger-free yard in years to come... hopefully, this year. :D

The following is from the Library on this site, under "Chigger". I have not tried the suggestions to stop the itching, but I feel sure that they would work.
I have not tried the baby oil either. Probably won't.
I had forgotten about the sulfur dust treatment. Going to get some of that, too. We're attacking from the angle of treating the yard and getting the chiggers off of us asap.

Hope that helps, and that you are itch-free soon!!

From the Library article:
Sulfur dust is a good repellent. So is lemonmint, also called horsemint (Monarda citriodora). Take a hot, soapy bath to remove larvae. Stop the itching with baking soda, vinegar, aloe vera, or comfrey juice.

Insight: If you have to walk through property that's dry and weedy and it's summertime, take a few precautions. First, don't wear shorts. Second, dust your shoes, pant legs, and socks with powdered sulfur. It's available at any nursery or feed store. Rubbing the crushed flowers of lemonmint on your clothing will also repel chiggers.

Chiggers can be controlled with a broadcast application of diatomaceous earth or an application of granular or dusting sulfur at 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If you have alkaline soil, the sulfur is also a good soil amendment. If you have acid soil, just don't overdo it. Excess sulfur will kill or severely imbalance the microorganisms in the soil. If your property is watered occasionally, chiggers won't be a problem.

Treat infested sites with elemental sulfur at 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet. People allergic to sulfur can spray the site with the Garden-Ville Fire Ant Control formula. Chiggers like dry infertile soil. Increase the organic matter and the water holding capacity of the soil and the pressure from these mites will be minimal. Lava sand or other volcanic material will help the soil’s moisture retention. Apply baby oil to your body before dressing if you plan to be in infested area.

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(or... as my ladybug refrigerator magnet says
"take time to stop and eat the flowers!" :D)


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:00 am 
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Thanks folks -but I have also had the unfortunate experience to have been assaulted by chiggers and this is not chiggers. The welts are much smaller and they move in a track -so they leave a line welt on your skin.
Also they like the open skin - so the back of your hands or my forearms.

When I have had chiggers they seem to like tight areas like socks, waistband and under bra straps. They also don't seem to move in a line.

We are going to try sulphur this week though - I think they may be related.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 3:21 pm 
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Well we sprayed with sulphur this weekend and am hopeful that they are gone -so I am not sure what there is to see. If I do get them again I'll contact you. In the mean time I'm hunting around for a pic I took the first time we got attacked.


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