Tick-Tight Treatments

When you pull up to a property and immediately see high grass, wood piles, leaf litter, mulch beds, dense ground cover, etc., you know you have your work cut out for you. Not only do you have to perform a tick treatment, but you also have to help the customer understand that their collaboration is essential. Unless they do their part to keep the lawn tidy and deter wildlife from coming in, your treatment efforts are likely to fail.

“I have an account in my head right now that we encountered last year: Wisteria vines were growing up the sides of the house, the shrubs were overgrown — we couldn’t even make it through the walking paths with a backpack sprayer. It was a nightmare. We tried our best, but it was a losing battle because the homeowner wasn’t able to address all of the harborage issues that were causing the tick problem,” said Clint Collins, general manager of HTP Termite & Pest Control in Huntingdon, Tenn.

Collins added that most of the calls HTP gets for tick control services are from their rural customers rather than those in metro areas. Properties are often surrounded by fields or wooded areas, so they do a liquid edge treatment, perimeter bands around tree bases and misting as needed.

In fact, 98% of PMPs told PCT they use a residual pesticide to treat ticks. That percentage is up over last year by 6%. Insect growth regulator (IGR) usage is up as well, as PMPs look to break the lifecycle of ticks, preventing larvae and nymphs from maturing into reproducing adults. Where 43% said they used an IGR in 2025, now fully half of PMPs do. Rodent control has become more of a focus as well, up 5% over 2025, with 23% of PMPs saying they address these wildlife hosts.

BOTANICALS: A CENTRAL ROLE. In Tallahassee, Fla., Mosquito Joe’s Robert Frost shared that his company’s most popular tick treatment uses a hybrid approach. “We use as low a pesticide-based product as we can get, plus essential oils, in conjunction with an IGR. That enables us to attack the pests and take care of the issue without leaving any heavy residual effects. Customers want the ticks gone, but they’re also concerned about the safety of their children and pets.”

LAWN SERVICES A PLUS. If your company offers lawn services in addition to pest management, that can be a plus for tick management. “Fertilization and weed control are not direct tick treatments, but they do help improve the lawn, reduce overgrowth and cut down on some of the cover ticks are attracted to,” said Michael Carter, Natural State Pest & Lawn. He added that, although tick work is run through the pest control side of the business, the company’s lawn and pest technicians both know how to upsell and manage ticks, as well as how to educate customers about conducive conditions that can add to tick pressure.

CONSIDER THE SPECIES. How important is it for PMPs to identify and understand the species of tick they are dealing with? It’s usually not critical to treatment, since products are designed to control all types of ticks, but sometimes understanding the biology and behaviors of a certain species can provide insight into the best way to approach an infestation.

Kevin Hathorne, training and technical director of Terminix Service in Columbia, S.C., said, “There can be differences across species in lifecycles and host preferences, and the various tick-borne diseases are only spread by certain species, but these differences don’t usually come into play for technicians and treatments.” Occasionally, circumstances do call for a species-specific approach, he added, citing the need to look beyond outdoor applications when brown dog ticks infest an indoor structure or to recommend tactics for diverting deer when black-legged ticks are the prevailing species.

“If your treatment approach isn’t working as well as usual, it makes sense to dive deeper into the biology and behavior of the species so you can make adjustments,” Hathorne said. “If you need help properly identifying a species, the Mallis Handbook of Pest Control and NPMA Field Guide to Structural Pests are good resources. You can also consult your state extension office if you need more support.”

Whom should you not trust with identifying the species you’re managing? Well, customers, unless they happen to be entomologists themselves. Collins explained why: “We service a lot of healthcare facilities, and they sometimes misidentify ticks and bed bugs. To us on the pest control side, it might seem impossible to make that mistake, but bed bugs are a major issue in healthcare facilities in this market right now, and the media describes them as small reddish-brown bugs. You can’t blame the healthcare folks for confusing the two, but you have to be aware when you get the call that you may think you’re going out for bed bugs only to find ticks.”