Horticulture Hotline 03/19/17
Bill Lamson-Scribner
A friend of mine’s wife got a bad case of the chiggers, and
with all the public service announcements about lyme disease, I figure a
mention about ticks is not a bad idea. Since deer carry the ticks that cause
lyme disease and we have a huge population of deer, a little prevention is
always a good idea.
Chiggers and redbugs are in the Trombiculidae family. They are a mite and not an insect so not all
insecticides work on them. They can be
easily controlled with products that contain Carbaryl (Sevin) or Bifenthrin
(Bug Blaster, Bifen). Carbaryl and
Bifenthrin will also kill ticks (not insects, eight legs like spiders), fleas
and many other pest as a bonus. Always
read, understand and follow product labels.
The larva of the chigger is what bothers most people. The larva will inject a fluid into the skin
which breaks down cells of a person, and then the chigger ingests these
cells. Most people think chiggers burrow
into the skin; however, this is an “old wives tale”.
When I was young, and doing landscape jobs that started with
clearing the lots, I would regularly be the dinner of this mite. Back then, people would treat chiggers with
nail polish thinking the mite was burrowed into the skin and this would
suffocate the chiggers. I later found
out that I didn’t need to be walking around with pink and red nail polish all
over me!
Chigger larva can crawl around on you for several hours
before attaching to your body. While
crawling around on you, if they hit a waist band or the elastic area of your
socks, instead of going under or around this barrier, they will usually latch
on right there. They also like warm
moist areas. Using repellants that
contain DEET on your clothing and exposed skin will prevent the chiggers from
attaching to you. There is an organic
product called Liquid Net that is DEET free and all natural that might be worth
trying. It does not list chiggers on the
label; however, it does list mosquitoes, gnats, ticks, no-see-ums, other biting
insects. If Liquid Net works against
chiggers, it would be a good all-natural chemical-free alternative to
DEET.
Chiggers, like mole crickets, over-winter as adults in the
soil. Once it warms up, the adults lay
eggs which hatch out into the larva. The
larva crawl around looking for about anything to feed on including rodents,
birds, snakes, rabbits, toads and humans.
The larva then turns into a big red adult that can be seen on driveways
or in the lawn. The adults do not attack
people.
Always read, understand and follow product label. The
product label is a Federal Law.
