Prevention (yard): wood-chip or gravel perimeter barrier
A 3-foot strip of dry wood chips or gravel between lawn and woods discourages ticks from crossing in — the dryness, not the material, does the work.
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Steps
schema.org/HowTo
01
A dry, coarse barrier between lawn and woods discourages ticks from crossing into the lawn.
02
Install a strip 3 feet (1 metre) wide of wood chips or gravel between mowed lawn and the wooded or brushy edge.
03
Keep it dry and clear of leaf debris - the point is the dry, sunny micro-habitat, not the material itself.
04
Use this border as a mental cue: keep play structures, decks, and patios on the lawn side of it.
05
Note on cedar specifically: cedar oil can repel and kill ticks in laboratory tests, but field studies of cedar-oil products show modest knockdown (often under 25%) and short residual activity. Use cedar chips for the dry-barrier effect, not because cedar itself is a reliable repellent.