Topic: MED question (seriously): how to make live Xmas trees safe ?(due to ticks on them)
henson2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 463
posted
Dear All,
This is a question about ticks on live Xmas trees; I hope you'll keep it in Medical, as it has to do with Prevention. And I promised someone an answer.
Every year a good hearted person will get on the Board and alert us to the statistics for how many ticks are on live Xmas trees that get brought into the home. (Thank you in advance if someone has the link or can post the info).
I shared this with someone who is now very worried about the family (with children and grandchildren) having a live Xmas tree in the home. I explained that most people get artificial trees when they learn that ticks can live on and come in with the Xmas trees. He said that an artificial tree is simply not an option. (I think it's his son's house).
First of all, is the danger of ticks on Xmas trees true even where the tree comes from a snowy environment?
And, **most importantly**, what can I tell this person to do to minimize the ticks? He asked if he should spray it or power-wash it. (I didn't think pesticides were the answer).
I feel bad that I've caused him to worry about Lyme now (even if it's legitimate) - he wants to know how to minimize the risk to the kids and grandkids. Switching to an artificial tree is simply not an option. And now I have him worried.
I shouldn't have brought it up with him, but now that I have, I told him I'd try to find an answer for how he can treat the tree to minimize the exposure to ticks. Does anyone know, or have any ideas?
What can one you do besides avoid live trees altogether? (shake it over a bucket in the basement??)
Thank you in advance for any replies. This probably sounds like a silly question, but I ended up making an older gentleman very worried, and I'd like to research something for him to do. Thank you Everyone!
Posts: 1067 | From East Coast | Registered: Dec 2000
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posted
Someone did start a post on here earlier about trees having ticks on them. Also the greenery.
I think it's a good question. Is there any spray that can kill ticks?
Another question: I've used a spray with the chemical d'limonene in it from orange peels. It's what the orange has in it to repel bugs. The d'limonene spray kills bugs on contact, and it's nontoxic.
I get the TKO brand concentrate, put a little bit in a spray bottle, fill it up with water, and it makes a big spray bottle. Spraying usually needs to be done on a daily basis, since it's biodegradable in 24 hours time. Now, does it kill ticks?
Posts: 13171 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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I FORGOT TO ADD; IT WAS A TICK FROM LIVE TREE THAT BITE ME AT XMAS 1969 when I got seriously sick late Jan. 70!! 36 long/horrendious years ago!
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henson2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 463
posted
Thank you for the replies. I really appreciate it!
I took it for granted that one would simply get an artificial tree, but I gather in some families the person getting the tree doesn't see the danger of ticks (or really wants to have a live tree).
I didn't think about the greenery! Wreaths....
Thanks again!
Posts: 1067 | From East Coast | Registered: Dec 2000
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Marnie
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 773
posted
In a garage?
"Easiest way to check would be to set carbon dioxide traps. Get a big load of dry ice (handle it carefully, with big thick gloves) and put some in the center of each room, surrounded by big circles of sticky tape. Nearby ticks will head towards the CO2 and get caught on the tape. If the tapes are free of ticks the next day, the house is likely clean."
Directions to Make Your Own Dry Ice Tick Trap: (from Common Sense Pest Control)
� Find a covered ice bucket or other Styrofoam container measuring six by six by 12 inches.
� Cut four 3/4 inch holes in the sides near the bottom to allow the dry ice to vaporize outward and attract ticks.
� Drop 2 lbs. of dry ice into the bucket. It will last about 3 hours and most ticks within a 75 square foot area will be captured within 3 hours.
� Place the dry ice-filled container over a piece of plywood. Place masking tape, sticky-side-up on the plywood and attached it with a stapler around the perimeter. The dry ice will attract ticks and the tape will catch them. Remove the masking tape as it catches the ticks and replace it.
(Personally, I'd use duct tape ;-) I wanna make sure they stick!
Posts: 9481 | From Sunshine State | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
DEET is a repellant only. It will not kill ticks like permethrin does.
I know that I will never have a live Christmas tree in my home again. EVER.
By the way BettyG, your inquiry to the newspaper about ticks in Christmas trees prompted the newspaper reporters to contact ISU, who have now issued this statement:
Note to media editors: This is the Garden Column for the week of Nov. 24, 2006.
11/20/2006
by Laura Jesse
Entomologist
Iowa State University Extension
My favorite part of the holidays has always been the Christmas tree. There is just something magical about bringing a real, live, fresh-cut evergreen tree into my living room and decorating it with pretty colored lights.
However, on occasion, a little more ``real'' world comes in than I bargain for. It is not uncommon to also bring in some insects or spiders that were on the tree while it was growing outdoors. Fortunately, these ``accidental invader'' insect and spider pests are harmless. Plus, if you have a budding entomologist in the house, insects are the best presents you can find under the tree!
Spiders and Aphids
The two pests most commonly found on fresh-cut trees are aphids and spiders. In both cases, adults that were on the trees back in late summer or fall laid eggs on the stems or foliage. These eggs would have remained dormant through the cold weather of winter, but you keep your house nice and warm and they think it is spring and hatch. Hopefully it is just a few, but occasionally several hundred baby insects or spiders can be on a single tree.
These newly hatched insects and spiderlings are very small (approximately 1/16th inch). Only when they are present in large numbers do they even make sufficient impact to be noticed. In many cases, the newly-hatched insects and spiders wander only a very short distance before drying out and dying.
One aphid that is most likely to hitchhike into the house in the egg stage is the white pine aphid. This is a relatively large aphid that feeds on sap from needles and stems of the eastern white pine. During the fall, females lay large, shiny black eggs end-to-end along the needles. Five to 25 eggs may line up like a row of oblong beads on a single needle. After several days at room temperature, these eggs begin to hatch into very, very small, dark gray to black aphids.
A similar situation occurs with several species of spiders. Eggs laid in a marble-sized, silken sac can hatch after several days indoors, and literally hundreds of very tiny, dark gray spiderlings may emerge in dense clusters.
Completely Harmless
None of the insects or spiders that emerge after being carried in on a fresh-cut tree will cause any harm or damage to the tree, the house, the furnishings or the occupants. They cannot bite or sting and they will not live long enough to grow or multiply. Low levels of sap in the tree mean an inadequate food supply for aphids and other sap-sucking insects. They will quickly die of starvation or desiccation, whichever comes first. Similarly, spiders will not find adequate food for growth and development, so sadly they too will wander about for a brief period before they expire.
Aphids and spiders from Christmas trees are an annoyance because of their presence. But this does not justify use of any insecticides to combat their existence. Simply pick or vacuum them up and throw them away for the only necessary ``control.''
Do not spray insecticides on fresh cut Christmas trees. There is almost no benefit, and while household insecticides are not a serious health threat, why expose your family to pesticides that aren't needed?
The slight threat of a close encounter with these harmless, tiny ``bugs'' while you gather around the tree should not deter you from the tradition of using a live tree in your holiday decorations.As pest problems go, this is a minor annoyance at worst and shouldn't keep anyone from enjoying a fresh-cut tree.
The Tick Hoax
A few years ago a popular radio personality recommended dusting your Christmas tree with ``flea and tick powder'' (the brand sold by his sponsor, by the way) as a prevention against ticks and the Lyme disease they may carry. This is an especially galling and nasty hoax playing on people's fears of ticks (``blood suckers!'') and the highly publicized Lyme disease.
As we must remind often, there are no ticks in trees. Never. The widespread misconception that ticks live in trees appears to be deeply ingrained in the common folklore. There are no ticks in Christmas trees, nor in any other kind of tree.
Dusting your Christmas tree with ``flea and tick powder'' is a worthless misuse of pesticide that again, exposes your family to unnecessary pesticide residue with no possible benefit in return.
Spraying or dusting Christmas trees in not necessary. Period.
-30-
Contacts : Laura Jesse, Plant Pathology, [email protected], (515) 294-0589 Jean McGuire, Extension Communications and Marketing, (515) 294-7033, [email protected]
-------------------- Some day, this mamma's gonna dance! Posts: 199 | From here | Registered: Apr 2005
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SForsgren
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7686
posted
Given that you also don't want the toxic burden of various sprays, why not just get an artificial tree? Problem solved.
-------------------- Be well, Scott Posts: 4617 | From San Jose, CA | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Well, if the ISU reporters seem to think there are no ticks on xmas trees, and people here are reporting otherwise about ticks being on trees and greenery and roses, ie, plants, then I think a whole lot of us need to respond to the two women listed at the bottom of the news release. Calls and emails.
Posts: 13171 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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henson2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 463
posted
Hi, Lyme friends,
It's me again on the topic of live trees.
Did anyone find out if that de limonene spray kills the ticks?
And is MO around? I found the archived message where he talks about spraying "garlic and other herbal repellants" on the live tree -- I would love more specific info to share.
Sorry to seem obsessed about this, but I'm eager to share this info with the other people I know who thus far are determined to get live trees.
Thank you all for your replies! Thank you Bettyg and everyone!
Posts: 1067 | From East Coast | Registered: Dec 2000
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
yes, i agree about contacting both isu employees whose shown show up on the above article that i missed earlier..
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![[cussing]](graemlins/cussing.gif)
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It was 5 live ticks running on him. ![[shake]](graemlins/shake.gif)
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Some day, this mamma's gonna dance! 
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