Global Acorn Shortage Is Bad News for Tick Control and Lyme Disease

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, North America has been hit with a remarkable acorn drought; with oak trees in New York, New England and Canada producing just a fraction of the number of acorns that they normally do. This has led to a tick control crisis.

As a result of this anomaly, authorities are preparing for what they believe will be a dramatic spike in Lyme disease infections.

“Oak trees and acorns are the fuel for the ecosystem that supports Lyme disease,” says deer tick expert Larry Dapsis, who serves as an entomologist in Barnstable County, Connecticut. “If there are no acorns, the mice population will crash and ticks in the nymph stage will be more likely to attach to a human or pet as a result.”

Statistics back up this theory very convincingly, with the Lyme disease risk hitting a two-year cycle that makes the year of an acorn shortage significantly more dangerous for people in tick-risk areas.

"When there is a decrease in the mouse population there is also a decrease in the tick-population,” Dapsis explains. “The problem is that there is a lag between the decrease in the mice and the decrease in the amount of ticks. Next year may prove to have a lower risk of Lyme disease, but we have to get through this year first."

For homeowners in high-risk areas, there are some things you can do to help protect your family during this high-risk season. The first, and possibly most important, is to get rid of ticks from your yard or garden.

You can do that in partnership with a tick control specialist; like the experts from Aspenn Environmental Services.
They’ll be able to help you eliminate ticks with a yard spray for ticks and tick spray treatment. Given that 70% of tick bites occur in the garden, this will go a significant way towards reducing your risk of tick bites and Lyme disease.

What’s more, just as the Lyme disease statistics indicate in years with acorn shortages, reducing the tick population from one season to the next helps keep ticks manageable; making future tick control efforts easier and more effective.

With Lyme disease set to be a bigger danger this year than most, investing in effective tick control is more important than ever. Make sure you start planning your tock control strategy today.