Do Washers and Dryers Kill Ticks?
Does washing and drying your gardening clothes kill ticks that have hitchhiked into your home? In a word–no. I recently read that ticks will not die when run through the washing machine, but that 30 minutes in the dryer will kill them. Not so. I opened the dryer door a few days ago to remove my gardening clothes and what did I see crawling around on my jeans? A deer tick alive and well and ready to get to business on me.
In the future I will use the sanitize feature on my dryer for my gardening clothes and hope that cremates the nasty little arachnids.
I have never seen a year for ticks like this one. I try to be as conscientious as possible and always leave my gardening clothes outside so I don’t bring the ticks in with me. As soon as I am inside, I head straight into the shower and use a washcloth to make sure I have rubbed off any ticks that might be trying to attach themselves. I even use rubber bands around the bottom of my jeans so they can’t crawl up my legs. All that, and I have still had four ticks attach themselves this spring. Four ticks!
I can only surmise that my puppies are bringing ticks into our house and when I have them on my lap the ticks are finding a more amenable host. It sucks–literally! My plan is to wait until I no longer find ticks roaming around the house then visit my doctor for another round of antibiotic. I have heard too many horror stories from other gardeners who ended up with a host of horrible and permanently debilitating symptoms after years of having Lyme Disease without knowing it.
I guess I will also have to bite the bullet and start with a tick repellent that contains Permethrin before I head out into the gardens. I might even spend the extra bucks and get the apparel that is treated with Permethrin that stays in the garment even after 70 launderings. Hey, ya gotta do, what ya gotta do.
For more info on tick prevention, visit . Read more about my trials and tribulations with ticks HERE.
My worst deer tick bite