How to pick blackberries and not get eaten alive

[Car Doc]

I second the duct tape the ankles idea when planning an event outside like picking berries etc. :thumbsup: I also use deep woods off with whatever the highest deet concentration is at the moment and seems to work when I remember to use it.
:laughing:

But I still get them on plenty of occasions when I least expect it its inevitable I am in shorts and tennis shoes all summer long my grass in the yards is full of them.

I have the taste they like or something my wife has never had one in her life and they flat eat me alive my ankles and shorts line is like raw meat most of the summer.

 

[schoolsout]

redbugs like tight, warm spots like socks and waistbands....keep that in mind.

 

[creekbend]

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiggers

 

[Marveltone]

redbugs like tight, warm spots like socks and waistbands....keep that in mind.

Y'all hear that everyone? Time to go streaking!!! :laughing:

Joe

 

[schoolsout]

Y'all hear that everyone? Time to go streaking!!! :laughing:

Joe

The Injuns did it!

 

[chkntrktr]

redbugs like tight, warm spots like socks and waistbands....keep that in mind.

Yeh, when I was a kid they went a couple times past the waist band and bit me elsewhere. Very embarassing to a kid and I had to scratch in private. Still remember that feeling till this day.

 

[RobertBrown]

For chiggers, I treat socks and pants with permethrin spray (like US military). If you need a lot, it is infinitely cheaper to buy as fly spray at Tractor Supply and dilute.

Amazon.com: Sawyer Premium Permethrin Clothing Insect Repellent Trigger Spray, 12-Ounce: Sports & Outdoors

Travelover has your solution here. You can mix this product so that it can be safely sprayed on your clothes, they used to sell it at Walmart in an areasol can. It works.
I am not an advocate of spraying poison on my clothes but deet is a nasty toxin, gives me a headache. This stuff is made from flowers and is supposed to be pretty safe. I know that there are others here that use it consistently as an all purpose, low cost, relatively safe, pest control.

 

[dmccarty]

Living on 32 acres in the SW Arkansas Ouachita Mountains, this is daily life for us.

Every. Single. Day.

We've actually stopped trying to kill the little varmints and started actively breeding them. We're hoping to get a contract to start supplying stock to the annual Southwestern Chigger Rodeo events held locally here in the South Central U.S.

We've got a bull chigger that's gonna go all the way to the national finals this year. The wife went out to feed him a couple of days ago and come to think of it, that's the last time I saw her. I wonder....

Seriously, with a LOT of research behind us, the only real "temporary" relief we've found is "HOT" showers/baths after you get the bites. As HOT as you can stand. You'll get about 3-4 hours relief. It really doesn't matter whether you add bleach/oatmeal/etc into the water, the critter(s) are already gone, you're just treating the bite. Nail polish, hair spray, suffocation "stuff" isn't gonna kill anything, because there isn't anything there left to kill. Honest.

There are many, many links but here's just one to start:
Trombiculosis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You would think a person would eventually become somewhat immune to the itch, but if ever there was a definition for "excruciating", a chigger bite would be it.

We cover up, spray down with Deep Woods Off, grit our teeth, step off the porch and Let the Games Begin!

Shoot. Our Chiggers will out chigger your chiggers any day. In fact, if I could catch all of our Chiggers I would send them to you for your breeding program and throw in some ticks to boot!

I have become somewhat immune to the chiggers. The batch that got me when I was grilling last week, ON GRAVEL, was not that bad. The dozen or so times when I first got attacked by chiggers I was in not getting sleep from the itching. I would take Benedryl to help with the itching but then I was sleeping all of the time. :laughing: But the stuff did help. Sorta. Seems like at 0200 I would wake up itching anyway.

Any of the gels with hydrocortisone help. The gels are nice because they can cover large swaths of itchy chigger bites.

I swear it helps to scratch the heck out of the bites until it leaks clear fluid. Gross I know but it seems to help but then you have to worry about infection....

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

For chiggers, I treat socks and pants with permethrin spray (like US military). If you need a lot, it is infinitely cheaper to buy as fly spray at Tractor Supply and dilute.

Amazon.com: Sawyer Premium Permethrin Clothing Insect Repellent Trigger Spray, 12-Ounce: Sports & Outdoors

This does work along with Deet. I finally found Permethrin at the local farm store but I have not tried it yet. Good to know about TSC as a source.

I tried sulphur a couple of times but it did not work on the devil spawn.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

I second the duct tape the ankles idea when planning an event outside like picking berries etc. :thumbsup: I also use deep woods off with whatever the highest deet concentration is at the moment and seems to work when I remember to use it.
:laughing:
...

I tried duct tape once.

It ripped my pants getting the tape off! :laughing:

Never used it again.

Saw a guy working in he woods who had used duct tape. I knew why he did it but I wondered how he got the stuff off his boots and pants and did the pants rip. :laughing:

Later,
Dan