sulfur for ticks: what kind?

Sandi · #1 04/18/12, 09:07 AM

good morning! i have read all the tick posts here and been doing a lot of research online. we also have experience in the family from decades ago with the old "puff yourself with a sock full of sulfur." my in laws remember they used to get it at the pharmacy and recently noticed at the garden store that all the sulfur sold there has all kinds of health warnings on it.

i'd like to know 1. what is the difference between sulfur you buy at the pharmacy and sulfur you buy for the garden 2. is there any reason to be worried about healthiness of using stuff from the pharmacy (like for my toddler) and 3. if you use sulfur for people or animals, how do you use it and how do you feel it measures up to other "natural" methods of tick control?

thanks!

**Cabin Fever** · #2 04/18/12, 09:10 AM

I assume the sulfur from the pharmacy is elemental sulfur and from gardening stores a sulfur compound such as ammonium sulfate, ferric sulfate, or aluminum sulfate (alum).

arcticow · #3 04/18/12, 10:43 AM

Just plain ol' dusting sulfur from the garden or farm store. Sometimes sold to mix for spray on fruit trees.

Bearfootfarm · #4 04/18/12, 11:28 AM

Get some Permanone to spray on your CLOTHES and you'll get better results than using Sulfur

TxAprilMagic · #5 04/18/12, 01:11 PM

"Flowers of Sulfur"
Humco
7400 Alumax Drive
Texarkana, Tx. 75501
1-800-662-3435

I have been using and ordering this from Humco for about 15 years now. Just bought a case of it a few months ago. It will keep forever if in a cool,dry, dark spot.

Other uses besides ticks.
till into garden and its makes your peppers really , really hot
Cuts,scrapes,scatches on you and your animals
Also keeps chiggers (red bugs) off you
Sunburn;
I had an appy that had a pink face and when she got her mask off and got sunburn I mixed Flowers of Sulfur with Udder Balm and applied to her face.
NEXT DAY, never would have known she sunburned her face.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT ALLERGIC TO SULFUR OF ANY KIND.
OR IT CAN KILL YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. CALL YOUR DOCTOR IF YOU DON'T KNOW.

oneokie · #6 04/18/12, 01:26 PM

Mom fed us kids sulfur cream of tartar tablets.
Sulfur Cream Of Tartar Tablets - The People's Medicine Community

Sandi · #7 04/21/12, 03:43 PM

This is all great, thanks!

Yvonne's hubby · #8 04/21/12, 03:55 PM

I was once told by an old sheepherder to soak my feet in kerosene for a day once a year to keep the ticks and lice and other critters off. It worked for him. After spending years working as an auto mechanic with my hands in numerous oils and solvents all the time I noticed that I was not bothered with them kinda critters either. My Yvonne is always finding ticks on her after working outside.... I just dont seem to have the problem.

VA Susan · #9 04/23/12, 06:28 PM

A man I work for said they used to put sulfur in their shoes when raspberry picking to keep the chiggers from biting. I got some flowers of sulfur but it does have warnings on it.

Wis Bang 2 · #10 04/23/12, 06:58 PM

Having recovered from lyme disease, I really do not want to collect any ticks.

I use permanone [trade name] which is Permythum. This product is sold in cans under the name Repel and Sawyers and 'No Stinkin Ticks'. You cannot spray it on your skin; you treat your clothing. After they dry the protection lasts for a few weeks, youcan even wash the clothing!

I've been spraying my turkey hunting clothing for 5 - 6 years now and when I'm sitting in the woods I see dying ticks staggering on my pants just b/4 they fall off. The ticks have been out of hand here in PA for the past few years and I have not had one on me since I started using the spray.

They sell outdoor products like 'Ortho Total Kill' which is 2.5% product VRS the 0.5% in the spray. I hear of hunters who purchased graduated spray bottles to dilute this 5:1 to make it the same 0.5% as the spray cans. For the cost of 2 spray cans you get a concentrate that will make a few gallons...

This stuff works!

frogmammy · #11 04/23/12, 10:40 PM

From the pharmacy, do you mean sulfur or sulfa?

BTW, burning sulfur in a house with bugs will kill **ALL** the bugs...and humans too...can't breathe it when it's burning. Will also de-silver mirrors, but I'm thinking maybe not modern ones.

Mon

Sandi · #12 04/24/12, 02:26 AM

Thanks all. frogmammy, what do you mean by "burning sulfur"? i hope that's isn't what we're planning on doing! also, does anyone know why it is called Flowers of Sulfur when, well, they aren't flowers?

FarmerRob · #13 04/24/12, 04:59 AM

Best cure for ticks, at least near the house, it a flock of guineas--keep some in the yard and you won't have ticks. Of course it is not practical to carry them around with you so I would go with what Wis Bang 2 said.

frogmammy · #14 04/24/12, 08:18 AM

Doubtful it's what you're planning on doing!

When I lived in Texas I had a house I rented out. The woman and adult children didn't pay so I kicked them out. When I went to in clean, I had fleas up above my knees two foot inside the door, there were roaches ALL...and I mean ALL...over the place, and they had left potatoes...and maggots under the sink and in rotted food in the fridge (they had left the door open).

On the advice of some old Texans, I went and bought some powdered sulfur, put some in pie tins on asbestos or non-flamable surfaces, closed the place up tight, lit the sulphur and left. Came back next day and EVERYTHING inside was dead and believe it or not, it even smelled better!

Breathing burning sulphur will kill you, so you have to light and run. Still, the best bug-killer I ever ran across.

Mon

SmokeEater2 · #15 04/24/12, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmerRob

Best cure for ticks, at least near the house, it a flock of guineas--keep some in the yard and you won't have ticks. Of course it is not practical to carry them around with you so I would go with what Wis Bang 2 said.

I've heard that saying all my life so a few years ago I got a dozen of them. They didn't do a thing to cut down the tick population that I could tell. They did make sure that I didn't have to spend so much time picking tomatoes though.

Sandi · #16 04/24/12, 09:30 AM

we won't be getting guinea fowl after all we've read about the noise. me and the baby are very very light sleepers. but we will have a flock of chickens that will rotate through and they usually help as well. the tick management side i think we have good resources for, but especially for the children we really want to also have some things more within our control that we can use for them when they go out. thanks all!

o&itw · #17 04/24/12, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandi

Thanks all. frogmammy, what do you mean by "burning sulfur"? i hope that's isn't what we're planning on doing! also, does anyone know why it is called Flowers of Sulfur when, well, they aren't flowers?

Originally, when they purified sulfur, the heated it till it vaporized then collected it on grates (or something) It would crystallize when it solidified on the grates, and it did, in fact look like little flowers. Use to, these would be scraped off in the process and sold in just this form, and one could see many of the "flowers" in the product. I assumed it was still this way, but perhaps their purification methods have changed. It is sometimes sold as powdered flowers of sulfur, since the actual "flowers" are too course for most uses, indicating the way it was purified, more than its form.

jcatblum · #18 04/26/12, 01:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandi

we won't be getting guinea fowl after all we've read about the noise. me and the baby are very very light sleepers. but we will have a flock of chickens that will rotate through and they usually help as well. the tick management side i think we have good resources for, but especially for the children we really want to also have some things more within our control that we can use for them when they go out. thanks all!

We have about 50 guineas & I hardly ever hear them. When they do sound off I always look to see what is going on. I don't think they make anymore noise than any of my roosters. As long as they have plenty of space they are happy & quiet. When they start screaming it is because they see something out of place. Sometimes it is a car coming down the driveway, a snake, or the neighbors cattle next to our fence. Can't imagine not having guineas!
They are much better foragers than chickens. My chickens will come out for a short time then nap most of the afternoon. Guineas eat all day, much like my goats!

Sandi · #19 04/26/12, 01:39 AM

they definitely work well for some folks, but our neighbors are too close and not homesteaders, the driveway is too active, and the children's sleep is too precious. we don't have roosters either and if we ever do the noise will be the deciding factor for how long his poor life span is. we'll have to make do with the foragers we have

Cliff · #20 04/26/12, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcatblum

We have about 50 guineas & I hardly ever hear them. When they do sound off I always look to see what is going on. I don't think they make anymore noise than any of my roosters. As long as they have plenty of space they are happy & quiet. When they start screaming it is because they see something out of place. Sometimes it is a car coming down the driveway, a snake, or the neighbors cattle next to our fence. Can't imagine not having guineas!
They are much better foragers than chickens. My chickens will come out for a short time then nap most of the afternoon. Guineas eat all day, much like my goats!

I love them too but they are spectacularly stupid lol. Sometimes the things that are out of place that they sound off about are funny, like me wearing a hat for the first time in the fall

But, I always check to see what they are fussing about too, they're very alert.