If your pets have ever had a flea infestation, particularly one that has gotten into your home, you understand how miserable you, and your pets, are as a result. The best way to avoid an infestation is to treat your pets and the areas where they spend a lot of time outdoors.
The following is a comprehensive summary of the best flea treatments for yards.
Best Flea Killer For Yards – Quick Look:
- Cutter Backyard Flea Spray – Best Overall
- Ortho Home Defense Yard Flea Killer
- Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Killer
- Sunday Outdoor Flea and Tick Killer
Why Fleas Are Bad
The most obvious reason fleas are awful is the discomfort they cause your pets, and if a population gains a foothold in your home, you and your family. Pain, itching bites, and allergic reactions are all possibilities with a flea infestation. Beyond that, fleas can carry diseases, including the Plague and Typhus.
Additionally, fleas can carry parasites such as tapeworms and transfer them to humans if they accidentally ingest them. While that threat is slim with adults, young children tend to spend time playing around areas fleas reside, especially when they hug a pet that has fleas.
Those realities make it paramount to keep fleas as far away from your pets and family as possible.
Your Yard is the Best Line of Defense
You cannot control every environment you, your family, or your pets visit. If you walk your dog to a park, for example, you expose yourself and them to whatever fleas are in that park, be it because they live there or get carried in by another animal. The same principle applies to your kids.
You can, though, ensure your home has a relatively flea-free perimeter. If your pets and you only stay in that area most of the time, you can vastly reduce the chances of flea exposure. While you will never be able to eradicate exposure to fleas entirely, flea treatment can reduce exposure threats significantly.
If you aren’t sure if you’re dealing with fleas, take a look at our guide on what do fleas look like!
A Few Things To Think About
Deciding to spray your yard for fleas or other insects is a decision you should consider carefully before starting the process. Research the spray you want to use and make sure you understand all the direct and indirect consequences.
Follow Precautions
For example, the chemicals in bug spray render many fruits and vegetables inedible for a period after application. In some situations, spraying for fleas might mean not eating anything you are growing in your yard. In addition, the health risk of some products is particularly acute for pregnant women.
Use Safety Equipment
Additionally, you should adhere to all health and safety recommendations to reduce the chances of harming yourself or your family or pets. Wear gloves, long sleeves, pants, and an approved mask. When you open your bug spray, ensure you do it in a well-ventilated area.
Follow Directions
The best bug sprays use dangerous chemicals, if not fatal, to humans and pets if exposed. Keep away from the area you spry for the prescribed amount of time. Do not let pets into the yard for the period the manufacturer recommends. If you or your pets get exposed to the chemicals, follow the medical advice on the label of your product.
Restrict Pet Movement
To get the most out of your pet treatment, you need to ensure that your pets only travel to areas where fleas are not present or are very hard to pick up. For example, treating your yard and then letting your pet go to a public park where it might expose itself to fleas does no good. If you have to walk your pet outside the treatment zone, consider treating the area a good idea. Although fleas don’t have wings, they are great at jumping, so it’s very common for them to hitch a ride on your pet!
Best Flea Yard Treatments in 2023
The following are highly recommended flea treatments for your yard to help keep your pets and family safe!
1. Cutter Backyard Flea Control Spray
Cutter’s Backyard Bug Control Spray is renowned for its effectiveness, mainly because Cutter does not try and minimize the chemicals it uses. As a result, the product is one of the most effective bug killers, including fleas, on the market; to be that, a spray must be potent.
As far as price goes, Cutter Backyard Bug Control Spray is cost-effective. Not only is the total cost fair, but when you consider the 12 weeks of protection one 32-ounce bottle offers, the price becomes an even better deal. With that longevity, two applications is the maximum number needed in most of the USA, and many northern areas can probably get by with one.
One benefit is that it requires no mixing, which reduces the exposure to chemicals for the person applying the bug spray. Instead, a spray applicator mixes the chemicals into the appropriate formula. The formula is quick-acting, and a single container will cover 5,000-plus square feet of outdoor space.
2. Ortho Home Defense Insect Killer for Lawns
Ortho Home Defense Insect Killer for Lawns is the gold standard when it comes to pest control. The array of products it offers and their effectiveness are well-known and respected. In addition, the Home Defense Insect Killer comes in multiple sizes, so you can pick the size that matches your yard and not end up with too little or too much treatment.
The Home Defense Insect Killer comes in granular form, which is slightly inconvenient because it requires a spreader versus spraying the insecticide around your yard. The spreader is easy to use but is a separate purchase.
While the granules stick around a bit longer than most sprays, that poses a risk to children and animals that might be close to the ground and exposed to them. Either could ingest the granules, which have several powerful chemicals as their ingredients. The upside to granules is that a single treatment covers over 10,000 and lasts three months.
3. Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Yard Spray
The Vet’s Best Flea and Tick Yard Spray is specifically designed to help keep pests off your pets and away from your home. The formula used is peppermint oil-based, so it is a natural-leaning remedy. It is important to note that this flea and tick treatment aims to repel the critters, not kill them.
If you are looking to get rid of either pest, the natural formula might not be the best choice.
Vet’s Best is free of harsh chemicals, so you do not have to worry about you, your family, or your pets becoming sick if exposed to the product. That said, you want to ensure that you control exposure as much as possible, as the concentrated formula is very strong.
Apart from being very affordable, Vet’s Best Flea and Tick spray covers 5,000 square feet but requires a fairly diligent application. Additionally, because chemicals are not the main ingredient, you must apply much of the spray to the areas you want to repel fleas and ticks. Once it is dried, though, you and your pets can carry on as usual.
4. Wondercide Ready to Use Flea & Tick Spray
Along the lines of Vet’s Best, Wondercide Ready to Use Flea and Tick Spray is all-natural. It uses ingredients like Cedar, Sesame Oil, and various natural soaps to create a formula that kills and repels fleas and ticks. As a bonus, it also helps control mosquitos. The company prides itself on its claim the spray is “powerful, sustainable, plant-based, and biodegradable.”
Each 32-ounce spray bottle covers 5,000 square feet and can get sprayed on all plants, wood, brick, grass, trees, paint, and more. You, your family, and your pets can use the area sprayed as soon as it is applied, although you might want to give it a few minutes to dry.
Wondercide Ready to Use Flea and Tick spray gets applied via an applicator that attaches to a hose at the top of the bottle. Application coverage is determined by walking speed and the amount of water pressure used to project the spray. Wondercite encourages customers to keep the bottle when finished and refill it with concentrated spray.
5. Bayer BIOADVANCED Complete Insect Killer
With Bayer BIOADVANCED Complete Insect Killer, you trade the use of imidacloprid, which is not terribly environmentally friendly, for effectively wiping out all the fleas and ticks in your immediate vicinity.
BIOADVANCED, like most other products in this list, is a liquid spray. You must ensure you keep children and pets away from the application area until the application is thoroughly dry.
BIOADVANCED Insect Killer must be mixed with water before application. The treatment dries within two hours. You cannot apply it to vegetables, or if you do, you cannot eat them.
6. Black Flag Flea & Tick Killer Concentrate
The Black Flag Flea & Tick Killer Concentrate container connects directly to your garden hose, and you water the application area. Therefore, you should not use it near your home.
The concentrate kills insects on contact and eliminates all stats of a bug’s life cycle. One 21-ounce bottle covers about 5,000 feet, but to get an even application, this product should be used on smaller yards.
Besides working best in smaller areas, Black Flag Flea & Tick Concentrate is highly toxic to pets. It also cannot be used around children. On the day you apply it, it is wise to keep pets and humans out of the area for 24 hours. The formula is so toxic for pets that if you apply it around your house, you must keep the pet out of the vicinity of the application.
A major selling point of the Black Flag concentrate is that it disrupts an insect’s life cycle. Per the manufacturer, the formula, which contains a Nylar insect growth regulator, prevents fleas from developing into adults that can bite you or your pet for seven months. However, you should be aware that when applying Black Flag, you will kill most if not all, insects the formula comes in contact with.
7. Natural Yard & Kennel Spray – Pet Safe
If you are looking for a natural repellant for fleas, Natural Yard & Kennel Spray might be your product. The spray is all-natural and does not harm humans or animals. Unfortunately, it also does not kill bugs but rather repels them, which means you must be diligent in reapplying, or the fleas you get rid of will regain a foothold.
The positive of this product is that you will not accidentally poison your pets or family members. Natural Chemistry Yard & Kennel spray uses cinnamon oil as its primary deterrent, which smells good, but can irritate the eyes. Other than that, however, the product is one of the safest on the market. You can also use the product indoors and on furniture.
Factors that count as the product’s upside also count as its downside. The formula must be reapplied fairly often, and one 32-ounce bottle will not cover much ground. Generally, a bottle covers 4,500 square feet. The other drawback to the formula is that it is great at repelling insects, including fleas, but it does not kill them.
8. Control Solutions IGR Concentrate – Not Pet Safe
Control Solutions IGR Concentrate is another highly effective bug killer. It will kill just about every insect it touches, and one 5.3-ounce bottle covers about 13,000 square feet. You must mix it with water to dilute the concentrate before applying it via a spray.
There are a few downsides to Control Solutions IGR Concentrate that make it a deal killer for many pet owners:
- It is highly toxic to pets and children
- The application area must be thoroughly dry before you give anyone or your pets access
- It is very expensive
- It renders any vegetables inedible because of chemical absorption
Final Thoughts On Flea Killer For Yards
In conclusion, managing fleas in your yard is a crucial step in ensuring the comfort and well-being of your pets and family. With a variety of options available, including both chemical and natural treatments, you can find the perfect solution that suits your needs and preferences.
It is worth noting that you’ll probably see fleas after your treatment for a few weeks because it takes time to kill the colony and fleas are often very good at hiding and avoiding treatments!
Whether you prioritize effectiveness, environmental impact, or safety, there is a flea treatment product that will work for your situation. Remember to always follow the manufacturer’s instructions and safety precautions to get the most out of your chosen treatment.
By taking action against fleas and maintaining a vigilant approach, you can create a safer and more enjoyable outdoor environment for everyone.
Resources:
https://www.petmd.com/natural/natural-ways-treat-and-kill-fleas-grass
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/safe-use-flea-and-tick-products-pets
