Sounds like chiggers to me...i hate them

Could be a mold or fungus growing anywhere in your yard (lawn included)... not necessarily restricted to mulch. A lot of rain would definitely exacerbate that. Have you had a panel work up with an allergist? Have you tried taking Zyrtec or Claratin for a few days and seeing if there's a difference? Does a little topical Benedryl seem to calm your ankles?

I'm wondering what type of mulch you are using. I get an intense itching sometimes just from digging and pulling weeds. Dried grass mulch causes itching for me that only a shower takes care of. It It is possible to react to something that has never bothered you before.

I agree with pamven, I hate chiggers almost as much as ticks. Long socks help against chiggers in my experience.

Yikes! Now I am worried. I spread mulch bare handed and do all my digging bare handed. How else can you pull out vinca that has invaded your flower bed? You have to tease the vinca roots from the peony roots. Am I going to come down with the creeping crud?!

I never thought of chiggers. I googled them and the picture of the blisters caused by the bites doesn't look like what I had. I just get an itchy rash almost instantaneously after exposure.

I do tend to get bitten by mosquitoes but I try to stay inside when they are most active - early in the morning and evening when the sun is going down.

We live in a retirement community and the mulch is provided by the management, so I don't know what's in it exactly. I will just be sure to wear wellies or long pants when working in the garden.

chiggers don't bite bare ankles....they go into tight places, folds of skin or under your waist band or around the top of a tight sock.
That colored mulch may be made form some treated lumber and you may be having a reaction to that....or perhaps to the dye.
Linda C

I've been having the same problem. Sometimes it's actual bites and I know it's fleas,and other times it's just a rash. Being in Pa also,maybe it's just something "going around" and will end when it gets hot and more dry. So now I wear socks out there and I hate them but for awhile I'll keep them on.

Linda, the mulch isn't colored. It's just regular old brown mulch.

Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one having this problem, Marda. I wonder if it is a PA thing. Odd....

Is the retirement community spraying pesticides/herbicides on your lawn?

There is a lawn care outfit that takes care of the whole outdoor area and I think they do spread a weed killer/fertilizer on the lawn. I see a guy riding a kind of giant spreader and I assume that's what he's doing. No sprays, though.

I have a perennial/annual garden here and I don't use any chemicals on my garden and I see lots of birds, pollinators, etc. But I can't control what the management does in the common areas. I can tell them not to mulch my garden and they will comply. Maybe I will try that next year.

I've often thought of suggesting to them that they use more ground cover to save mowing and fertilizing, etc., which would also be a money saver. They are very open to the residents' suggestions, so maybe I should.

Mulch isn't what it used to be. When I first got into the industry, pretty much the types you'd find were pine bark in various shreds or chunks and cypress. Not anymore. You are liable to find it composed of just about any wood product, including chaff from the lumber industry, telephone pole discards, old pallets and wood treated with various chemicals. You might try to find out where they get their mulch and then whether it is a pure product or a conglomeration.

Makes you wonder if there is anything volatile in the mulch. If there is, the offending substance can be airborn and you wouldn't have to make direct contact with it.

I thought I'd just go out this afternoon and zap some Japanese beetles with insecticidal soap and I stayed mostly on the lawn, but wouldn't you know it - my ankles started itching minutes after I came in the house.

So maybe it's on the lawn AND the mulch. I mentioned it to a few people here and they seemed as puzzled as I am, so I don't think anybody else has the same problem although most people don't have as extensive a garden as I do.

I bet the lawn care company does use the cheapest mulch they can. They blow it out of enormous hoses on all the gardens and common areas here.

The mulch really sounds like a red herring to me.

Blue?

did you try using Off and/or cover your ankles with socks? Is it the bugs in the lawn or is it the lawn?

I wear wellies or long pants now. I don't know what's causing the rash/itching, if it's bugs or chemicals from the lawn treatment or mold spores from the mulch.

Wow. To be so covered up, and something is still affecting you? Hm.

Sorry, I wasn't clear - when I wear wellies, I'm not bothered. I just hate to have to cover up just to run outside to do some gardening work. When I forget, that's when I get the rash that I don't know the cause of.

To rule out fleas, try wearing some white socks while you're outside. Fleas can be seen very well on white socks. To rule out other bugs, put some vaseline around your ankles and see if there are any that get caught in the vaseline.

The generic mulch I got from Walmart does cause Contact Dermititis. This I have confirmed by having had a similar case of severe skill rash at two occasions, once in fall 2020 and now in spring 2021. Both me and my partner have got the same severe symptoms after working with this mulch hence it is confirmed the mulch is what caused it.

The allergic reaction causes itchy blisters that spread on hands, legs and body. It lasts for about 4 weeks and needs treatment with a steroid like Prednisone and topical cream to reduce extreme itching. I will not be working with any mulch knowing that they can cause such severe skin problem that can make me suffer for weeks afterwards.

Solomon.

borgawker@gmail.com

Ive been getting hives lately and the only thing i’ve done differently is putting down mulch. i really didnt think mulch was the culprit but now i think it is. Thankfully i only have 10 bags to go.

I have severe red patches on both feet after foolishly working in garden with OLD mulch and resulted in a punch biopsy , the patches look like burns and am being treated with cortisone prescription and creams etc. Never again

Twice this week I have developed a rash around my ankles after raking my mulch and redistribting it. Put down new bags of Scotts Hyponex mulch yesterday and now it pretty much confirms it is from the mulch spores likely since this never happens when i am working in my yard otherwise. It looks like a bad sunburn but doesn't itch, thankfully. I have been treating it with hydrocortisone cream and after a few days it goes away.

i had a month long garden bed with new mulch. Artillery fungus and white mold was growing with other mushrooms. dug it all out and started blistering. changed the wood mulch and loving the new rubber brown mulch. no blisters. i know im allergic to the molds and fungus that grow on it. Can go bare foot on it and nothing grows on the rubber. looks just like dirt. Highly recommend the switch to rubber mulch from shreded recycled tires.