DIGGIN鈥 IN
How to keep garden spiders away without killing them
Practical ways to discourage garden spiders and webs near doors, patios and windows
Q: In this summer season we have many types of garden spiders and persistent webs. Do you have any general guidelines about controlling the most common spiders (except black widows) or should we let them spin their webs freely? 鈥 M.S, Albuquerque
A: Well, what sort of a relationship do you have with spiders? Me? I think they are cunning and one of the smartest 鈥渂ugs鈥 in the world.
I will do most anything to get said spider to relocate. I try not to kill any because they are so good at eating other bugs, I just don鈥檛 like having them near. Do you leave any lights on at night that could and do attract nighttime bugs from coming around?
Earlier this year I placed two solar lights fairly close to my front door. Soon after I was seeing more webs near the threshold of my house. Sweeping away the webs, I found lots of small moth carcasses and other critters. Good thing, right? Not!
If you鈥檙e like me, spiders give me the willies. Then there is the walking along, and you feel a gossamer trail along an arm or your face. That has always made me feel ooky. So thinking about it, I decided that the solar lights needed to be moved, and for the most part I鈥檝e had far fewer encounters with porch spiders.
Next I鈥檒l suggest sweeping a lot and often. Spiders usually prefer to hunker down in places that aren鈥檛 well traveled or tidy. They know that a few leaves and schmutz collected in a corner will be a great place for bugs to want to hang out. So keep places where you know there are spiders and/or webs a bit tidier, and see if that convinces them to move off.
I go a bit crazy sweeping too. Window sills, the viga posts on the patio, the underneath of doors that aren鈥檛 opened often, the rails to the garage door 鈥 essentially most anywhere there is a corner that would be a good place for a spider to make a web.
Now if the spiders are good ones, (like you, I have no truck with black widows) and they are aiming to keep a respectful distance, then they get to stay, do their job and catch other bugs.
I was blessed with an orb spider last year, and since it was mostly out of the way, we had a pretty good relationship. For a spider it was truly quite beautiful, and the web it lived on was an architectural marvel. But again, it wasn鈥檛 in my direct flight path, so we came to an understanding.
I guess that if you can come to an understanding with your spiders, that you prefer to not have them near and will make life unenjoyable if they insist on trespassing, so to speak, then you鈥檝e got to make the boundaries and hope they鈥檒l adhere to them.
Happy Diggin鈥 In!
Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Diggin鈥 In, 近距离内射合集, 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, N.M. 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.
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