A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Spiders and Flies in my vegetable garden - Problem?

Alright so this may be a dumb question, but since I'm new to vegetable gardens it's one that I need answered. I recently put down some straw on my vegetable garden to help retain some water and all of a sudden I have a ton of spiders. Is this a good thing? I know spiders are good at controlling bugs, but every where I look in the garden there looks to be 4 or 5 of them crawling around. I'd estimate that in my 12x12 garden I probably have at any given time 50-75 spiders crawling around.

That's the part that I'm not super concerned about (or maybe I should be), but at the same time I have a ton of what look to be flies. I see some typical house flies, but then some of the others look much smaller. Maybe they're not mature flies or maybe they're a different kind. Could someone shed some light on this situation for me please? Do I have a problem?

Thanks

Hi Lukkyseven, generally spiders are good to have in your garden, as they eat pests. I treat the spiders with respect, unless of course they are red and black! But we don't get many of those. The little flies could be fruit flies, which are not good. But I am in Oz, so don't know too much about the pests you have over there, or how to treat them. No doubt someone will have some good ideas. Good luck with your garden!

A quick yahoo search, "flies in straw" turns up a lot. See for example, this from Illinois Department of public health and there are others.

The first thing I'd ask is what kind of flies they are. The site above should help. Next, what's the source?
I have never had a problem with flies in straw or in rotted manure, (or my compost pile for that matter) but it sounds like it's possible. The bottom line is that females will lay eggs in rotting straw or manure. I take it that you bought bags of rotted, composted manure, from some store, right? I would think that the rotted composted manure was produced in such a way so as to heat it to a temp that would have killed the eggs. (Do you have an unopened bag you could slit open and see if flies emerge?) The straw could be a problem, I suppose.

Finally would be how to get rid of them, if they don't disperse on their own. For this I'll defer to the real experts here. Has anyone else ever had this problem? If you track Lukky7's posts, you'll see it's a new garden and all of our advise is being taken to heart. I don't know what to say about the fly problem.

I should say this about my fly problem. I highly doubt that it is from the compost or the straw. Or I should say, I don't think that they came with either of them. I live in a low lying area with a lot of standing water. Half of my yard is a lawn and the other half (beyond the fenced in area) is wooded. I should also mention that I just moved into this house so I have no prior knowledge of pest problems in this area or home.

After cutting my grass for the first time this week, I noticed an abundance of flying critters. Much much more then one would typically expect after cutting the lawn. I would say that less then half of the flies in the garden area are common house flies. I've done a little bit of research on the type of flies and some of them look like the ones that Marigolds attract (I don't have Marigolds though) I think they are called Hover Flies. The rest seem to be simple gnats or something similar.

I will do some research on the types of pests I have and then go from there.

I have some flying yellow and green small insects on my squash plants
What can I use that is not poison? I don't know what they are.

Nurse-- Do an image search for "squash borer" and "cucumber beetle." Are either of these what you're seeing? See also the Pests & Problems site here.