A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Black Widows. Lots of them.

We've got a serious problem with these nasty and very LARGE spiders. They are in my garden shed. They are all around my terra cotta pots. They are living in my patio table. I threw a BBQ for my friends Birthday, some months ago and hung fabric curtains from the overhead patio trellis thing...when I went to take them down a week later..I found the biggest one ever...in the fabric...with all her teenagers running everywhere!

I've got a 13 month old wild child running a muck in this place and I'm very concerned.

How can I deal with this? Oh yeah...they're in the house too. I hate to have to call an exterminater. I try to live as natural and organic as possible.

Natural and Organic....use the bottom of your shoe for permanent removal....go out after dark and with flashlight in hand take a walk around all the house, wood piles, around each doorway, any darker areas and in the garage. I use the bottom of my shoe and a can of...RAID...I spray around the door monthly. Once I sprayed and there were several there I had no idea existed. <img border="0" alt="[perplexed]" title="" src="graemlins/confused.gif" /> There is a posting I located and posted at the bottom here... about the bite these creature leave....Raid is not even enough in my opinion. You know what to look for....those sticky, pretty thick webs that are spindly....the spider is hanging out underneath something or in the wall area...when you spray you will be amazed at what will pop out and eventually die....they say you have to make direct contact with the spray but I'm not so sure of that...I hit the webs too. There is a Raid I used that doesn't have much of a smell...can't remember the name but it had a light blue top.
Picture time thread meg started...click on the links within
Catlover

I agree with catlover Rosebud. I recently had a plague of redbacks, the Aussie equivalent of the black widow, and was concerned about using high volumes of sprays. They were in my workshop in droves. I went out one night and turned on the lights and instead of hiding in the crevices and under edges and stuff they were all sitting out in their webs, waiting for a feed. So i wandered around for 1/2 an hour and sqished 'em. Came back next morning and gave the hidey holes and concealed bits of nest a squirt with some flyspray and that took care of the eggsacks. I kept it up for a few weeks every now and then and though i wouldn't have got the lot i'm easily in front now.

Thanks. I don't mind a little Raid. I just was worried that I was going to have to tent the property. Our house is a very old craftsman built in 1925. Spider haven.

Those pics on your thread are exactly what we've got...and these nasty things are like 2"!

We watched a kid on Venom ER almost die from a widow bite. Not something to mess around with. I have a friend who was bitten by a recluse and has permanent nerve damage and can never work again. I'll look into that first aid kit.

Also...these spiders LOVE terracota pots. Please make sure that you always wear heavy gloves when moving your pots around.

Thanks for the tips!

Are you positive they are black widows? Black widows tend to be smaller, with very shiney black bodies and spindly legs, and remember that the red hourglass is located on the underside of the abdomen and not o top. Also, black widow webs are very messy looking, kinda like she was drunk when she did it and the web silk is very fine and closely woven. Think, cotton ball fluff. They also tend to be very shy. Of course, even if they aren't black widows, it is a good idea to exercise caution. All spiders deserve respect. And to help keep the spider population down all together, try and get mud wasps to live on your property. They are very passive and I have never known anyone to be stung by one. I grew up with them. And best of all, they kill spiders to feed their young!!

Oh yes! The hourglasses are on the undersides...and I've got cotton fluff drunken webs all in my pots....I've been trying to pull everything out of the pots all morning and trying to keep the baby off my leg at the same time. I'm on my way to the nursery to get some heavier gloves right now. This is really frustrating me. I too was really blown away at the size of these spiders. I'm not a spider hater either...I don't like to kill creatures unless necessary.

I wanted to ask some advice again about this. I'm tearing everything out of these pots and will replant them soon. Do you guys think I should spray the bottoms of the pots with raid? Do you think this will harm future plants? I'd really like to plant herbs in them...HE...I don't know.

Winter...I really wouldn't spray the container if you plan on eating food products from it. They say the spray doesn't work on them or their white poof ball nest of egg babies unless you make direct contact with the spider and live babies. (Still not so sure of that btw) I would just continue to be very careful...go out at night and smoosh/spray them. Be persistant and you will get their population down. Since it is getting pretty warm around here now they are starting to come back out now in great numbers. I almost walked into one yesterday that was dangling in front of me in the garage. If you have space under your garage door release as many lizards as you can find in there....they will get em and leave when they need water! Yum....Yum!!!
I have seen the show you were speaking of....make sure to not only check your shoes before putting them on but slip on sandals too!!

Plantlady....we are very sure they are black widows....they can get VERY LARGE here!!!!

I haven't tried this myself yet, but I've read that if you place chestnuts around the outer perimeter of your home, spiders will stay away.

We have black widows and brown recluse spiders here, but the scariest are the WOLF spiders! You know a spider is nasty when it gets its name from its favorite meal!

Yikes...Ok..a smooshing I will go. Blagth!

Thanks!!!

I am terrified of spiders (and snakes). I think I would be moving!

My best friend in NC had widows really bad around her back deck. She was always spraying them with Raid or something. She finally moved because the spiders were taking over. I think the sprays she was putting on them just fed them and made them breed faster. I was happy when she moved so I could visit her more often.

Dianna

We live in a very old house. We need to move into something bigger, but rent is outrageous out here now, so we're stuck with trying to deal with this issue I guess.

I really need to figure out a way to train my one year old to NOT touch any spiders. I don't want to teach him to kill them though. Anyone got any good ideas for that??

I would be more worried about him eating them!

Dianna

Oh I am! He's just hit the exploring phase too. Blech....I squished on this morning though!

Wow--I don't know how you guys live in places with those nasty spiders.......I've never ever come across one here--and if I did I'd be so freaked out.....