Spiders... Good or bad?

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souldoubt

Member
Hey, I've seen a couple spiders hanging out on my plants.
Today I noticed one of them built a little web in the soil (it is NOT spider mites, don't worry) at the edge of one my pots.

I've generally always thought spiders are good because they eat all of the other insects. Would these guys be beneficial at all to the garden, or should I just get rid of them too? For example, would they eat mites/gnats/etc.?

What do you think?
 
BongJuice

BongJuice

Well-Known Member
I absolutely despise all insects in my garden, no matter how beneficial they are.
If I see a bug...I don't do shit until that bug is dead.
 
A

AnonymousGrower

Active Member
Me and my buddy are always fucking with spiders during the summer, and they make webs on fucking everything... and i mean EVERYTHING. I would get rid of it, you don't want to be smoking webby buds!
 
User Name420

User Name420

Active Member
no dude, the spiders a good thing.

daddy long legs are better since they can't even bite you, but it's better than nothing. it definitely means you had or have bugs.
 
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souldoubt

Member
User Name420 said:
no dude, the spiders a good thing.

daddy long legs are better since they can't even bite you, but it's better than nothing. it definitely means you had or have bugs.
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huh, that's a good point dude.

it's probably eating the few fungus gnats that are around... maybe that's why it's chilling in the soil instead of up in the foliage now.
 
weedyweedy

weedyweedy

Active Member
I would keep the spiders. They can definitely protect your plants from pests and their presence could also tell you something i.e. their food could be lingering around your plant.

Don't worry about the webs, they can be taken out easily. Fungus gnats on the other hand are almost impossible to get rid of.

Good luck!
 
S

souldoubt

Member
weedyweedy said:
I would keep the spiders. They can definitely protect your plants from pests and their presence could also tell you something i.e. their food could be lingering around your plant.

Don't worry about the webs, they can be taken out easily. Fungus gnats on the other hand are almost impossible to get rid of.

Good luck!
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I actually would like to keep the spiders around, but I'm going to use a Hot Shot NPS for 5-6 days so they'll probably be an unintentional casualty. I really don't want to use the NPS, but I got some clones that had spider mites on them. I nailed them fast and hard with pyrethrum, neem oil, and alcohol/water and I never saw another mite after I saw the first one. I only saw one light-colored baby mite to begin with.
Nonetheless, I DO NOT want these fuckers coming back. So I'm going to give 'em some NPS action for a few days and continue with treatments until 2-3 weeks of flowering.

But any way... hopefully some spiders will come back around once I take the No Pest Strip out.
 
mr. green thumb 01

mr. green thumb 01

New Member
shit i just killed a spider the other day and I have fungus gnats and there pissing me off! I got sticky traps everywhere...sticking to my fan leaves killing thousands of gnats and still cant get rid of them... and its winter where do i find lady bugs, spiders, or a frog now... lol I hate pest problems so keep the spider I say or introduce other friendly pests
 
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souldoubt

Member
mr. green thumb 01 said:
shit i just killed a spider the other day and I have fungus gnats and there pissing me off! I got sticky traps everywhere...sticking to my fan leaves killing thousands of gnats and still cant get rid of them... and its winter where do i find lady bugs, spiders, or a frog now... lol I hate pest problems so keep the spider I say or introduce other friendly pests
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Yeah, I think the spiders have really been keeping tabs on the fungus gnats!

It's an old house, so I'm sure some spiders will come around once I remove the No Pest Strip...

Do you have any hydro/grow stores around you? Some of them here carry ladybugs year round... and they can order predator mites for you. Depending on where you live you may actually be able to find some outside. I just raked my leaves a week ago and I found like 5-6 ladybugs... but I wasn't even looking for them. Maybe if you're near an area with some decaying leaf material (edge of forest, etc.) you could scrounge some up.

Have you tried the apple cider vinegar or the potato slices for the gnats yet?
 
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souldoubt

Member
mr. green thumb 01 said:
potato slices? no I havent tried....tell me more please. I heard just heard put a layer of sand on top of the soil gonna try that also.
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I don't know much about fungus gnats, but I read on here that if you put a slice of raw potato in each pot the gnats will prefer to lay their eggs in the potato rather than your soil.

You then just change out the potato slices like every 2-3 days (not sure on this, but it's in this forum)... so you're basically removing the eggs before they hatch.
 
darkdestruction420

darkdestruction420

Well-Known Member
souldoubt said:
I actually would like to keep the spiders around, but I'm going to use a Hot Shot NPS for 5-6 days so they'll probably be an unintentional casualty. I really don't want to use the NPS, but I got some clones that had spider mites on them. I nailed them fast and hard with pyrethrum, neem oil, and alcohol/water and I never saw another mite after I saw the first one. I only saw one light-colored baby mite to begin with.
Nonetheless, I DO NOT want these fuckers coming back. So I'm going to give 'em some NPS action for a few days and continue with treatments until 2-3 weeks of flowering.

But any way... hopefully some spiders will come back around once I take the No Pest Strip out.
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are you sure what you saw was a spidermite? if youve got a baby one it should mean they are reproducing, if they are reproducing you should be able to see the adults on the bottom of the leaves fairly easily(look for a black speck). i suppose its possible that you just in time happened to notice them b4 they got a foothold established.
 
S

souldoubt

Member
darkdestruction420 said:
i suppose its possible that you just in time happened to notice them b4 they got a foothold established.
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I'm pretty sure that's exactly what happened. I noticed the mite damage on 1-2 leaves each of 3 clones I brought home maybe 2-4 days after bringing them home. So, I don't know if they came with some adults on there or some eggs hatched when I got them... but I never saw another mite or any more mite damage. I hit them with a three-pronged attack immediately, so I think I just kicked their asses :fire::fire:

However, I don't want to get too cocky, so that's why I'm going to be extra cautious and use the NPS. I do have some fungus gnats and some boxelder bugs that I won't miss at all!
 
captiankush

captiankush

Well-Known Member
Spiders are a good thing, they arent herbivores and therefore wont feed on your plants, this means death to all things insect.

Remember spiders are a good thing...SPIDER MITES not so much.

Also, spiders wont spin webs on your buds, spider mites do. :P

And spider mites get the Azatrol death ray from me, so happy killin!

CK
 
darkdestruction420

darkdestruction420

Well-Known Member
where did you get the clones from? I'd ask them if they knew about it(and for afew freebies if ya can since they gave you *questionable* quality clones), they will of course say no they didnt know either way too though.lol, but if they dont know you informing them could save someone else from the headache of fighting the mites. good job on catching em right away, most people dont notice till AFTER they get to the point that its almost impossible to get rid of them completely w/o lots of time and effort.
 
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