using spiders to guard your garden

[heady blunts]

hey i recently saw a post (wish i could remember where it was) where someone had a jumping spider in their garden that decimated a mite infestation.

i've used ladybugs outside, but i dont want to have a huge swarm of them in my closet. i've also seen praying mantis sold as a beneficial predator, but i always imagine they're so slow.

spiders seem like a good idea. they wont damage the herb, and they'll eat the shit out of any bad bugs.

i'm hoping some of you have personal experience (ideally with indoor gardens). also wondering if there are certain species that are more or less suited for this task.

i just caught a little jumper in my house and i'm thinking of putting him to work, but i thought i'd come here first.

 

[jaykush]

this guy agrees

praying mantis are far from slow, they will only eat mites when younglings, once they get bigger they need bigger food sources

 

[ixnay007]

Ladybugs are great because they eat insects their entire life cycle, spiders are general purpose predators, for them to bother with mites they'd have to be 1. mobile 2. pretty small to view mites as a valid food source.

 

[heady blunts]

haha jay it was totally that spider i was thinking of. the one i caught is a diff species but similar size. he can jump like a motherfucker.

the one thing i'm nervous about is if he decides to peace out the first place he'd go would be into my clothes closet. and i'm not too excited at the idea of finding him in a pair of socks or something.

 

[Wicked1985]

Yea I don't know if I would want that thing creeping around my house.
http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/676193/CategoryID/12000/SubCatID/2560/file.htm
Check that out, never knew it but apparently there is another specie of spider mites that don't eat plants only spider mites. Once they finish the spider mites they eat each other so no need to worry about the bugs after.

 

[descivii]

I have experience in keeping spiders indoors and they generally do not want to be anywhere you put them. I don't know why except stubborn pride maybe, they always look for somewhere out of sight unless its outside your door then theyll park the fuckin web at face height out in the open...... ....

J.

 

[heady blunts]

wicked- welcome to icmag! way to make your first post a useful one! i've actually heard of those predatory mites, but i certainly appreciate the link.

descivii- that's basically what i'm imagining.

jay- any advice on how you get that little guy to hang out on the plants? i figured if there were things for him to eat he'd be happy there.

 

[descivii]

funnel webs always need soil so maybe that relegates them to the indoor garden area.

J.

 

[jaykush]

the one thing i'm nervous about is if he decides to peace out the first place he'd go would be into my clothes closet. and i'm not too excited at the idea of finding him in a pair of socks or something.

your closet is the last place a jumping spider would want to go. you would more likely find him on your walls or ceiling waiting for prey to land in front of him.

good thing is jumping spiders dont make "webs" specially on your buds. there more free roaming predators like the wolf spider.

as for keeping them where you want, there has to be food. if there's no food they will move on. wouldn't you? outdoors they live on my plants all season, even seen a generation grow up. the mom came early spring, and then i saw babies all over, by fall they were all adults.

also no one needs to be afraid of jumping spiders, they do not bite, no webs, they eat pests( including flying ones like gnats and mosquitoes given the chance) they are beautiful! and have some of the best eye sight on the planet. every now and then youll also find one totally interested in humans, so curious. i always handle them and move them to pest filled spots around the farm.

 

[Happy Haole]

I used to put jumping spiders between the windows and the screen and watch them tackle flies out of mid air. They are amazing lil buggers. Any time I find one, I toss him in the room. There always seems to be one or two in there anyway. They help with fungus gnats too. LOL

 

[heady blunts]

alright! thanks guys. i'll give him a chance.

 

[bugler]

I've moved writing spiders aka garden spiders to outdoor plants before, they stayed put. Not sure how much help they were, but I'd manually pick off caterpillars and toss them in the web to keep them happy, beat smooshing the pillars for sure! I also just hoped that since they are related to Charlotte, of Charlotte's Web, that they'd be friends with pigs, and would dissuade any piggies from staking out the plants. And guess what, it worked, 100% success rate, no stake outs on writing spider protected plants!

 

[Scrappy4]

Outdoors i have grown near large mounds of alegany mound ants. They stand guardon the plants all summer, the plants rarely have any leaf damage at all. You wiggle a leaf and they come running, pretty cool actually.........scrappy

 

[WishDoctor]

if you have bugs in your indoor garden you have something seriously wrong with your indoor grow.
You should have NO bugs indoors.

seriously, bugs inside = bad grow

 

[ganjasuiteseat]

I've moved writing spiders aka garden spiders to outdoor plants before, they stayed put. Not sure how much help they were, but I'd manually pick off caterpillars and toss them in the web to keep them happy, beat smooshing the pillars for sure! I also just hoped that since they are related to Charlotte, of Charlotte's Web, that they'd be friends with pigs, and would dissuade any piggies from staking out the plants. And guess what, it worked, 100% success rate, no stake outs on writing spider protected plants!

lmao.id hope charlotte spin them into the web.peace

 

[hopleaf]

they say in the average american home your never more than 6 feet from a spider at any point in time. you may not see them, but they are there.

 

[ganjasuiteseat]

they say in the average american home your never more than 6 feet from a spider at any point in time. you may not see them, but they are there.

danm and roaches 2lol

 

[MrFista]

if you have bugs in your indoor garden you have something seriously wrong with your indoor grow.
You should have NO bugs indoors.

seriously, bugs inside = bad grow

I must disagree with this post. I have soil teeming with life indoors and it's the best run of indoor grows I've ever had, period. I have a dozen daddy long legs spiders, jumping spiders, wolf spiders, worms, soil mites springtails and more in my grow.

 

[StonedCrow]

if you have bugs in your indoor garden you have something seriously wrong with your indoor grow.
You should have NO bugs indoors.

seriously, bugs inside = bad grow

I don't mind bugs that don't fuck my plants up....SC

 

[BPJR]

I always leave spiders I find in my garden be. I figure they are not hurting anything and most likely helping keep my grow free of pests.