Spider mites can kill plants. If you doubt it, just come and look at all my neighbors and our tomato plants (this year and last). All are almost totally defoliated now by the little @#(&!!. Spraying plants with forceful jets of water every day for days/weeks may work for a minor infestation (and I've used it for that myself), but if they have arrived en masse and have attacked several plants you will need to do more then spritz them with water (where they can fall to the ground and climb right back up again). And unlike our cooler cousins up north, in our looong hot summer climate spider mites have time to reproduce like rabbits, hatching every 3 days until a freeze. They are a force of nature, and whether you spray insecticides or not (and I normally never do), spider mites arrive every year in my garden in spring. A Godsend to me was the introduction of AVID in the 80's. It's active ingredient, Abamectin is a naturally occuring soil microorganism, and as such it's effectivness is limited to only certain " bad bugs", such as mites. There are 5 things that you need to be aware of when using AVID. (1) It works, (2)It is translaminar, which means that it penetrates the leaf surface and is inside the leaf was well as on the outside, (3)You are to use it only when you have an infestation, never as a preventative. Mites will build up a tolerance to it if over used making it useless. That btw, is a guarantee. (If you get past #4 here, then you should ask about the spray schedule)(4)It is expensive but (5) It works.

I'm not going to be much help here but I feel you pain-hehe. I had tons of spiders at my last house in Land O Lakes. It was on stilts and under the house was a major spider attracter. Mostly I just let them be but it was not a pretty sight. Sometimes I'd get them down with a broom. The last year I lived there I had a bug control company that swept the webs and then sprayed for the spiders and that was a big help. On and around the window I used windex...the kind you put through the hose to reach high places...that worked well on spider webs. I just didn't want to use that under the house where it would wet the insilation.

How long? About 3-4 years. I can't remember. I let this ensete die because it was so big. I didn't dare take it outside during the summer months because the wind would break it off. Because of this, I couldn't flush the soil with water to flush out salt build up from fertilizers and other stuff in my hard water, so it eventually went down hill. I just put it outside to finish dying a week ago. However my other 3 that I put outside during Summer are down stairs in my unlit, unheated basement room in dormancy. In the Fall, I cut them down to 5-6' stumps, repot them in 15 gallon nursery pots, and stick them in the basement till next Spring. They have large thick "trunks". I do this every year and they come back to full beauty in the Summer.

I had the same problem with spider webs. I bought an old home in the midwest, too. I did everything I could possibly think of to get rid of the spiders. I ended up calling an exterminator ( mainly because they were also in the basement, too). The spiders were also coming into my home (right around the door!). That was about 5 months ago... so far I haven't seen more webs or spiders. I'm not suggesting you call an exterminator--- it was costly & I probably could have sprayed myself had I known what to buy. Nevertheless, it's an option if nothing else works. I also bought bug lights.