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Actual Spider, Not Spider Mite

8 years ago

I brought in my calamondin to spray it down with insectical soap. Pulling apart two leaves that looked tangled I startled a spider chillin' in a "funnel" type web it made between two leaves. Looking at some "spiders of NY" website it looks most like a female longlegged sac spider. Not terribly hazardous to people (poisonous, but shy and fast to run away, and usually only active at night), and a "hunting spider" that prowls for bugs to eat.

Any thoughts on whether I should evict my new tenant, or leave her be?

Featured Answer

johnmerr

8 years ago

Remove it; it is of no benefit to your citrus.

Comments (9)

pip313
8 years ago
I like tenants that pay rent.
limeinqueens
Original Author
8 years ago
eating bugs for me is a form of barter, no? Don't tell the tax man! This is a strictly under-the-table arrangement. :p
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limeinqueens
Original Author
8 years ago
ok, thx. I wasn't sure what it ate.
BarbJP 15-16/9B CA Bay Area
8 years ago
But don't kill it, just set it outside somewhere in your yard and it will continue to eat other bugs. Spiders are awesome!
johnmerr
8 years ago
When I get a spider in my house, I open the door and say, "Go out!". If it doesn't go out, I kill it; but at least it had a chance.
poncirusguy6b452xx
8 years ago
John Why do you kill spiders. In my area the average house has over 60 brown recluse spider. Any spider that is not a brown recluse will eat a brown recluse or any other insect it can find. Brown recluses feed on dead and injured insects. Any other spider eats the insect before they die or become week and thus starve the brown recluse. This greatly reduces the chance of a brown recluse bite.

I could understand your position on spiders if the Brazilian Wandering Spiders live in your area. I would like to have a Huntsman or Goliath bird eating spider in my house to take care of my mice. Right now I have a couple of snake slithering freely though my hose and the mice really dropped their numbers
johnmerr
8 years ago
The problem with natural predators (beneficials), especially in the case of things like Medfly and Diaphorina (HLB vector) is that beneficials only control the size of the population; they do not eradicate it; and if they did, they would have nothing to eat. In the above cases, and others it only takes 1 or two to destroy an industry. BTW my comment about killing the spider was meant to be a joke.
poncirusguy6b452xx
8 years ago
I do not spay my trees for mild problems so that the natural predators have something to eat. When insects get out of control I will shake off any predictors before I would spay an oil or soap solution to knock my numbers down. I will also use the pinch and rub method to control. When fall comes and predators are gone I may use something that would do a total kill on insects before bringing the plants inside.

Most people I know kill spiders on sight so I thought you were serious. I have no HLB up here and never will so pests are not a real threat to my tree

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