My "tomato" protectors!

Gardenboy · December 5, 2016

I counted 21 Argiope spiders this morning. Some are the size of a quarter. I am SURE they are helping with eating cutworm and fruit worms . Found one cutworm wrapped in its web...yeah!!! Nature is the best defense.

Cole_Robbie · December 5, 2016

Cool pic.

I met a guy recently who is terrified of spiders. He will hardly go outside at night, because he is scared he is going to walk into a spiderweb.

Jimbotomateo · December 5, 2016

Great pic gardenboy! My wife has nitemares about spiders. She's sleeping, sits up points to ceiling says "spiders". I've learned to tell her softly it's ok there's no spiders. Reassured it's safe she will doze off to sleep. This summer she trapped a black widow under glass cup and says it was therapeutic experience and has helped her get over fear of spiders. I like to see them in garden cuzz their so beneficial.

BigVanVader · December 5, 2016

If I had a dollar for every time I've rode through a spider web on a lawnmower I could retire. Nice pic.

MissS · December 6, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

If I had a dollar for every time I've rode through a spider web on a lawnmower I could retire. Nice pic.

I have walked into so many spider webs that I should look like a mummy by now.

salix · December 7, 2016

I remember once leaning into one with my face accidentally and being surprised at how strong it was, it almost bounced me out!

Starlight · December 7, 2016

Spiders are good friends of gardeners for sure. What's pretty to see tall grasses and bushes at daybreak when dew is out. You can look out and see spider webs all over the place. I walk into them all the time. Do hate when I get one unknown down the shirt and it bites. During growing season, not unusual to come in after working with plants and take a shower and wash hair and find a couple drop down into tub.

It's actually kind of hard to keep spider population up here. Birds eat alot of them.

Beautiful pic Doug. : )

berryman · December 7, 2016

Reading the title of this thread reminded me of (45 years ago....) of my best high school friend. We liked to eat our tomatoes whole when eating lunch. We would then take the stubby green calyx and tuck them into our ears, and go to our 10th grade math class taught by a terribly sanctimonious man.
When the teacher noticed these he wanted to know what the googleyeyed heck we were doing. I said, "what? Can't hear very good. I've got my tomato protectors in"
Class cracks up, teacher gets mad...success!

Salsacharley · December 7, 2016

Here's a chart on spiders I just discovered. It looks like Gardenboy's spider is listed.

Cole_Robbie · December 7, 2016

The recluse and the black widow are the only two I know to be afraid of. The recluse looks a lot like a cellar spider, which are common and like to hang out on my ceiling. I think the easiest way to tell them apart is behavior. A recluse is true to its name. It wants to hide, not be out in the open.

Black Widows look like Halloween props. It only makes sense to give them a wide berth. I've had a few big ones on trays of plants in the greenhouse. Dirt Dauber mud wasps are their natural enemy.

Jimbotomateo · December 7, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

The recluse and the black widow are the only two I know to be afraid of. The recluse looks a lot like a cellar spider, which are common and like to hang out on my ceiling. I think the easiest way to tell them apart is behavior. A recluse is true to its name. It wants to hide, not be out in the open.

Black Widows look like Halloween props. It only makes sense to give them a wide berth. I've had a few big ones on trays of plants in the greenhouse. Dirt Dauber mud wasps are their natural enemy.

Cole, there was body builder guy delivered beer to the restaurant and we didn't see him for couple weeks. He comes in shows us nickel size hole half inch deep in his huge bicep muscle! Says he was drinking beer on patio fell asleep, woke up and was unable to move for 2 days! Dr said it was brown recluse and he was lucky he was in great physical condition or he coulda died.

brownrexx · December 7, 2016

The 2 things that people are said to fear most are spiders and snakes. I like them both, but not necessarily in the house!

Gardenboy · December 7, 2016

They are Argiope spiders. Their bite is similar to a bee sting. I see flies and pieces of cutworms in their webs. They leave the web and hide under leaves when you come to close.

dmforcier · December 7, 2016

Hunting spiders are welcome anywhere I am, in the house or out. Web spiders need to stay outside, but are not to be disturbed unnecessarily.

In the South, you learn to pick up a stick and hold it up in front of you when you walk at night in the dark when you can't see a web.

Up north in the Boundary Waters area there is the legend of Huey, God of Rain. Kill a spider and answer to Huey for it!

creeker · December 7, 2016

Here's the worst story. A local doctor was bitten on his heal by a spider (probably brown recluse but no one knows for sure). The foot then leg were infected then amputated. He was dead in about 3 weeks. True story. He was my and many peoples chiropracter (sp) and sorely missed.

December 7, 2016	#6
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	I remember once leaning into one with my face accidentally and being surprised at how strong it was, it almost bounced me out! __________________ "He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero

December 7, 2016	#14
dmforcier Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 3,825	Hunting spiders are welcome anywhere I am, in the house or out. Web spiders need to stay outside, but are not to be disturbed unnecessarily. In the South, you learn to pick up a stick and hold it up in front of you when you walk at night in the dark when you can't see a web. Up north in the Boundary Waters area there is the legend of Huey, God of Rain. Kill a spider and answer to Huey for it! __________________ Stupidity got us into this mess. Why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers

December 5, 2016	#2
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Cool pic. I met a guy recently who is terrified of spiders. He will hardly go outside at night, because he is scared he is going to walk into a spiderweb.

December 5, 2016	#3
Jimbotomateo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Santa Maria California Posts: 1,014	Great pic gardenboy! My wife has nitemares about spiders. She's sleeping, sits up points to ceiling says "spiders". I've learned to tell her softly it's ok there's no spiders. Reassured it's safe she will doze off to sleep. This summer she trapped a black widow under glass cup and says it was therapeutic experience and has helped her get over fear of spiders. I like to see them in garden cuzz their so beneficial.

December 5, 2016	#4
BigVanVader Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Greenville, South Carolina Posts: 3,099	If I had a dollar for every time I've rode through a spider web on a lawnmower I could retire. Nice pic.

December 7, 2016	#7
Starlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: AL Posts: 1,993	Spiders are good friends of gardeners for sure. What's pretty to see tall grasses and bushes at daybreak when dew is out. You can look out and see spider webs all over the place. I walk into them all the time. Do hate when I get one unknown down the shirt and it bites. During growing season, not unusual to come in after working with plants and take a shower and wash hair and find a couple drop down into tub. It's actually kind of hard to keep spider population up here. Birds eat alot of them. Beautiful pic Doug. : )

December 7, 2016	#8
berryman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: central utah Posts: 233	Reading the title of this thread reminded me of (45 years ago....) of my best high school friend. We liked to eat our tomatoes whole when eating lunch. We would then take the stubby green calyx and tuck them into our ears, and go to our 10th grade math class taught by a terribly sanctimonious man. When the teacher noticed these he wanted to know what the googleyeyed heck we were doing. I said, "what? Can't hear very good. I've got my tomato protectors in" Class cracks up, teacher gets mad...success!

December 7, 2016	#12
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	The 2 things that people are said to fear most are spiders and snakes. I like them both, but not necessarily in the house!

December 7, 2016	#13
Gardenboy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL Posts: 784	They are Argiope spiders. Their bite is similar to a bee sting. I see flies and pieces of cutworms in their webs. They leave the web and hide under leaves when you come to close.

December 7, 2016	#15
creeker Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Southern New Mexico Posts: 106	Here's the worst story. A local doctor was bitten on his heal by a spider (probably brown recluse but no one knows for sure). The foot then leg were infected then amputated. He was dead in about 3 weeks. True story. He was my and many peoples chiropracter (sp) and sorely missed.