Overwhelmed by small spiders

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M

mskovrinskie

0
May 31, 2008
40
PA
We have become overwhelmed lately with small spiders that like to hang around our pool steps and the edges of our in ground. The are yellow-green (like a house spider) and can walk on the water. No matter how many I crush or scoop out of the pool, more come the next day.

Does anyone have advice on how to reduce this? I have read conflicting info on the effectiveness of borates. I was also considering putting down a insecticide in the grass around the pool since I assume they are coming from there.

FYI, this is an in ground swg in central PA.
 
A well balanced pool is less likely to attract insects, but you may get them anyway. How are your numbers? Do you have algae at all?

Can you post a pic? I wonder if they are water striders.

waterstrider.jpg
 
OK, Here's something retarded, but go with me for a minute. When I lived in Oklahoma, all the good barbecue competitors started their fires with a weed burner. It's this thing you hook up to a standard grill propane tank, light with a welder lighter, and it puts a thousand BTUs out the bidness end. So I had to keep up with the Bubbas (pick up one at Lowe's).

I had a massive spider problem on my porch (stucco, NOT wood), since every other critter (food) was hanging out by the light. I sprayed and swept, leaf blew, poisoned, and did everything to get rid of the insects, to no avail. One night, enchanted by the effects of a few cool ones, I decided to give them a shot from the weed burner.

That was the end of my bug problem of any sort. Ants, gone. Spiders...gone. Big swarm of mosquitoes hanging out by the porch when I'm trying to entertain.....gone (now THAT'S entertainment!!)

There's something about the smell burned bugs to keep the rest of them away. I kid you not!! Only about once a year would the spiders start to reappear, then WHOOSH :shock: .

Two weeks ago I did a bunch of chicken legs on the grill and forgot to put the grease catch in. The grease dripped out and inside of an hour I had a BILLION ants under my grill. WHAMMO :shock: . Gone. Not a one came to follow.

It takes FAR less heat to scorch an insect than it does to light anything on fire. A quarter of a second blast scorches bugs, eggs, webs, nests, anything organic. Don't hit the plastic or glass, and don't get the heat near any plant material (remember the name "WEED burner").

Take it for what it's worth.

Jim.
 
Here's a (blurry) picture of some of them. It's getting dark and my phone isn't the best camera.

Anyway, after cleaning out the pool just 2 hours ago, I already had a half dozen. The attached pic is of 2 of them. They are light brown, perhaps slightly green. They move fast and can walk on teh water. They seem to struggle crawling up the sides of the plastic steps. If you splash them, they ball up (I guess to hold on to an air bubble) and then stretch out again once they are safe.

I've also noticed a lot of really small bugs or mites of some sort. Perhaps the spiders are going there to eat those?

Either way, I've upped my SWG a little to increase the FC. I also haven't cut the grass around the pool in a few weeks because it wasn't growing due to lack of rain. We've had a ton of rain recently and I'll cut it back and perhaps drop some Scotts fertilizer w/ summerguard insecticide around the pool to help kill off any nests in the grass.
 

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Are you taking pics in my pool???

Seriously, I've had these for several years off and on. This, by far, is the best year..even though we still have them.

In the past I've sprayed some kind of broad spectrum bug spray for yards under the deck and in the surrounding grass and it has somewhat helped things....but really, don't you think 7-9 ppm of FC would kill these things???
 
There are also granular products at Lowe's and such that you can disperse around your home and lawn that cuts down on fleas and spiders and assorted insects. Check these out. We put this around our home and underneath the house every year to cut down on pests. Just read the labels about pets that may come in contact with it. It is usually small enough that they can't really eat it, and it dissolves with rain or irrigation.
 
You can also use food grade diatomaceous earth to kill them. The only problem is when it rains, you have to reapply. Last year we had a problem with some kind of bug (backswimmer, I think they're called). I would skim them out of the pool and quickly dump them in a bucket of Dawn dish soap mixed with water and that killed them immediately.
 

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mickey4paws said:
You can also use food grade diatomaceous earth to kill them. The only problem is when it rains, you have to reapply. Last year we had a problem with some kind of bug (backswimmer, I think they're called). I would skim them out of the pool and quickly dump them in a bucket of Dawn dish soap mixed with water and that killed them immediately.
Click to expand...
YES! DE sprinkled at grass edge is good for grass too.
 
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