AusBonsai

Where I live there are alot of different specie of spiders (not spider mite) around established trees from neigbouring plant and garden plants.
Is there a way to get rid of them especially on the bonsai since I nearly got bitten on the finger with the size of 50c piece, a recommended pesticide etc...?
My mum recommends using mortein but that will kill the plant instantly

Poor spiders
They are great value and will be doing you a great service catching a lot of the bugs that would like to eat your bonsai so have a think about allowing them to stay and keep helping.
Nearly being bitten is not actually bitten. Are you sure it was even going to bite? Not all spiders are out to get you and most, even some big ones, are actually quite harmless - wouldn't fancy playing with your Sydney funnelwebs though

If you really want to decimate the spider population you could get a pest controller to apply a residual pesticide around the house and yard. It should kill all spiders that venture past the barrier for a year or 2.
Otherwise pyrethrum is a contact poison and should kill any spiders you spray it on. You can also buy residual insecticides from the garden and hardware stores that you can apply yourself - ask for advice at the shop.

I agree with Neil, spiders are mostly beneficial, and only a few are dangerous to humans. Unfortunately, my other half disagrees, so we've reached a happy medium where I leave them alone outside, but anything in the house is living on borrowed time

I've used the residual sprays Neil mentioned before and find that they do the job, just watch out for all the spiders that go running for cover when you apply it Mortein Professional is one of them, it's in a 1.5L bottle I think

xIIRevoEvoS wrote:Where I live there are alot of different specie of spiders (not spider mite) around established trees from neigbouring plant and garden plants.
Is there a way to get rid of them especially on the bonsai since I nearly got bitten on the finger with the size of 50c piece, a recommended pesticide etc...?
My mum recommends using mortein but that will kill the plant instantly

Hi There

If you have a hunt around for praying mantis or have them then they are a natural pesticide & deterrent & the young are a white color & as cute as.

I have seen the newbies on tree's at shows sitting on top of the canopy having a look around at the people, if you do see them then it is best to let all know so they are safe.

But be very careful with the scissors as they don't work all that good cut in half / Just give the foliage a rustle on the out side with a chop stick or your hand & you will see any movement of them in getting out of harms way.

If you are going to handle your trees & are not sure if there are bities around have a pair of chop sticks or a chop stick & tweezers on hand & have a poke around with them first. Carefully in case there are praying mantis on the tree.

Another tip is if you see fly carcasses & other critters dead on the surface of the stones or moss then there is a chance that there may be a red-back in the junipers as they love to get up into the shaded foliage areas to lay eggs, as well as hiding in the drainage holes under the pot.

BTW: Don't let anyone tell that the common garden Orb is harmless, if threatened they will bite as I have first hand experience after being bitten on the hand.

It took about two days for the pain to subside, I now have a small section of skin that dries out all the time & that was almost 12months ago.

The Garden Orb is the Big 'A' sucker that has a web suspended in the air between trees & shrubs easy to walk into, I find a table tennis bat or a thong is a non pesticide treatment for these.

A friend once told me that FLAT Spiders don't bite, I have to say he is correct

JC

Phoenix238 wrote:I agree with Neil, spiders are mostly beneficial, and only a few are dangerous to humans. Unfortunately, my other half disagrees, so we've reached a happy medium where I leave them alone outside, but anything in the house is living on borrowed time

I've used the residual sprays Neil mentioned before and find that they do the job, just watch out for all the spiders that go running for cover when you apply it Mortein Professional is one of them, it's in a 1.5L bottle I think

I can relate, I run a catch and release program for my missus around the house

I agreed with Neil though, these little guys will only be helping I've had a few suprise me... and scare the bejesus out of me, but i just move them onto another plant in the garden and let them go on their merry way. Just move them along with a chopstick or branch from a tree

There was an old woman who swallowed a cat, fancy that! She swallowed a cat!
Got rid of her spider

Thanks guys, I know there are some that have benefits. But where I live, there are various amount of spiders due to the fact that the neighbouring houses has full grown trees near the fence line and they always from above then down to my bonsais.
small to big. But I'll look around for insecticides etc....and ask for some advice from shops

I tend to let the bad bugs have a free ride cos I don't want to kill the spiders and other goodies--most of my bug control is manual --with a bit of help from neem oil.