Successful spider control for me

[tlc1976]

I live in an area with lots and lots of spiders. It borders the woods just like the old place did, but way more spiders here. Last summer the garage was so choked with spiders and webs that I didn't even want to go out there. Wolf spiders, and those little dark spiders about the size of a nickel that crawl fast in circles.

Spraying the house with the Ortho Home Defense worked great for the house. But it wouldn't touch the garage. Even drowning the spiders directly in it wouldn't kill them. Tried those Ortho lawn granules in about a 10 ft swath around the garage and they didn't work either.

Well I found something that worked. I take the lawn granules and maintain a thin sprinkled barrier along the whole garage door and entry door. About a foot wide. As it gets kicked around and driven over, I just sprinkle a handful every week or two. The spiders come in, but die after crawling over the granules, and there are piles of them that have accumulated. My doors have seals but they are not perfect. Doesn't take a lot, I've only used a small portion of a 4 lb bag doing this.

I actually can enjoy working out there now. I'm not working in the granules, or smelling bug spray fumes.

BTW the garage is a good 50-75 feet from the house, so any granules that might get stuck in my boot treads are long since gone by the time I get to the house.

 

[kTHREE]

If my wife had her way, there would be a 2 foot wide liquid pesticide moat around our house .

 

[CJ7VFR]

If my wife had her way, there would be a 2 foot wide liquid pesticide moat around our house .

OMG, that made me crack up! Why? Because my wife is the EXACT opposite!

I hate spiders and ants and other crawling things that get into the house, garage, shed, you name it. If it was up to me, I would do the whole moat thing.

But my wife and her entire family are "animal" lovers, and they don't want to kill anything, even bugs. I agree with not killing actual animals, but I keep telling her that bugs are not "animals". They are bugs, and as long as they stay outside, I have no issues with them. The second they come inside, it's on!

Jim

 

[L5wolvesf]

Something to think about . . .
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366340

 

[Bronson]

Wolf spiders are good spiders, you should not kill them.
They keep down the bad spiders, Black Widow's , Brown Recluse etc.

Spider in my pants!
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216659

 

[ducksface]

A 99cent self stick floor tile, cut as you like, sticky side up.
Catches
centipedes
And small crawlies and the occasional lizard.

 

[EricP]

tlc1976

Any feel for how your method would work on a gravel driveway and entrance? I want the spiders in my shop GONE. I can't stand the mess they make. Webs and spider **** stains.

Eric

 

[retfr8flyr]

I use Peppermint oil, mixed with water and a little dish washing soap in a spray bottle, to spray around my garage and I haven't had a spider problem since I started using this stuff. Wife also likes the way the garage smells, which is a plus.

 

[BuffettFan]

Wolf spiders are good spiders, you should not kill them.
They keep down the bad spiders, Black Widow's , Brown Recluse etc.

Spider in my pants!
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216659

I know what you are saying, but to me, the only "Good" spider is a dead spider!
I live in a heavily wooded area that gets a lot of wolf spiders.
Some require a .22 and bird shot. I'm not exaggerating.

 

[tlc1976]

I'm not one to treat the whole yard for spiders. They can occupy the acreage, I don't care. I realize they eat a lot of bugs and keeping the mosquitoes down is good. There are wolf spider holes in the yard. I just want them out of the house and garage. Never did have a fly problem before or after the spiders.

I have a dirt driveway. I spread the granules on the concrete garage floor just inside the doorways. If you have a dirt floor garage it might not work so well.

I grew up with wood heat and sometimes 4 inch wood spiders in the house, jumping out from under the fridge or behind the toilet in the middle of the night, clacking their feet on the floor as they ran. One jumped out from a pile of laundry one time.

If my GF had her way, she would wave a magic wand and spiders would cease to exist in the world.

 

[CombatNinja]

Physically excluding them is the most effective method. Take expanding foam and fill every crack and crevice that you think a bug even has a remote chance of fitting through. Get good threshold seals for the bottom of your garage door. The chemical approach is not nearly as effective. I sealed up my garage about 3 years ago and have had maybe 10 spiders in the garage since. I used to have 10 a day.

 

[DCarr2]

I found a burgess outdoor fogger with blackflag juice to work wonders in both the house and my shop

 

[fdtrucks]

Go to Tractor Supply and get some Permethrin. Its cheap and maks several gallons worth. Since I have started using it as a perimeter treatment around the house I have not seen any spiders, or any other bugs in my house. I mix it and use it in a cheap pump garden sprayer. There are several mixing ratios for different types of use. You can also use it as a flea treatment for your dog, or other farm animals. Just don't use it on a cat. Also, treat your yard work cloths in it for fly, mosquito, tic repellent. Our military uniforms come treated with it, and I always treat mine before going to the field, or a deployment. It is also sold in stores as Nix as a lice and scabies treatment.

 

[like2wheel]

I grew up with wood heat and sometimes 4 inch wood spiders in the house, jumping out from under the fridge or behind the toilet in the middle of the night, clacking their feet on the floor as they ran.

Pretty sure I'm not getting any sleep tonight after reading this.

 

[Spire]

"40 below keeps the riff-raff out".

Nature kills off what few spiders we have during the summer, here in AK.

But then again, the mosquitoes have figured this out too!!!

 

[m32825]

I saw Cy-Kick mentioned for spiders on another forum.

-- Carl

 

[James E]

I might try the peppermint oil idea on my dock. Can't spray pesticides on the dock as the lake is used for drinking water but the spiders are in and on every nook and cranny out there. They cover the place with webs overnight.

 

[Dragfluid]

I'm not one to treat the whole yard for spiders. They can occupy the acreage, I don't care. I realize they eat a lot of bugs and keeping the mosquitoes down is good. There are wolf spider holes in the yard. I just want them out of the house and garage. Never did have a fly problem before or after the spiders.

I have a dirt driveway. I spread the granules on the concrete garage floor just inside the doorways. If you have a dirt floor garage it might not work so well.

I grew up with wood heat and sometimes 4 inch wood spiders in the house, jumping out from under the fridge or behind the toilet in the middle of the night, clacking their feet on the floor as they ran. One jumped out from a pile of laundry one time.

If my GF had her way, she would wave a magic wand and spiders would cease to exist in the world.

You're saying that you can HEAR a spider run across the floor?

 

[tlc1976]

Pretty sure they were Huntsman spiders. Light tan, huge and flat. The ones we had were about 4" but I've been told of bigger ones. They moved extremely fast and their feet were like tap shoes as they scurried across the floor, sometimes banging into the legs of the kitchen table and chairs. That was at my dad's house and thankfully I've never had any that size anywhere else I've lived.

Yes one of the benefits of winter is naturally no bugs in the garage. Anything below freezing seems to work here.

Permethrin sounds like what I thought about getting at the farm store once, it was on sale. But I wondered about possible long term effects of the volume of spray to regularly treat a lawn, on my well water which is directly below.

Sealing up the garage sounds nice, but I also use it a lot. Hauling things in and out every day. Driving in and out. Or to open the door for a bit to have the fumes from any of my sprays have a place to go. I'd rather they not make it past the threshold inside to begin with.

 

[Catadj78]

Wolf spiders are good spiders, you should not kill them.

They keep down the bad spiders, Black Widow's , Brown Recluse etc.



Spider in my pants!

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216659

I reached under the window unit that's above the couch in my shop office last night and staring back at me was this spider the size of a Volkswagen and you could see it in his eyes his desire to stick his fangs into me and **** out my bodily fluids. It was a battle, a battle fought to the end and neither was going to give up till the other was dead. Thankful I'm here to be able to type this out. I at least gave the Wolf Spider a warriors burial in the back yard.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Bronson]

That's the same spider that was in my pants!