Help! Need an organic way to kill black widows!

A couple of years ago I put two great 13x3 box gardens along the side of my house so we could start doing some gardening in my home. The boxes are great, but I apparently made a mistake when I placed them an inch from the house on one side. The black widows discovered the gap over the winter, and I've now been bitten THREE TIMES while trying to prepare the bed this spring. Since my two year old loves digging in the garden with us, this has my wife and I extremely concerned (black widow bites don't affect me all that much, but they can be lethal to little kids). My first thought was to just squirt some nasty black widow poison down there, but the labels clearly stated that the poisons shouldn't be used around food. Thinking about it more, I don't think I'd want those poisons around my garden even if the manufacturer DID say it was safe.

So how can I kill them? This is going to be an even greater concern when the garden starts growing in and the spiders have foliage to climb into, so I'd rather just take care of it now. Any tips or pointers?

Spray them with plant oil products? Like what? And does that actually kill the spider, or just annoy it so it will move elsewhere?

I'd spray the webs out with a high pressure water then put down the DE (available at any pool supply store) and orange oil

it's a cheap and easy first step and see how it does

...but have you thought about filling in the gap with some redi-crete or something like that?

suggestively,
Bright

I don't know why I didn't think of that. I have a couple of 50lb bags full of pea gravel behind the shed that are left over from my last driveway resurface. I'll just fill the gap with that!

Thanks!

Tomato stems are offensive to spiders. If you have the right sun, you could plant your tomatoes in this bed. When you trim your tomatoes, put the stems in between and let them decompose there.

Also, are you absolutely sure the bites have been from the spiders? I live in a place that's so overrun with spiders that we call it "Spider Hollow." I rarely get bites from spiders but I do get bites from a lot of other things, like fleas from all the little animals who have been pushed back here due to development.



Cher

I do plant tomatoes in the bed, but I didn't know they were offensive to spiders. I'll have to keep that in mind as I'm laying out my plantings.

And yes, I'm sure they're black widow bites. Our screwy winter here in Northern California this year has given the weeds a head start, and my beds were overrun by groundsel (and I mean overrun, it's amazing how thick groundsel infestations can become if you don't jump on them right away). The black widows had spun webs between the groundsel stems, and they nailed me as I was trying to clear the bed.

Luckily, I react to them minimally. A mild headache, stiff muscles around the bite area, and sore joints body-wide. Nothing an Aleve, an Extra Strength Tylenol, and a soak in the hot tub can't cure :)

living room to show us. she would play with them batting them around and I would claw my eyes out.

just the thought of it....

shudder...

Black widows are generally nonaggressive and their venom is no more toxic than many other insects'. Like all spiders, they are very useful neighbors in the garden, since they assist with control of garden-eating insects.

We have a couple by the back fence, and while I'm careful around their home territory, I don't mind having them there.

They only become a problem when you have small children, pets, or someone who is very allergic or sensitive to their venom who is likely to spend a lot of time in their territory, or when (as in this case) they unfortunately choose to take over an area too close to your living space and reproduce copiously.

Me, I'm far more creeped out by centipedes. They grow HUGE here, they are nasty-tempered (I had one run out from under a planter at me once, yeeks!) and they don't do diddly squat to help in the garden.

But even those I just run off with the hose whenever I come across them outdoors.

Insects share their world with us, the least we can do is try to get along. We're a distinct minority, y'know.

equably,
Bright

it just makes my skin crawl....I don't hurt them mind you...but geez....ick ..sputter...faint...

:shrug: