Friday, June 29, 2012

Getting rid of spiders and their webs with soapy solution

I have an organic garden.  That means a lot of weeds, bugs, and hence spiders.  On a slope with irregular growing ivy and occasionally tall weeds, it's Halloween everyday.  You can see spider webs covering the slope when the sun comes up, shining on the morning dew on the web.

Of course diluted dish washing liquid (for hand wash) is instant kill for spiders.  I have yet to encounter bugs that cannot be killed by it.

I tried the soapy solution on the webs.  Instantly the altered surface tension changed the entire structure of the web.  It disappears because the fine fibres got bundled into larger strands.  If you spray closer, you can dislodge the anchor points to totally destroy the web.

It's true there's easy ways to destroy the spider webs so my slope don't look like Halloween everyday.  A pole or a rack will do nicely.  But you may have delicate plants or surfaces that you don't want to disturb.

Once sprayed, the web will be useless and any spider in it killed.  It will also kill other bugs, food for the web hunters.  Hopefully they don't return.  I'll let you know.

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