They only look scary (and they eat lots of bugs)
This is the web of a golden orbweaver spider. They like to hang out during the day under the leaves of large rose bushes. Debbie Arrington
Huge spider webs – each more than 6 feet across – block both ends of the path next to my raised beds. Similar silky masterpieces span rose bushes or go up into trees.
Between potted tomatoes, I walked into one web by accident, its fine silk quickly sticking to my clothes. I screamed when I saw its maker on my shoulder: A giant golden orbweaver.
(I managed to set it down gently on a different bush.)
This late summer, my garden has become a spider wonderland, and that’s a good thing. Spiders are natural pest control; they eat lots of bugs.
Many of them are golden orbweavers, capable of constructing webs as wide as double doors. I counted eight different orbweavers in my backyard in one morning. I don’t doubt they’re related.
Harmless to people, this particular variety is fond of large rose bushes, such as those growing all over my garden. I have more than a hundred in the ground.
“They like to hide out under leaves on the rose bush during the day,” explained Baldo Villegas, Sacramento’s Bug Man, when I asked him about these spiders a few years ago. “That’s where it’s nice and cool.”
The retired state entomologist has encountered many, many spiders. In Sacramento, we only need to worry about widows. They have a venomous bite.
“In the Sacramento area, the black widow spiders are the most dangerous as they are very common,” Villegas said. “Next would be the brown widows, but they are much less common.”
The widows tend to be found outdoors or in garages in dark, dry, seldom-disturbed places. Brown recluses and hobo spiders, two other species that can hurt people, are not found in California.
Villegas likes jumping spiders (his favorite), crab spiders, garden spiders and cellar spiders (a.k.a. daddy long legs). All of them have a productive job eliminating unwanted pests.
“All spiders are predaceous on other critters, especially insects, and they are considered beneficial critters of the garden,” Villegas explained. “Most all spiders in our area are harmless to humans or pets. The only problem is when the spiders are grabbed or trapped by human hands! Then is when they can bite.”
Master gardeners consider garden-variety spiders as beneficial insects.
“Spiders are mostly beneficial because they feed on pest insects,” say the UC IPM research notes. “However, many people think that all spiders are dangerous and aggressive. In California, the main spider capable of causing serious injury is the black widow, which generally remains outdoors and out of sight. Spiders seen out in the open during the day are unlikely to bite people. Focus pest management efforts on removing webs and hiding places. Pesticides are not generally recommended.”
I used to jump whenever I saw spiders. Now I admire them – and I watch where I walk.
For more on spiders: https://ipm.ucanr.edu/QT/spiderscard.html.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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