Jad
08-19-2005, 04:33 PM
I have a *lot* of spiders in my garden. And by and large, I try to take a live and let live approach. But I'm starting to get concerned that they're damaging my plants.
Last weekend, I was doing a little work on my bee balm -- deadheading, trimming, etc. I noticed that quite a few of the more mature leaves were yellowish, so I examined the plant a little more closely. *All* of the leaves in the interior of the plant had withered and died. I was cleaning them out with my (gloved!) hand when I noticed a big ol' coccoon-like web with a big ol' brown spider inside. I'm fairly sure that it's a grass spider. And I noticed similar webs on plants that are doing similarly poorly. Is it possible that the spiders are doing something bad to my plants? Or am I just a really bad gardener? (Answering "Both" is always possible, too. :p )
Last weekend, I was doing a little work on my bee balm -- deadheading, trimming, etc. I noticed that quite a few of the more mature leaves were yellowish, so I examined the plant a little more closely. *All* of the leaves in the interior of the plant had withered and died. I was cleaning them out with my (gloved!) hand when I noticed a big ol' coccoon-like web with a big ol' brown spider inside. I'm fairly sure that it's a grass spider. And I noticed similar webs on plants that are doing similarly poorly. Is it possible that the spiders are doing something bad to my plants? Or am I just a really bad gardener? (Answering "Both" is always possible, too. :p )