Spiders in a Flower Bed

Spiders can be a welcome visitor to the garden patch.

Few gardeners react positively when they encounter a spider or its web as they go about their weeding chores. But once the shock of the moment passes, it is worth remembering that this eight-legged invertebrate is actually one of their most loyal allies. Spiders play an essential role in eating thousands of harmful insects and work tirelessly to pollinate plants. In the cycle of nature, they have a useful job that also includes recycling and pollination.

Insect Control

Spiders crawl across plant leaves, but have an appetite only for insects.

The more than 30,000 species of spiders found in the United States alone are useful and welcome visitors to backyard gardens primarily for their voracious appetite for insects. A spider, which is not an insect itself but an invertebrate, meaning it has no backbone, can eat an enormous amount of bugs every single week of the growing season. They are nature's insect-control system, consuming annoying beetles and flies, nocturnal moths and other insects that would otherwise be munching on plant leaves.

Environment

Spiders use mulch for protection.

To encourage spiders to assist in your gardening, use mulch since they are attracted to it for protection and moisture. Provide plants where they can string their webs, such as tall plants with sturdy stocks. In the winter, leave the stalks of dead plants in place until spring, giving the spiders a place to winter. Although they have not been found to be an effective means of controlling a total infestation of a particular destructive insect attack, their steady presence in the garden will do much to keep your flowers and vegetables intact.

Pollination

Spiders also pollinate garden plants.

Besides their insect-devouring duties, spiders serve as great pollinators of garden plants as they crawl from flower to flower. They also play a key role in recycling dead plants and tree branches back to the earth. A garden rich with a spider population also attracts other pollinators like birds, which feed on the spiders. Unfortunately, the spiders will also eat good insects like bees and butterflies along with the bad.

Bites

People's fear of spiders, called arachnophobia, largely centers on panic about what to do if one gets bitten by a spider. In the United States, only a handful of spider species have bites serious enough for the victim to see a doctor. Most of the time, the person bitten experiences some pain and a burning sensation that subsides in about 10 minutes. However, anyone receiving a bite from a black widow, brown recluse, hobo or yellow sac spider should immediately seek medical assistance.

References

• Colorado State University Extension; All About Spiders; Linda S. Rayor