| Author | Content |
trackinsand
mid central, FL (Zone 9a)
April 20, 2011 12:12 PM Post #8509095
| here in florida we have the southern house spider and they love the eaves and porches. i can't kill them all. i never even see them. it's just a constant battle with the webs and i can't even find a brush that works. vacuums, forget it. my back porch is brick and the webs just hang on. anyone else with this problem? and better yet, a solution? |
JuneyBug
Dover AFB, DE (Zone 7a)
April 21, 2011 2:50 AM Post #8510409
| I have sprayed the porch ceiling with pyrethrin (made from some kind of crysanthimums, I think) You might try whatever you have on hand that isn't toxic to us; insecticidal soap sounds like it would work if you put a nice coating of it on the whole porch.
For painted areas, there is an insecticide that can be mixed into paint that was real handy when we lived in S/E TX.
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trackinsand
mid central, FL (Zone 9a)
April 21, 2011 6:19 AM Post #8510690
| thanks, juney, but what i meant was how do you deal with getting the webs down? i don't want to spray the porch although i guess i could. i would rather just take the webs down periodically. they catch tons of mosquitos and other bad bugs and i hate killing a spider. i just can't find something that will get the webs. |
flowAjen
central, NJ (Zone 6b)
April 21, 2011 7:05 AM Post #8510783
| First I have quarterly exterminator service, I don't mind spiders as long as they are outside.
I use Swiffer dusters with the long extender handle to get any webs that I may get, in our tall foyer I actually can't reach that far into the corners so I took a tennis ball and wrapped a swiffer dust cloth around it with a rubber band and tossed the ball into the corner until all the webs were gone. |
ecrane3
Dublin, CA (Zone 9a)
April 21, 2011 7:10 AM Post #8510790
| The dusters work fine for me removing webs from relatively smooth surfaces like walls indoors, but outdoors on a rough surface is a different story. I have stucco rather than brick but haven't found a good solution--the webs want to stick to the stucco more than they want to stick to a duster, broom, or whatever else I've tried. I can get some of them but there are always some left. |
trackinsand
mid central, FL (Zone 9a)
April 21, 2011 8:49 AM Post #8510989
| the back porch is painted rough cedar, brick and stucco so it's nigh to impossible to get them down with anything yet known to man...
i thought maybe there was some kind of extended handle brush that i hadn't come across...sigh. |
ButterflyChaser
Northeast, AR (Zone 7a)
April 21, 2011 2:35 PM Post #8511644
| Can you spray them off with a water hose or blow them off with a leaf blower or air compressor? I have wood siding and it's easy to sweep it.
Or how bout one of those long handled brushes people attach to a water hose to scrub a car? Maybe you could attach it to a long handle paint roller extension rod? Or a toilet bowl bush attached to a long handle (Duct tape works well to attach things to things.).
Flowajen, I love your tennis ball trick. I can just see you bouncing a ball all around. Too funny! It's amazing the tricks we come up with to handle certain situations, isn't it? |
JuneyBug
Dover AFB, DE (Zone 7a)
April 21, 2011 2:53 PM Post #8511668
| My GrandMother used a broom to scrub them off. She had another handle duct-taped to it to extend it to a comfortable height. A deck or car scrub brush would probably work great.
I DO wish that we could train the spiders to keep their webs clean and to replace them when they get so dirty as to be visible. ☺ |
trackinsand
mid central, FL (Zone 9a)
April 21, 2011 5:45 PM Post #8512125
| i appreciate all the suggestions. i can't use water; it could damage the plaster ceiling and get the wood wet. blowing won't work. they won't even come off with a brush attachment and the vacuum. they are like glue up there. see, these aren't like wispy cobwebs in a house. these are "working" webs for catching all manner of bugs. the spiders themselves are huge but harmless. they just make the stickiest, ugliest webs i've ever seen...they're like globs.
keep the ideas coming please. i think i'll try the car scrubber brush with an extra long handle if i can rig one up. |
dirt_digger
Longwood, FL (Zone 9b)
April 22, 2011 4:50 PM Post #8513942
| Have you ever read about using Haught Blue on the ceiling of the porch? Spiders are not supposed to be a problem for such porches. I haven't tried it, but I am intrigued. |
JuneyBug
Dover AFB, DE (Zone 7a)
April 23, 2011 4:17 AM Post #8514716
| http://www.swstir.com/color-smarts/article/the-whys-behind-t... |
trackinsand
mid central, FL (Zone 9a)
April 23, 2011 6:14 AM Post #8514959
| very interesting...thanks for this! doubt i'll be painting the ceiling blue but i am intrigued. |
JuneyBug
Dover AFB, DE (Zone 7a)
April 23, 2011 3:19 PM Post #8515873
| We had 2 ceiling fans on our porch = no files or mosquitoes = no spiders.
Dad said that the blue paint confused the flying insects into thinking that there was no protected place to land - that they liked to sleep under something and he made it look like the open sky was above. I think that the ceiling fans were the trick as they cannot fly in winds over 5mph. |
trackinsand
mid central, FL (Zone 9a)
April 23, 2011 4:31 PM Post #8516031
| we have a ceiling fan. our problem is that though it's screened, we have an opening for the dogs to go in and out of the kennel so bugs constantly get in. at least they're staying on the porch! lol |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX (Zone 8a)
April 28, 2011 7:40 PM Post #8527453
| Trackinsand ~ look at the local dollar stores, in the area where the brooms and mops live. They sell an extendable handle bristley brush designed to remove spiderwebs from ceilings and ceiling fans. I picked up one for home and one for work. Seems like they were $3 each.
I don't know how tall your ceilings are but if needed, you could extend it by duct taping a piece of pvc pipe to the handle for length.
How's that for rednecked female engineering. lol |
trackinsand
mid central, FL (Zone 9a)
April 29, 2011 5:30 AM Post #8527918
| will do and thanks a bunch!!!
a pick-up, a good fence and a roll of duct tape...what more could a girl want? |
podster
Deep East Texas, TX (Zone 8a)
April 29, 2011 5:33 AM Post #8527921
| Access to a good dollar store... I got that mentality. Too many choices confuse me but I am good at backwoods modifications. |
moxies_garden
Batesburg, SC (Zone 8a)
August 21, 2011 12:12 PM Post #8768877
| I use an old handle from a mop or broom. Unscrew the old used end off...and just keep the pole. Then, I take the screw end, and twirl it around the web like spinning cotton candy. The webs stick to each other, and the handle. It is usually long enough to reach ceilings and corners also. After you are done, take the handle end to a corner, like a stair step corner, and twirl around in the corner to remove the web. I just keep mine handy because I have to use it all the time. |
