wolf spider
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
As the old nursery rhyme reminds us, we humans are afraid of spiders. That’s why Halloween decorations are dripping with spiders and spider webs. According to an October 22nd webinar taught by Daniel Orion, only the fear of snakes and heights are higher on the fear index than the fear of spiders. PPAN (People and Pollinators Action Network) hosted the webinar titled “Why Spiders Belong in Your Garden” to show why we don’t need to be afraid of spiders and to help us appreciate them.
Daniel Orion is the Butterfly Pavillion’s outreach educator and an obvious spider lover. He attempted to explain away our fears by proving that even though spiders are venomous, a spider bite is rare and very rarely causes a human to feel ill. Wasp and Yellow Jacket venom is much stronger. Spiders are effective predators, and bite insects to subdue them for food. They are one of the most beneficial creatures (spiders are not insects, they are arachnids; they have 8, not 6 legs). They reduce insect pests, like aphids, ants, mosquitos, squash bugs and grasshoppers, in the garden and home. They do eat some pollinators and other beneficial insects. Crab spiders can change color to camouflage themselves and hide in flowers to catch bees, for example, but bees can see and smell spiders so they do not affect the bee population very much.
Daniel Orion focused his talk on local varieties, and why we should not fear and kill spiders. He suggested we can support them by having leaves, grasses and rocks in our gardens for habitat. He says, “Grow native plants to attract a steady food supply of beneficial insects for spiders to feed on.” You can tell which side he is on. Just kidding. Daniel is a lover of insects and spiders, and an advocate for a pesticide-free healthy ecosystem. He emphasized that spiders are far more beneficial than harmful. Besides providing free non-toxic pest management, spiders are an important food source for birds. Especially interesting is the fact that bird parents know that spiders are very important food for their young nestlings, and they make sure to hunt spiders during the first week or two after hatching. Spiders contain high concentrations of taurine, an amino acid critical for brain, eye and nervous system development. And spiders provide important protein for hummingbirds, nuthatches, bushtits, finches, chickadees, sparrows, bluebirds, robins, wrens etc. Spider silk is often used in nest building.
Therefore, toxic pesticides should never be used to kill spiders because they don’t know when to stop killing. Spiders are easy to scare away: vibration, blowing on them or a little spray of water will send them scurrying. If they fall in the dry sink and can’t climb out, use anything from a piece of bath tissue to a stick for a bridge for them to climb out.
We humans take sides: good bug/bad bug; but we don’t have the vision or perspective to see the big picture of Nature’s balance. Ecosystem health really depends on diversity and abundance. The best way we can help Nature is to never use toxic pesticides, and to support plants and habitat for living things.
PPAN’s past webinars are free and available on YouTube.