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Growing mint to deter spiders?

msqingxiaomsqingxiao Posts: 482
in Plants
Hi all, I don't want to share my house with these big and small critters any more. Has anyone tried growing mint to deter them? Heard that they don't like the smell of it. I read that mint is quite vigorous grower so I'll be keeping it in pots. Just don't know how well it works against spiders. Thanks!
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Sorry to inform you that the mint bed outside our back door is full of spiders.  
    I've never heard that mint deters them ... it looks as if our spiders haven't heard it either  ;)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    Conkers! No I'm not being rude,  when the season comes collect what you can and put them around in corners and places where spiders lurk. It won't get rid but it seems to stop them making webs in corners etc. The effect does wear off as they dry out though. 
    AB Still learning

  • msqingxiaomsqingxiao Posts: 482
    Thanks both! Well a mint "Black peppermint" has already been ordered. Will report back if it's any useful... Will definitely go out and collect some conkers to try out too!  :)
  • mikeymustardmikeymustard Posts: 495
    I'd rather share my house with spiders than with flies 😀
    Our ceiling spiders in the bedroom (well I had to tell SWMBO that or she would've hoovered'em up!) do a grand job on the mozzies. As for the lantern in our breakfast room, before the spiders moved in, the constant buzzing of winged creatures was most off-putting!

    My 93yr old mother puts tea bags down the back of the telly to "deter" spiders. But then she swears Vicks Sinex helps her heart failure symptoms 🙄
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    mikeymustard said: 
    .... But then she swears Vicks Sinex helps her heart failure symptoms 🙄
    Well, my OH says he can see there's a tiny bit of logic to that, as it opens up blood capilliaries ... think it's a pretty localised reaction tho' ... depends how near her nose is to her heart  ;)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I agree @mikeymustard.
    I had to take one outside last night that had found his way in [daughter removed herself as  she gets a bit worked up about them ] but he clung onto my sleeve, so I just brought him back in with me, and he appeared a few minutes later in front of me  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    Saw my first big Tegie of the season on my bedroom curtain last night.  
    The leaves are starting to turn and even fall. It's definitely autumn  here now :)
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    What’s a Tegie? I have never heard that word.

    My instinct is that mint will be about as effective as asking the spiders to go back outside. I’ll be interested in the OP’s feedback.
    Rutland, England
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    No use the mint to deter the mosquitoes from coming in through doors or windows, use the conkers for the spiders.😁
  • BlueSchoolBoyBlueSchoolBoy Posts: 100
    edited August 2021
    Conkers work well.  I have put them in the shed and summer house each year for the last three years and very few spiders appeared. Last autumn I collected more conkers and put them in the corners of our bedroom window ledges and never saw any spiders in the rooms.  
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