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diatomeacous earth??
shellsglam
Posts: 13
Does anyone know if this would help kill an infestation of wolf spiders of which I have thousands. I have been bitten and my garden is now overrun. It is a big problem and am afraid to venture out now. They are everywhere , in the grass and earth. has anyone used it????
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Hello again. Only my second post here so please be patient with me. says I have responses but not showing . What am I doing wrong. HELP please.
i cant see any responses to this thread - dont panic
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Wolf spiders must be eating something to survive. When their food runs out they will move on or die. If you really can't cope ,use an insecticidal spray.
Hi shellsglam
I use DE as a preventative against red mite in my hen house. It works by scratching their bodies as they crawl out the wood work through the layer and dehydrates them.
I'm not sure if you could use it effectively against spiders as you'd have to put a layer of it everywhere. It's not toxic/ an insecticide. They'd have to be in contact with it to do them any harm and that's assuming a spiders body would react as a red mites would- I don't know about that...
Could you put down some food for the birds and see if they come down and help finish them off?
Hopefully someone else will be along who can help more...
No, it won't work. Next?
More seriously, I've had people try to tell me all sorts of rubbish about this stuff. Apparently it kills fleas too... It doesn't!
Thank you Victoria Sponge and Fidgetbones . I was told by a pest control company, it can be made into a spray with a little washing up liquid to help suspend the powder. Have sprayed an insecticide as a last resort and they did run, but it doesn't seemed to haver made a difference this morning as they are still everywhere. I am at my wits end . Should I just dig it all up with a rotovator and start again. There is only grass, and brambles and ivy by the ton. garden is about 100ft long and they are literally everywhere that I can almost hear them scatter if I walk on the grass.
Hi Steve, do you know what will work???
Insecticides generally don't kll spiders as they're not insects. When necessary I tend to use the rolled-up newspaper option. However, that's obvious not practical in this case. I suspect Victoria's answer is possibly the best - encourage the birds and wait.
There'll be an expert along in a miniute.
I would probably need to buy a print company and hire a football crowd to bash them all. Seriously though, I ended up at hospital after I was bitten, as did a friend of my daughter who was also bitten was in hospital for nearly two weeks and was really poorly. I do encourage the birds, but mostly I have a couple of magpies and a couple of pigeons and not many smaller birds, Not even the seagulls land and I am very near the sea.
It's the little insectivorous birds you need (they don't care that spiders aren't insects!) - tits, thrushes, wrens etc. I've never seen gulls land in a garden, and there are plenty round my way too. They need space to take off and yer average wolf spider wouldn't be much interest to them - they prefer chips.