Spiders; Winter Containers

Posted on October 6, 2015 by - uncategorized

Presentation:   British Columbia’s Spider Diversity

Claudia Copley, Royal B.C. Museum Entomology Collections Manager and Researcher.

Fact or Fiction?

  • Are spiders insects? No. Insects have six legs and three main body parts (head, thorax, abdomen).       Spiders are arachnids which have 8 legs and two body parts. Spiders do not have wings or antennae and are not able to chew.
  • Do all spiders make webs?   All can make silk but not all make webs. Some pounce on their prey rather than catching it in a web. Silk is expensive for spiders as it is made of protein. To prevent protein depletion they eat their webs and their siblings.
  • Do spiders come into the house in the autumn to get out of the cold? No. They hatch as tiny spiders in the spring, and are still relatively small in the summer, but by autumn they are larger and more noticeable. They stumble into your house looking for a mate. A house maintained to Energuide insulation standards will keep them out for the most part.
  • Do spiders come up through the sink or bathtub? No. They fall into the drains from inside the house.
  • Are spiders in the home a danger to children or pets? No.       House spiders prey on insects – they are not bloodsuckers and have no need to bite humans. House spiders include the Brown House Spider, Cellar Spider and American House Spider and they like to live with people. They have been introduced from Europe. They eat other spiders and live in the corners of the ceiling.       Brown House Spiders are the ones that make the messy webs.
  • Has the Brown Recluse spider bitten people in Greater Victoria? No. There has been no record of this spider in this area.       It lives in South Midwest of the USA.
  • Does the Hobo spider (Tegenararia agrestis) cause necrotic lesions? No.       It is not venomous and is not a house spider, preferring to live in fields.

Common Spiders in our area:

  • Garden Cross spider (Araneus diadematus) – non native.
  • Golden rod spider – a member of the crab spider family and can change its colour from white to yellow.
  • The Woodlouse spider (Dysdera Crocata) – Introduced from Europe with plant materials. It eats wood bugs.
  • Red-backed Jumping spider (Phidippus johnsoni) – Is a venomous spider with showy iridescent fangs and has stereoscopic vision
  • Pacific Folding-door spider (Antrodiaetus pacificus) – local tarantula, is non aggressive and can live for 20 years.
  • Giant House spider (Eratigena atrica) – non-native. Make a funnel shaped web. Not dangerous but appears big because it has such long legs. Introduced from Europe and is very common.
  • False Black Widow (Steatoda grossa). Non-native. Eats big black spiders and has a bite that is like a wasp sting and although not dangerous.
  • Western Black Widow (Latrodectus Hesperus) – like really dry hot places such as logs on the beach and they are here in our area. They are not aggressive and you would have to work hard to get a spider to bite you. The bite injects a neurotoxin and although it does not hurt much it causes muscle contractions. The treatment is usually a muscle relaxant.
  • Filmy dome spider (genus Neriene) – make dome shaped webs under which they hang waiting for their prey. They are almost communal because of the close proximity of the webs.
  • The local Wolf spider is genus Pardosa. They are agile, fast-moving ground predators that are brown in colour but the males can appear black.

Spiders spin silk over long distances by releasing silk that is then blown to an object to which it attaches. The silk is sticky and easily attaches to whatever it touches. The spider then travels partway along the silk thread and starts to build its web.

Note: If at any time you think you have a spider bite it might actually be an infection that needs medical attention. People have very individual reactions to spider bites and some bites such as that of the Western Black Widow, however rare, may require medical treatment.

The number of spider species in BC is 780. A checklist can be found on E-Fauna BC.

Workshop:Winter Containers

by Jennifer Eliason

When creating a winter container consider the size and scope of the available location, exposure to sun and wind, and whether you want the container for the winter only or all year round. This will inform your choices of suitable pots and plant materials.

  1. Choosing a pot: High fired clay pots, fibreglass and good quality plastic tend to be long lasting. In general, more expensive pots last longer and look better. If the location is prominent it is worth investing in a nicer pot. The pot must have good drainage holes in the bottom. A layer of special drainage material in the bottom is not necessary as garden soil is designed to drain. Use a saucer underneath, and feet or a wheeled plant caddy if on a hard surface.
  2. Basic design choices: If you are planning for several years of growth use slow to moderate growing materials. Tap rooted plants don’t fare as well in pots because they hit the bottom and have nowhere to go. Small trees work well in a larger planter. Ensure that the size of the plant material in proportion with the size and shape of pot. Step back from house or patio and see if the size of pot fits with the proportions of the surroundings. If the scale is unbalanced, a grouping of pots might work better.
  3. Soil mix:  A good quality potting mix is needed to sustain the plants over the long term. A mix of soil, peat and perlite works well to hold moisture. A mix of coir (a sustainable soil base), compost and perlite also works. You can add leaf mulch, your own compost, and sea soil. In autumn and winter, plants have a reduced nutrient uptake so a slow release organic fertilizer is most suitable.       Watering is crucial especially if under cover and exposed to winds that can quickly dry out the soil.
  4. Plant materials:
    1. Colour theme: Visit the nurseries to find sales and unusual plants. Plants that have a vigorous growth habit such as Elderberry, Willow, Mock Orange or Nootka Rose do not like to be in pots.       Look for things that are dwarf or “nana”. Drought tolerance is also a good feature for a pot.
    2. Native plants : Some go dormant in a drought so are not great in a pot. Some good choices are: Nodding Onion (Allium cernium), shorter varieties of Camas, Tiger Lily, Armeria and Sedum Spathulifolium. Mix in evergreens for variety and contrasting texture and shapes such as Deer fern (Blechnum spicant), Sword fern (Polystichum munitum) or Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum) – (note that maidenhair fern dies back in late Fall). For shady site use – Allum root (Heucera), Coral Bells (Heucera x micrantha), Wintergreen, Bleeding heart (Dicentra), Fairybell (Disporum hookeri) and Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis). For sunny sites use –  Evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), Bearberry (Kinnikinick) which has the additional feature of being trailing. Sweetgale/bog myrtle (Myrica gale) is a terrific pot plant, as is the low, slow growing Oregon grape (Mahonia nervosa) that provides a lovely mix of leaf colouration.
  5. Design considerations:
    1. Drama through height: Have at least one tall and showy plant such as an ornamental grass (e.g.miscanthus , phormium). Do not plant ivy, periwinkle, creeping jenny or lamium because of their invasive qualities.
    2. Four season interest: For a display that looks good all year round try Mountain Pepper (drimys lanceolata) as it is deer proof and has an aromatic leaf growing 8 – 10 feet with white flowers in Spring. Use complementary or contrasting shapes and colours, add trailing plants, then for additional colour and interest tuck in some pansies and basket stuffers. Add a few bulbs such as crocus, snow drops and dwarf narcissus for early Spring interest. Dwarf conifers such as a Yew (taxus) or Goldcress cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) for a golden yellow hew and Pieris Japonica (little heath) or Cornus Mid Winter Fire to provide variegated leaves all summer. The Cornus will provide brightly coloured stems all winter.
  6. Maintenance: In winter a couple of feedings with all purpose long lasting organic fertilizer is all that is required. After a few years you might you want to rework the whole thing because either some of the plantings have outgrown the pot and need to be replaced and dispatched to the garden, or a particular plant is not keeping up its share of the bargain. You can dig out the offending plant with a root trowel if it is not too large.       For a new look simply spill out all the plants, separate them and put it back together again in a more pleasing composition.