Most of the webs you see in the landscape on trees shrubs and flowers are actually garden spiders, not spider mites. With some careful observation it is very easy to tell the difference.
Spider mites tend to web only when the infestation is quite severe. The web is very fine and sticky and in most cases you can see the tiny spider mites in the web. The webs also tend to engulf the leaf, leaves, stems or branches instead of being on the top of the plant or layered.
Garden spiders make their webs on top of the plants or possibly in between the branches but do not usually wrap up the foliage with their web. Their goal is to capture other insect, such as spider mites, so they want their webs out in the open. The webs often appear layered. If you look closely at the web you can usually find the tiny spider waiting in ambush. (One type of spider builds a web with an entrance hole at the end of a tunnel where the spider lays in wait. These are tunnel spiders. Kids find them to be really cool.)
Other spiders simply weave a multi-layer web with floors like a house and lay on the web waiting for their victim to show up. Others make the more traditional “spider web”.
Our spray programs are designed to reduce any spider mite problems while allowing the garden spiders to patrol the garden and eat the bad pests!
The bottom line is that the spiders are your friends and you should let the webs stay on the plants.
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