Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Bob Wilson on September 16, 2020, 09:48:53 pm

Title: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: Bob Wilson on September 16, 2020, 09:48:53 pm
Twice now I have found black widows under or around my hives. Anyone else got a lot of spiders?
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: cao on September 16, 2020, 09:58:16 pm
No black widows here but I have seen a few banana spiders putting webs around my hives.
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: The15thMember on September 16, 2020, 11:19:37 pm
No widows for me, but definitely spiders.  It's that time of year, and I can barely walk up to the hives without getting caught in webs.  We have a lot of orb-weavers, the big orange marbled ones (we call them jack-o-lantern spiders) and some crazy black spiny orb-weavers (give them a google if you've never seen them).  Lots of harvestmen too, although they aren't really spiders.  I often find spider webs built in strategic positions to try and catch bees.  Any that are successful I of course tear down.             
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: BeeMaster2 on September 17, 2020, 12:02:13 am
I get a lot of jumpers (wolf) spiders in the tops are of my hives. I leave them there. They eat SHBs. Black widows like cool damp locations. They are usually found under the hive.
Jim Altmiller
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: jtcmedic on September 17, 2020, 08:34:50 am
Black and brown widows for me, also the wolf in the lid and scorpions in my lids, I leave them all, doing there jobs. We also have golden orb weaver? Banana spider they come down in my way
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: Nock on September 17, 2020, 09:51:29 am
Found one under a hive last year.
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: Michael Bush on September 17, 2020, 11:38:15 pm
Back when I put the hives on concrete blocks for stands I found them in the hollow of the concrete blocks often.  Not anymore.
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: Acebird on September 18, 2020, 08:16:46 am
I don't know what to look for but it gives me the creeps to mow under the banana trees.  We still get spiders and lizards inside the lanai after re-screening.  I would have thought they would have starved.
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: Bob Wilson on September 18, 2020, 10:04:30 am
Well. Maybe it is just this year. I killed the two I found.
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: Hops Brewster on September 18, 2020, 10:53:53 am
I have seen lots of black widows this year, not just around the apiary, but around the house too.  In my AC condenser, power panel, shrubs, window wells, etc etc.  I rarely use insecticides, but this year I have made an exception.
Title: Re: Black widows in the apiary?
Post by: rast on September 18, 2020, 08:35:40 pm
You havent had fun until you walk through a banana spiders web after dark, that is the stickiest web I know of.