I have a problem where we just discovered a black widow spider in the yard. I am starting an organic garden this year and the local entomologist recommended we get the yard sprayed because if there was one there are probably more. The problem I have with that is they will more than like spray the area I am going to use for my garden and I am concerned that the insecticide or pesticide will get into the vegetables I am growing. Has anyone successfully used an organic method of getting rid of black widow spiders

Smash them with a shoe.

Hi,
My name is Janet...we had lots of black widow spiders, mostly in metal doorways, horse run in sheds, in the barn...places where it is very warm...we found out that some hornets or wasps (red legs, not aggressive) that we had on our property kill BW spiders...don't know the reliability of this. We merely killed the ones we found, and let wasps do their thing. We don't spray the good wasps, and have seen a dramatic decline in BW spiders...not sure if I found two last year.

When you kill the BW spiders you need to be accurate and make sure you don't get yourself bit. They run and hide if you miss...lol. They have a distinctive type of web and very slim, beautiful black legs...so we also try to make sure it is really a BW spider before we smash it. The red dot of course, if you can see the underbelly, but the legs are a good clue too...

Good luck and I think the spraying recommended sounds scarey.
Janet

Thank you Janet,

I think we are going to get some DE and put it around the shed and the stacked wood and hope that none of our kids come in contact with them. We have showed the older two what one looks like and warned them not to mess with them if they see one. It is still scary knowing that we have them around the yard because we do have small children. I hope that the DE will help ease my mind and do the job. I can't stand spiders, so my husband will have to do the smashing!

Anything you can do to encourage mud dauber wasps will help get rid of black widow and brown recluse spiders. They build their nests out of mud and include plenty of spiders as food for their young when the spider eggs hatch. I leave a door open to my garage to allow the wasps to come and go as they please. Mud daubers are extremely docile. Just don't swat at them.