I never kill Daddy-long-legs spiders. I don't like spiders too close to the house where people walk, esp if they have huge webs! I have been squirting them with isecticidal soap or the garden house to chase them away.
The one that scared me the other day was about an inch in size, grey, with a darker grey v or m on its back. It moved really fast and looked like it could give a bad bite. It was located near our front door where we had some strawbberries growing.
By the way, not too many snails around now, also it hasn't been raining as much. They were most numerous when there had been alot of rain.
Thanks, Terry

There are only two spiders I know of in New York which could give a human a "bad bite" and those are the black widow and the brown recluse. They both live in out-of-the-way places such as wood or brush piles. The black widow is black with a red hourglass design underneath. The recluse has a fiddle shaped mark.

All the other spiders you have been killing are harmless unless you are a bug. Many children are frightened into believing that spiders will bite them (like the big bad wolf and the boogey man)and end up persecuting their best garden friends for no real reason.

As far as mosquitoes, try using a repellant instead of poisoning your whole area. Spraying malathion and other mosquito poisons is like nuking your house to get rid of a squirrel in your attic. There are better ways.

Malathion is a very broad spectrum, long lasting poison that is unacceptable to any organic gardener/farmer. It is as bad as Carbaryl and many other commonly available insect poisons which are also unacceptable.

quote:

Originally posted by terry-upstate-ny:

They eat holes in the leaves of almost everything, and must be stopped soon! Please help!

Uncooked crushed egg shells are great to get rid of snails and slugs. I wash the shells and keep them in a can. Once per week I crush them by hand and distribute them around my vegetable patches and other plans they tend to eat. So far it's worked a charm!

quote:

Originally posted by terry-upstate-ny:
I first noticed a few of these pretty golden colored shelled snails last year after I planted a lilac bush that was shipped from another state. They grow to about a half inch long.
This year they have multiplied like crazy. I tried Safers Insecticidal Soap and I think they crawled away for a little while but are back a week later. They eat holes in the leaves of almost everything, and must be stopped soon! Please help!

Have you tried placing beer in small low lip dish around the garden? I noticed that not only did it attract slugs in my Ohio garden but all kinds of nasty pests. The best part is that you don;t need pesticides.

We use the bottoms of milk cartons (about 1") pushed into the soil so the tops are level with the soil. Cheap beer works just fine.

One other suggestion we've heard about (but not tried) is "salting" the invaders. My guess is the salt dries them up and kills them.

Salt does the trick but its so nasty looking. When the salt comes in contact with the snail their slime starts boiling. ...Very yucky looking. It does dry them out and kills them eventually.