My screened-in back patio has nice teak furniture, orchids and plants, and a colony of spiders (see pic; click to embiggen). I don’t mind the spiders, but I hate getting cobwebs in my face and hair, and I’m sure it doesn’t do the spiders any good in their search for food. After I accidentally bump into a web, I usually sweep the web away and make sure the spiders find their way outside.

One of the other things my patio collects is dirt and mold, so every six months or so I have to pressure-wash it. Before doing it, though, I used the broom to encourage the spiders to move along, warning them all along that I had more powerful weapons at hand. Then I got out the pressure-washer. They mocked me with their tiny voices, “That’s the best you can do?”

When I was finished I got out the Ortho Home Defender. But being the good Quaker boy that I am, I did not spray the spiders directly. After all, spiders are good; they get a bad rap because of their non-normative appearances and being stereotyped in bad movies on SyFy starring former brat-packers going for the scale rate to pay off their second mortgage. I only applied it around the windows, doors, and roofline to keep out the ants.

I hope the spiders will get the hint and go hang out in the hibiscus bushes.