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Small white spider / 100+ degree weather

M

Mr. T

The little punk was fast and not very photogenic, so a picture is not available. What I saw though was a small (body was about 4-5mm, perhaps 1 cm including the legs) white spider-like creature hanging out on one of the top leaves of my Bhut Jolokia. I did not run and grab the can of instant death because I wasn't sure if he was friend or foe. My main question here is whether or not it was indeed a little white spider, or is there a well known nasty bug that just looks like a spider and fits the description I gave? I suspect he hitched a ride in on the mulch I put down a couple of weeks back. I've google searched for pictures and the spider mites look a lot smaller than this guy was.

On a separate note, it is going to be damn hot for the next week or more. 100+ degree days with a heat index of 110 next week. My container peppers are receiving sun from early morning through about 2:00 pm. They are in a breezy area. First, should I be concerned? If so, does anyone have any recommendations? I can push them a little further against the wall and that might get them out of the sun by 1:00 pm (was going to do this anyway). They also have a thin layer of straw / hay as a mulch.

Thanks in advance.
 
dun no about the spider but if your worried about evening sun then push em back... it all depends how your plants deal with the sun rays when they are the strongest.
 
I had those fora while on my bhut jolokia. I removed the webs visible by hand and sprayed some plant-friendly aphid killing solution on them. They dropped like flies.
Don't squash any with your fingers, I did. Not that it was dangerous but you can feel a little sting and it was slightly annoying for a couple of hours.

I assumed they were spidermites, maybe that might give you some information on the issue.

Either way, get a hold of it, and quick!

edit: could it be the Australian "Wolf Spider"?
 
Phildeez said:
Why do you need to kill a spider that is on your plant?
Click to expand...

No offense, but did you even read my post? I said I chose not to hunt it down and kill it because I was not sure if it was good or bad. It looks far too big to be a spider mite, but I am no expert on spider mites. That was the entire purpose of this post - to find out if it is ok just to leave the thing alone.
 
Mr T I feel your pain on the heat. You can move them to complete shade and they will still be ok. I know they need sun to bud but I have had great success growing in complete shade here in Florida. My plants that only get a hour or two of direct sunlight seem to be the happiest this time of year.
 
Mr. T said:
No offense, but did you even read my post? I said I chose not to hunt it down and kill it because I was not sure if it was good or bad. It looks far too big to be a spider mite, but I am no expert on spider mites. That was the entire purpose of this post - to find out if it is ok just to leave the thing alone.
Click to expand...

I was talking to Fubarhouse, I guess I could have quoted. He described squashing spiders and getting bitten on the finger so I asked why he needed to kill them. My B.
 
does your spider looks similar to my white spider?
IMG_1049.jpg


if yes, i may conclude that he's one of the good guys.
 
romy6 said:
Mr T I feel your pain on the heat. You can move them to complete shade and they will still be ok. I know they need sun to bud but I have had great success growing in complete shade here in Florida. My plants that only get a hour or two of direct sunlight seem to be the happiest this time of year.
Click to expand...

+1.
Here in Thailand it's the hottest time of the year, 100+ every day. I had my 8 week old plants under a shade cloth under a tree and they were still getting sunburnt. I've moved them them to a spot that gets about 2 hours direct sun in the morning and then they're shaded for the rest of the day and they are looking much better.

Here's a blurry pic of a jumping spider that looks after my plants.

DSC00093.jpg
 
Spider mites can't be seen without some type of magnification so what you seen wasn't a mite. Good call on not killing it. No spiders I know eat plants so keep 'em around as they will hunt and kill things that do.
 
menotume said:
Took me a bit to find it lol, here's a closeup of your pic ...
z5tJY.jpg
Click to expand...

Thank you, and I apologize for the bad picture. Photography was never my specialty and my phone camera has its good and bad days. I will try to circle next time in mspaint or crop it.
 
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