In article ,
"piedmont" wrote:

"madgardener" wrote in message
...
Hello, Maddie here (otherwise known by some of the older residents of
this garden neighborhood as the olde madgardener) now that I'm
frantically gardening somewhere in Western Tennessee in a warmer zone,
moister climate, low-lands and farmland abounding.........I have a
very serious question: I have now encountered my first and not last,
black Widow spider. I know they're out there. Especially since last
snip

Hello Maddie and others,

This is my first foray into rec.gardens and I thought I'd start here with my
introduction. Just planted my one pot grown tomato, (yes 1 tomato of the
year), 'Better Bush'.
When ground reaches 70F I will plant my 3 Okra plants, from there I don't
know.
I had a 20 x 40 foot garden patch in South Carolina on 4.2 acres, but
recently moved into a "gag" subdivision in North Carolina (near Charlotte)
and have yet to set up a tiny garden spot.

What I learned about spiders, wasps and snakes in SC was to be diligent
about keeping a neat trimmed grass, remove debris often around home and
buildings, my philosophy is I will defend my home from all critters with
fierceness! They, the critters can have the rest of the world but none will
survive within 50 feet of My home! Any time an interloper comes crawling
around they are quickly dispatched with extreme prejudice! I had lots of
little snakes around the house as it was unkempt for quite a while and I
relocated those to the woods, wasps get an immediate dose of wasp spray and
treat windows around outside with crawling insect spray. Tiny frogs and
lizards get relocated too.

Welcome to "wrecked gardens", personally, I hope you find the site
informative.

You may wish to look up "Biodiversity"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity
#Human_benefits, and #Destruction_of_habitat

The simplest model would be the wolf and the rabbit, when their
populations are in balance, neither are a nuisance to humans, but let
the wolf population drop and the rabbits eat everything in sight. Let
the rabbit population drop, and hungry wolves become a menace to people.

Kill spiders, and you invite mosquitos and/or flies. The other resort is
polluting the environment with insecticides (see
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...guins-ddt.html)
.. You will find many gardeners here who will grant wildlife, a portion
of their crops, beyond that, you need to look into "integrated pest
management".

I'm not suggesting that you let Black Widows into your bed, but you may
want to cut non-venomous critters some slack, as they are probably
performing an indispensable service for you.

To stay on topic here, I pulled this up on Wiki about, Latrodectus mactans,
the (southern) Black widow at,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_black_widow#Range

See also: Spider bite
Although these spiders are not especially large, their venom is extremely
potent. Compared to many other species of spiders, their chelicerae are not
very large or powerful. In the case of a mature female, the hollow, needle
shaped part of each chelicera, the part that penetrates the skin, is
approximately 1.0 millimeters (about 0.04 in) long, long enough to inject
the venom to a point where it can be harmful. The males, being much smaller,
inject far less venom with smaller chelicerae. The actual amount injected,
even by a mature female, is very small in physical volume. When this small
amount of venom is diffused throughout the body of a healthy, mature human,
it usually does not amount to a fatal dose (though it can produce the very
unpleasant symptoms of latrodectism). Deaths in healthy adults from
Latrodectus bites are relatively rare in terms of the number of bites per
thousand people. Sixty-three deaths were reported in the United States
between 1950 and 1959[16]. On the other hand, the geographical range of the
widow spiders is very great. As a result, far more people are exposed,
worldwide, to widow bites than to bites of more dangerous spiders, so the
highest number of deaths worldwide are caused by members of their genus.
Widow spiders have more potent venom than most spiders, and prior to the
development of antivenin, 5%[17] of reported bites resulted in fatalities.
The venom can cause a swelling up to 15 cm. Improvements in plumbing have
greatly reduced the incidence of bites and fatalities in areas where outdoor
privies have been replaced by flush toilets.
There are a number of active components in the venom:
Latrotoxins
A number of smaller polypeptides - toxins interacting with cation channels
which display spatial structure homology - which can affect the functioning
of calcium, sodium, or potassium channels.
Adenosine
Guanosine
Inosine
2,4,6-trihydroxypurine.
The venom is neurotoxic.

madgardener over in the flatlands, gardening in her new Western Faerie
Holler, zone 7b somewhere in West Tennessee
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html