Posted by MARY ANN ZEITS on September 4, 2005

Q: WE FOUND SEVERAL TREE LIMBS NEAR OUR AIR CONDITIONER COATED WITH WHITE. THINKING IT WAS SOME SORT OF MOLD WE CUT THE LIMBS DOWN, ONLY TO FIND THAT IT WAS COATED WITH MILLIONS OF BABY SPIDERS! WE HAVE SINCE FOUND SEVERAL MORE LIMBS IN THE SAME CONDITION. WHAT ARE THESE THINGS? I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS MANY SPIDER BABIES IN ONE SPOT. WE LIVE IN A RURAL AREA OF NORTH CAROLINA, IN THE NORTHEN COUNTIES NEAR THE VE. LINE. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN, I HATE SPIDERS! I DON,T LIKE TO KILL THEM, BUT I DO NOT WANT THESE THINGS IN MY HOUSE.

THANK YOU,

MARY ANN ZEITS

Habitat: suburban/yard

State: North Carolina

Habitat: suburban/yard

A: Your description doesn't sound like spiders to me but it does sound like you have an infestation of Woolly Aphids or a closely related species. Aphids may look a bit like spiders but don't have 8 legs and these guys also have a white fluffy material on their backs that makes them difficult to see. Aphids suck plant juice for food and if enough are present can really harm the plants they're feeding on. I've included a website that has a nice photo of these insects for you to check out. If this is what you do have, you can use a hard blast from your water hose to knock them off the branches. Or you can even put on gloves and simply rub them off. Of course, pesticides work too but I always hate using these when other cleaner measures work. The webstite is troyb.com

As far as spiders go, at times you may see large clusters of baby spiders immediately after hatching. However, most of these spiders will disperse very quickly after hatching and leave the area entirely - most won't even remain in your yard.

Good luck to you and if I haven't helped with an ID, I'd love to see a picture of your critters to try to help further.

John Wiessinger ( September 5, 2005)