Joyous times in our picking bins yesterday.
About 10 Black Widow spiders (that we could see) decided to go for a ride from the vineyard to the winery.
In speaking with other winemakers up N. It seems like they are more plentiful this year than others. Shake out your boots!
The things that go into our wine…
Hardy,
Any idea of whether these are just climbing into the bins as they sit out or if they are in the vines themselves? And are pickers getting bit?
Cheers.
We stage our bins a couple of days before picking and my assumption is that they crawl into the spaces on the undersides of the bins while they are out in the vineyard. No pickers were bit.
Have had some residing in the winery for a number of years - we don’t bother them and they don’t bother us.
And if they have trouble getting out of a wet macro, you just let them crawl onto your hand and take them over to the compost bin.
its just such a shame that the whole winery has the be burnt down now.
its the only way to ensure there are no more spiders. burn them with fire.
Maybe you can use nukes to get rid of the spiders? You know, since nukes work with hurricanes? Just a (COMPLETELY RETARDED) thought, just throwing it out there…
I get black widows every year in my mailbox. Occasionally I receive a note from the mail person saying to “be careful - black widow inside.” Part of life here.
I heard they add complexity to the wine.
It’s always a positive when bins of fruit that come into the winery have spiders and earwigs in them. A good sign that the grower was not spraying insecticide on the vines. We’ve gotten 2-3 praying mantises in recent years too - Wes takes care of them and releases them in a good spot.
looks like a freakin grape with legs man!
To me, that’s the scariest part! Big ones are really easy to confuse w/ grapes if you aren’t paying close attention.