Garden Detective: Spider zips into hearts
A zipper spider clings to its unusual web. Zipper spiders are not known to be harmful to humans unless one is allergic. Credit: Handout
DEAR MELISSA: What a beautiful picture! I've never encountered one personally, but you are correct -- what you have there is indeed a zipper spider. And though it may bite if you try to pick it up, if undisturbed, it should leave you alone. Its venomous bite immobilizes small prey, but is not known to be harmful to humans unless one is allergic. These spiders die with the first hard frost, but if yours has laid eggs, you'll have a new brood to admire in the spring.
DEAR CATHY: Sounds like spider mites. Check underneath the leaves and you'll likely see little dots. Those are the mites, attached by their piercing-sucking mouthparts, draining chlorophyll out of the leaves. Leaves could turn yellow and may even drop off the plant. Chemical miticides can be effective, but it must come into direct contact with the mites (under the leaves). If the infestation is widespread, though, you might not be able to save the plant.
DEAR TONY: You were close. Here's the correct procedure: After the first light frost turns foliage brown, you cut plants down to six inches and dig up rhizomes, corms or tubers. Then you rinse and separate the "bulblets" and allow themto air-dry completely and place them in peat moss in a box in which you've cut out some holes for ventilation. If you have many, use a milk crate or other large ventilated box; otherwise, a vented shoebox will suffice. Place in a cool, dark place, such as a crawl space or cellar. Sixty-five degrees is a bit warm; 55 would be ideal.
Check monthly over the winter and spritz with water if they begin to shrivel. Discard rotted roots.
Around Memorial Day, you can plant them outdoors or, to give them a head start, pot them up in potting mix in April and set them by your sunniest window or under grow lights, keeping the soil lightly moist until transplanting them outdoors in May.
