Hit them with the hose twice a day for several days. A hard stream of water will move them out.

Dave

spiders are predators ...

remove them and await the plague ...

appreciating ma nature in her entirety ... i am in awe of their work .. and its beauty .. especially when covered in dew ...

why fight ma nature ... you will lose ...

think about it.. what are they preying on ...

ken

Check that they are spiders (good), and not mites (bad)!

Resin

ditto on the mites....I spray my 25 year old tree twice a year whether it needs it or not.....my other, "shoodabeen", 25 year old died at 18 from mites attacking.

Spider mites don't build webs you dismantle with a stick. They are so small you can't see them without bouncing them off a limb onto a white piece of paper.

Spider mites or regular spiders the same removal technique applies. Hose down the entire conifer thoroughly with a hard wash.

If buying an insecticide spray for $15.00 is you thing then go for it. Water will do the same thing.

Ken says live and let be. Nothing wrong with that unless you really do have spider mites. In your case I don't think you do. You didn't mention any damage or browning out of conifer.

Dave

correct.. with a diagnosis of webs.. its spiders ... there are billions of them per garden ... you will not eradicate them .. before you shorten your own life with all the insecticides.. or whatever you use on spiders .. since they probably not insects ... what was that movie.. lol ... arachnicides??????

since she said webs.. i omitted comment on spider mites ... if mites are diagnosised .... put the pistol grip on the hose.. and blast those mites off the tree .... be aggressive.. but don't blast off the buds ...

to be a true gardener .. you really have to get over the bug thing .... they aren't hurting you .. they aren't hurting the tree ... they are actually beneficial ... remove them.. and you might create bigger problems .... a few of anything is NOT a PROBLEM that requires chemicals ... home owners are the biggest polluters with the misuse.. and overuse of chemicals in the world ... IMHO ....

now on the other hand .... if they actually achieve a critical mass ... and every year some bug or another does it ... they all cycle through their own plagues .... then i am not adverse to total, all out warfare ... don't the right way .. ID the bug.. buy the proper chemical or organic solutions.. mix it according to directions.. and apply according to directions ...

IT IS NEVER OK TO USE WHAT YOU HAVE LEFT IN THE GARAGE for the last 2 decades .. in a willy nilly manner ... that is pollution ... again, IMHO ....

but the bottom line.. spiders on trees are nature ... revel in it.. you don't need to run out there and dust you trees/conifers/plants every morning ... i used to walk the garden and actually skip the plants.. and just study the various webs ... a blade of grass.. and a tickle of the web.. and you might actually get it to come out to see if prey has landed in the web ... they can out build ALL ENGINEERS ....

and .. all that said.. i know.. they scare the bee gee bees out of you .. it might take you a decade or two to get to the place i am suggesting ... but once a gardener.. always a gardener .... you will still have a garden in 10 or 20 or 30 years .... and maybe you will chuckle about your fears.. in 40 or 50 years.. just think about it .. and adult beverages can help your first approach to the web ... lol ...

take care ... i will remove the soapbox now.. lol

ken

PS: i feel the same way about the garter snakes in my yard .... mostly because they slither away as i lift a plant for other reasons ... and just startle me ... but i don't go severing the heads off all of them ... i just watch them go away .. hoping they will eat some of the mice and voles that are infecting my beds ...

kristen_lynn- The reason spiders are attracted to your tree is because your tree is attractive to other insects. I don't think a spider large enough to remake a conspicuous web daily (leave the poor guy/gal alone, willya?) will affect the mite population. It's probably after larger prey. And as Ken alludes to, remove the spider at your own peril as it really is on your side in the fight against pests. And besides, kids love to see them in action. I have several nieces and nephews who come to my yard not for plants, but to see the spiders do their thing.

tj

Spiders and conifers do go together, in my experience. I live next to a giant quite dense Chamaecyparis lawsoniana cultivar and I can look up on an autumn morning and see webs across the outside of the foliage all the way up, dozens of them if not hundreds. Yes, it's lovely, and I too revel in nature taking its course... except this particular tree also envelops our house and porch, and the porch is often very spidery, not nice. And as it gets closer to the upstairs window, I am starting to get more spiders inside up there. Then I have to be a spider chauffeur, taking them outside to a more suitable location.

Hope it is far enough from the house that it doesn't bother you.

Also, there are spiders that spin really dense webs that suffocate foliage. Not sure what they're called - wolf spiders? ...but I disrupt those from time to time.

KarinL