Sarnia
Most of the advice about spiders near Lake Huron that Sarnia homeowners find online assumes you live at the water's edge. You do not need to. A bungalow in Point Edward, a two storey in Bright's Grove or a side split off Modeland Road all get the same nightly delivery of lake and river insects to the porch light, and the spiders arrive right behind them.
The south end of Lake Huron narrows into the St. Clair River right beside Sarnia and Point Edward. Midges, mayflies, caddisflies and a long list of smaller insects hatch over that water from spring until the first hard frost. They are weak fliers and they are drawn to light, so after dark they drift inland on the lake breeze and settle on whatever is lit.
A few kilometres is nothing to them. The streets around Lakeshore Road, Cathcart, Rosedale and the newer subdivisions off Michigan Avenue all see the same cloud at the porch light on a warm June night. The lake is not the problem on your wall. The light is, and the lake just keeps it fed.
Look at the lit side of the house first. The fixture beside the front door, the coach lights on the garage, the window above the kitchen sink and the patio door with the family room lamp behind it are the busiest hunting grounds on the property. Spiders build where the insects land, and insects land where the light is.
Then look at the sheltered spots within a few feet of those lights: the porch ceiling, the soffit corners, the top rail of the garage door frame, the gap behind the downspout and the underside of the front step. These stay dry in the rain, nobody touches them, and they have firm edges to anchor silk. A corner that is both lit and sheltered will fill every single week in July.
The back of the house, if it stays dark, is usually much quieter. That contrast is a useful clue about what is driving the webs.
Insect hatches depend on water temperature, and spider growth depends on air temperature and food. A warm, early spring brings activity in late April. A cold wet May pushes everything into June. Storms off the lake tear webs down for a day and do nothing to the spiders or the insects, so the webs are back as soon as the wind drops.
Through August the orb weavers mature. Their large wheel shaped webs across porch corners, between railings and over the garage door are what most Sarnia homeowners notice first, even though the smaller spiders have been working the lights since May.
Start with the lights. Put the porch and garage fixtures on motion sensors, or just turn them off at bedtime. Fewer insects on the wall means fewer spiders choosing it. Keep shrubs a hand's width off the siding so there is no bridge from the garden to the soffit. Fix torn screens and the weather strip on the patio door so what is outside stays outside.
Then clear the corners properly. A Spider Pros visit starts with a backpack HEPA vacuum that takes webs, spiders and egg sacs off everything within reach: porch ceilings, lights, window and door frames, garage door frames, first floor soffits and the foundation line. High eaves and peaks are swept down with a cobweb brush on a telescoping pole. The egg sacs matter. Leave them and the corner restocks itself in a few weeks.
Only where a corner keeps refilling after removal does the technician apply a targeted treatment, using a product registered in Canada on the sites its label allows, at the lowest label rate that works. The technician works supervised by our licensed exterminator and wears what the label requires: long sleeves, long pants, chemical resistant gloves, and eye protection for overhead work, plus a respirator for overhead work as company policy. You get a written summary after every visit that says what was used and when the areas are clear. The full method is on our spider control page.
Storm drains in Sarnia and Point Edward discharge to the river and the lake, so product on a street that never sees the water still ends up in it. That is the reason to keep product to the few places that need it. Spraying every wall of every house every month puts product around dogs, vegetable gardens and the pollinators that work the flower beds along the whole street.
Removal first, treatment only where it is earned, and the label followed to the letter is how we keep the webs down without adding to what the lake has to carry. It is also simply what works best. The vacuum does not wash off in the next storm.
Both are closer to the water than most of Sarnia, so the nightly insect load at the lights is a little heavier and the season starts a little sooner. Walk the house at dusk with the porch light on and look at what gathers. Then walk it again in the morning and see which corners have new silk. Those are your spots.
Spider Pros runs Point Edward, Bright's Grove and Sarnia on the same regular route. A single visit starts from $199 and the Season Plan, three visits in May, July and September, starts from $499 before HST for a standard home up to about 2,000 square feet, confirmed before work starts. If webs come back on the areas we treated in the 60 days after a visit, we treat them again the next day we are in your area, at no charge; see the guarantee. Details for your neighbourhood are on the Sarnia page, or call 519 331 4210.
Good to know
The spiders you will meet on a Sarnia porch, mostly orb weavers, cellar spiders and the small jumping spiders on the brick, are not medically significant. Still, do not handle a spider you cannot identify, and keep the kids from poking at egg sacs.
Often, a little. Warmer coloured bulbs draw fewer insects than bright white or blue white ones, and a motion sensor helps more than any bulb. Neither stops the webs on its own, but both reduce how much there is to hunt.
Yes. Point Edward, Bright's Grove and Sarnia are the home route for Spider Pros, and the Season Plan visits are scheduled on set service days so the follow up lands when the corners need it.
Not sure what spider you have?See our guide to common spiders in Ontario, including the bridge orb weaver and the common house spider.
