HARVEST SPIDER - GEIRSTEIN THE BIG

I found it!  

I found what this family has dubbed The First Harvest Spider of the Season!  

Last year he hung between heaven and earth in the back yard, but upon closer inspection with my camera, I found anchor threads of his web to the clothes line.  Taking pictures was almost useless. 

But this year I'd been reading and I knew what to do.  

How did I find him?

From my kitchen window I could see little round circles in the dewy grass that looked like pulled apart thin sheets of Kleenex.

Going outside, getting closer, I could see they were spider webs.  Then I found the mother of them all!  Geirstein the Big!  

LOL, at least that's what Rusty, my oldest son, calls his.  He has a home and a family of his own and last year they had a Black and Yellow Garden Spider just take over their front door!  He loved carrying on the tradition of being first to spy the first.

The Black & Yellow Garden Spider of Indiana can also be found along the eaves of houses and outbuildings or in any tall vegetation.  We easily find them under our eaves, that's where we found our very first about 30 years ago when the kids were young.  Supposedly, these spiders live 1 to 3 years.

It's also one of the larger species that can grow to 1.5 inches, not counting the legs.  According to gardener facts, it keeps a clean orderly web, is active during the day, and constructs stabilimenta, a zig-zag web decoration.

Why do we see them in the Fall?  They build their webs in a safe place to survive the winter after having spent the summer getting bigger eating insects, and becoming mature adults.

So what did I learn?  Make a puff ball.  Fill a square of cheesecloth with some flour, then gently pat it to create a little poofing of powder onto the web.  It will then show up in your camera, just like the one above.  

Again, I couldn't find thread web anchors.  It looked like it was hanging in mid-air.  After the puff ball, I could see it was tied to the above tree, another foot over my head!

Sharing the pics with Rusty on group texting, it was evident it's still a family tradition.  Clint had a marbled one in his barn window.  Spencer has a huge nasty one that likes to eat carpenter bees.  Still hopeful, Rusty reported, "We have a smaller one hanging off the SUV mirror.  Geirstein the Big has yet to show."