What to Do With Conkers to Keep Spiders Away
WouterThere’s a lot of hype about what to do with conkers to keep spiders away, and it’s not just about putting them on your window sill. In fact, there’s a scientific study that proves that it’s not really the conker that is the best way to deter spiders.
The British Arachnological Society (BAS) says there are other things you can do to deter spiders. They’ve been known to respond to vibrations, sound and even the scent of your home.
One such thing is a noxious chemical. They make spiders curl up and die in one day. It’s called saponin, and was touted by a German chemist as being “toxic” to insects.
Another interesting tidbit is that spiders prefer a conkers bridge over a wooden bridge. However, there’s no proof it works. The Natural History Museum has said there’s no evidence for the theory.
In 2010, a school in Cornwall won a prize for the best conker-related demonstration. They received PS300 in cash. The prize came in the form of a grant from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
The RSC gave the school a sum of money to do an informal study on conkers and spiders. The students conducted a number of experiments, including using a water tank with two wooden bridges and one with a conkers-filled bridge. The resulting findings were pretty surprising.
The jury is still out on the effectiveness of the conkers-filled bridge. A group of middle-schoolers actually performed a scientific test in 2010. They discovered that a conkers-filled bridge isn’t the best way to attract a spider.
