Moving Plants – Leaving Spiders

Q: It will soon be time to move my house plants that have spent the summer outdoors back inside. I have several African violets and succulents. However, most of them have little spiders which have kept bugs away in a nice symbiotic relationship. How can I leave the spiders outside?

A: If the plants aren’t huge you can insert two fingers on either side of the stem of the plant, flip it over, and swish the leaves around in a bucket of water. Extraneous insects will float to the surface. You can flip them onto the ground so they can continue working outdoors.