Wellington spider season: why your eaves are full of webs (and what to do)

• 2peak spider seasons/year
• 6–8 wkweb-free after a wash
• Mar–Mayautumn peak
• Sep–Novspring peak

Wellington homeowners ask about spiders more often than almost any other exterior question. The cobwebs that coat eaves, soffits, downpipes and fence corners every autumn and spring are partly cosmetic and partly an actual functional problem, heavy webbing traps dust, debris, and seed material that becomes a substrate for mould.

The Wellington spider seasons

Most Wellington garden spiders (predominantly Nuctenea umbratica and various Eriophora relatives) follow a roughly twice-annual peak:

Window	What’s happening
March–May	Late summer egg-laying. Adult spiders busy spinning before autumn.
September–November	Hatching juveniles plus returning adults. Peak web density.
December–February	Lower activity. Heat-driven retreat into shade.
June–August	Mostly dormant. The webs you see in winter are old, not actively maintained.

The honest answer most homeowners don’t want to hear: you can’t prevent spiders. Wellington’s climate suits them, the gardens that homeowners want suit them, and a sterile house is a worse house. The question is how to keep them off the visible exterior surfaces without becoming a chemical-spray household.

What actually works

Three approaches, in order of effectiveness:

1. Regular house wash with spider-friendly chemistry

The biodegradable soft-wash detergent we use on house exteriors is mildly aversive to spiders, not because it’s a pesticide, but because spiders avoid the residual scent for a few weeks afterward. A properly-done house wash clears all visible webbing AND keeps them off for 6–8 weeks longer than no treatment.

This is the recommended approach if you’re due for a house wash anyway. It’s free as part of the standard service.

2. Spider band along the eaves

Some Wellington homeowners apply a residual spider treatment (e.g., NoMoreGaps, NoSpider) as a band along the underside of the eaves. Effective; needs reapplication every 3–4 months; works alongside a regular house wash.

We don’t apply pesticides as part of our standard service, that’s a pest-control trade. But if you’ve had a pest-control company spray a residual band, our wash works around it.

3. Brush-and-vacuum DIY in between washes

A long-handled brush and a vacuum hose let you clear visible webbing every 4–6 weeks during peak seasons. Doesn’t kill anything; just disrupts the territory.

Common Wellington spider problems we see

Webs hanging from eaves. Most common complaint. The standard house wash spray reaches the underside of eaves directly and clears it all in one pass.

Webs across windows overnight. Window-frame webbing is harder to clear day-to-day, spiders rebuild within 24 hours of disturbance. A house wash with spider-friendly chemistry buys you 4–6 weeks of cleaner windows.

Webs on fence corners. Fence cleans clear these properly; weekly garden-hose blasts don’t.

Webs inside downpipes. Unexpectedly common. Downpipe flush during gutter cleaning gets them out.

Webs around outdoor lights. Garden lights and porch lights attract moths, which attract spiders. The fix is either change the bulb (warm-white LEDs attract fewer insects than incandescent or cool-white) or accept that lights = webs.

What we don’t do

We’re not a pest-control company. We don’t spray pesticides, set bait stations, or guarantee spider-free for any period. What we do is include spider-web clearance as part of every house wash and time the wash to coincide with the start of spider season for maximum effect.

If you need actual pest-control work, Rentokil and Combat Pest both cover Wellington and work alongside cleaning contractors.

Book a house wash and we’ll factor in the season, spring/autumn timing means longer-lasting results.

James, Clear Water Blasting.