# Do conkers deter spiders? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058 "2008-09-24T20:49:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Black\_Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/21 "2008-09-25T16:10:38Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I’ve always heard this about [horse apples.](http://www.edupic.net/Images/Plants/osage_oranges390.JPG) I put hedge apples around my wolf-spider infested house last year. I know spiders are beneficial, blah blah blah, but when they’re larger than a 50-cent piece, they gotta go. I didn’t exactly conduct my experiment with scientific rigor, but from the time I put them out until the time I threw them away, I saw exactly 1 wolf spider. Before that, I was seeing about one a week. Be careful that you don’t let them rot, though, or else they attract flies and then you’ll want your spiders back. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/22 "2008-09-25T16:15:46Z")
My upstairs gets little spiders in about every corner. 3 or 4 days ago I tried spraying some cologne in two of the corners, the spiders immediately curled up and I haven’t seen them back since. Long-term effectiveness remains to be seen, and don’t spray too much or the smell is overpowering. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/23 "2008-09-25T16:19:24Z")
[quote=“chappachula, post:20, topic:465058”] ooooh…conkers! Birt Dopers–tell me, do kids still play conkers? I loved it for the brief part of my childhood when I lived in England, but that was half a century ago. Do British kids still play it? Nah not any more ☹ They got video games and other shit to occupy their time with. As for conkers scaring off spiders: Well if you thread a cheesecutter on a length of string and twat the spider with it:D The other multi-legged buggers will soon get the message ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/24 "2008-09-25T16:49:37Z")
[quote=“chowder, post:23, topic:465058”] > [@chappachula](#): > > As for conkers scaring off spiders: Well if you thread a cheesecutter on a length of string and twat the spider with it:D At the risk of sounding vulgat i’m not sure a cheese cutter and twat are good bedfellows. I have never seen anything but insecticide as a good spider deterrant but I would love to find one. We get some monsters here. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/25 "2008-09-25T16:52:47Z")
[quote=“BurnMeUp, post:24, topic:465058”] > [@chowder](#): > > At the risk of sounding vulgat i’m not sure a cheese cutter and twat are good bedfellows. > > I have never seen anything but insecticide as a good spider deterrant but I would love to find one. We get some monsters here. A cheesecutter is a conker which is flattened on one side. To _Twat_ something is Britspeak for giving it a good thrashing ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/26 "2008-09-25T16:55:30Z")
[quote=“chowder, post:25, topic:465058”] > [@BurnMeUp](#): > > A cheesecutter is a conker which is flattened on one side. > > To _Twat_ something is Britspeak for giving it a good thrashing Sweet! So I shouldn’t get smacked by the missus for asking her to twat my meat to tenderize it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/27 "2008-09-25T17:07:24Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Oh lord, no. We just threw crab apples at each other. I never knew a kid civilized enough to play a game without at least the chance of someone losing an eye. We used [gumballs](http://forestry.about.com/od/forestphotogalleries/ig/Dormant-Winter-Tree-Gallery/Sweetgum-balls.htm) for that. So far as I know, no one has suggested that they have any counter-arachnid applications, though. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/28 "2008-09-25T17:35:10Z")
I found out about conkers when I lived briefly in Canada. That was when I was in 4th grade, 1960s. It wasn’t done in the US. It’s a pity it isn’t played by kids in CA. The native California buckeye produces a huge seed in comparison with the common horse chestnut. It would make a downright intimidating conker: [http://picasaweb.google.com/thecaporg/PinnaclesCampingTrip#5165281939541540834](http://picasaweb.google.com/thecaporg/PinnaclesCampingTrip#5165281939541540834) (Yes, buckeye and horse chestnut are both names given to several related species in the [Aesculus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-chestnut_(tree)) genus) ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/29 "2008-09-25T17:35:49Z")
[quote=“BurnMeUp, post:26, topic:465058”] > [@chowder](#): > > Sweet! So I shouldn’t get smacked by the missus for asking her to twat my meat to tenderize it 🙂 There seems to be something amiss with the reply with quotes thing-a-ma-jig. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/30 "2008-09-25T18:07:25Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > ooooh…conkers! > Birt Dopers–tell me, do kids still play conkers? > I loved it for the brief part of my childhood when I lived in England, but that was half a century ago. > > Do British kids still play it? By the time they got parental permissions slips signed, have obtained leather gauntlets and full face shields (and breastplates for girls) to satisfy the Health and Safety Executive, and then had an inspection to ensure that all conkers conform to EU Regulations, and had core samples taken to ensure that the conkers have not been doped, and … Not so much 😉 Si ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/31 "2008-09-25T18:09:25Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I can’t help with the conker thing as I’ve never even heard of it, but if you’ve got a spider problem you’ve got a bug problem. I’m not sure this is true. It’s just the time of year when spiders tend to come inside houses, as it turns chilly and damp outside. (I appreciate these may be alien concepts to you in Phoenix, AZ. 😉 ) I don’t notice any bugs in the house, but in the past couple of weeks I’ve seen plenty of spiders (and been alerted to the presence of several others by loud squeals from Mrs C… :rolleyes: ) ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/32 "2008-09-25T19:06:05Z")
What kind of spiders? (African or European?) I’ve never heard of this, but I can’t imagine that conkers /chestnuts would work well - they don’t smell much. I could imagine the right combinations of herbs giving off a smell that deters spiders, because certain herbs/aromatic oils work against certain bugs/insects. I would expect, esp. if you put conkers into dark corners for several weeks and don’t disturb them, that they will attract some bugs that like to eat chestnuts. So now you need other insects to eat the bugs that crawl out of the chestnuts… ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/33 "2008-09-25T19:39:49Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > … > I would expect, esp. if you put conkers into dark corners for several weeks and don’t disturb them, that they will attract some bugs that like to eat chestnuts. So now you need other insects to eat the bugs that crawl out of the chestnuts… Possibly not. Horse chestnuts contain a toxin, aesculin, in higher concentartions than in the rest of the plant. Though squirrels and deer are immune to it and can eat them, the toxin affects many species, and I ran across this statement: > [@](#): > > Aesculin’s poisonous properties are put to use by bookbinders, who add chestnut starch to their paste because book-nibbling insects will avoid it. It might be the case that there aren’t many insects that can eat them. The most prominent pest attacking horse chestnut trees seems to be the horse chestnut leaf miner, which apparently doesn’t attack the chestnuts. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/34 "2008-09-26T00:25:02Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Possibly not. Horse chestnuts contain a toxin, aesculin, in higher concentartions than in the rest of the plant. Though squirrels and deer are immune to it and can eat them, the toxin affects many species, and I ran across this statement: > > > [@](#): > > > > Aesculin’s poisonous properties are put to use by bookbinders, who add chestnut starch to their paste because book-nibbling insects will avoid it. > > It might be the case that there aren’t many insects that can eat them. The most prominent pest attacking horse chestnut trees seems to be the horse chestnut leaf miner, which apparently doesn’t attack the chestnuts. Learn something new every day - thanks for that information! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2008, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/35 "2008-09-26T06:12:24Z")
[quote=“BurnMeUp, post:26, topic:465058”] > [@chowder](#): > > Sweet! So I shouldn’t get smacked by the missus for asking her to twat my meat to tenderize it 🙂 I wouldn’t ask her to do that if I were you. You could end up with a cheesecutter shaped cock:D ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/36 "2008-09-27T05:21:13Z")
> [@Usram](#): > > You don’t have [conkers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conkers) over there? Small boys don’t spend Septembers seeking out the hardest, most impermeable specimen with which to win conker matches? I can remember how possessing an unbeatable conker was something to be aspired to. There were all sorts of approaches - boiling the conker in vinegar, toughening it up with regular beatings, painting a large ball bearing so that it resembled a conker. But I hear that the real secret of the champion conker was to take a good example from one year’s crop and cure it for a year, giving it a certain leathery suppleness that the newborn conkers of the following season just couldn’t match. So how does one win or lose a conker match ? how is the game (sport ?) played ? ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2008, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058/37 "2008-09-27T06:20:40Z")
> [@T.Slothrop](#): > > So how does one win or lose a conker match ? how is the game (sport ?) played ? This Wiki article explains all :- [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conkers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conkers) _The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take turns to strike each other’s conker until one breaks._ So it’s a game to the death (of the conker) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-conkers-deter-spiders/465058.md?page=1)