Prepare Your Porch for Fall With Wet & Forget
As the calendar flips its pages to fall, you may notice your front porch receiving new guests. No, we’re not talking about trick-or-treaters or your collegiate son who hasn’t quite figured out the whole laundry thing yet. Instead, we’re talking about spiders, mold, and mildew.
What unites these common foes in this uncommon relationship? Well, the season itself. Fall is a boom time for both arachnids and stains caused by organic growth, and keeping them at bay is the best way to keep our porch welcoming and beautiful all season long.
And how do you keep your porch pristine? Well, with a little help from Wet & Forget.
Why Your Porch Attracts Spiders and Organic Growth in Fall
Fall is a time for pumpkin spice everything and warm sweaters on cool nights. It’s also a time for spiders to get their eight-legged freak on. See, fall is mating season for a wide variety of spiders, and that can lead to them viewing your porch as the neighborhood’s hip new nightclub.
During autumn, female spiders tend to conserve energy by staying near their webs. These webs, which don’t just serve as an eventual buffet of caught insects but also as their home, are commonly found in the undersides of awnings or porch corners that typically go untouched.
However, while they are lying in wait, they are also giving off pheromones in hopes of attracting a mate. It’s that chemical attraction that will bring male spiders onto your porch in hopes of finding a loving, supportive mate.
Most common house spiders aren’t dangerous. So, an influx of arachnids isn’t necessarily something to be scared of, but it also doesn’t create the most welcoming environment either. For guests visiting your home, they may wonder why you’ve set up your Halloween decorations so early.
On the other side of things, the cooling, moist air of fall can help organic growth thrive. Moss, for instance, prefers mild temperatures and damp, shaded environments. That means your porch is the ideal setting for mosses to throw their own party on your porch.
That moist, cool air can also create a welcome space for mold and mildew. Once mold or mildew gains entry to your porch, it can transform your favorite relaxation spot into one that’s slimy, musty, and just plain gross.
The best way to keep spiders and organic growth (like moss, mold, mildew, algae, and lichens) away is to prepare your porch ahead of time. That means not waiting until late October but getting ahead of things now when the air is still crisp and your porch clear of unwanted guests.
Keep Spiders Away From Your Porch With Miss Muffet’s Revenge.
Let’s tackle arachnids first. There are a variety of methods out there to control your local spider population, but most come with major downsides. DIY methods can be hit-or-miss and may require you to climb up an unsteady ladder to reach spiders’ preferred hiding space.
Pest control companies can be effective but they can also be expensive and tie you up in subscription services you don’t need. They may also use harsh ingredients that aren’t safe for your family or your pets.
Fortunately, Wet & Forget has a solution: Miss Muffet’s Revenge. This spider spray works quickly, effectively, and safely. A single bottle can treat your whole house and repel spiders for up to a year.
The bottle’s attached sprayer also helps you reach high spider-hiding spots without your feet leaving the ground. That’s because the sprayer can reach a distance of up to ten feet, making it easy to apply to porch awnings, far corners, and distant light fixtures. The sprayer also works with precision, so you can attack webs without accidentally applying the spray elsewhere.
How to Use Miss Muffet’s Revenge
Using Miss Muffet’s Revenge couldn’t be simpler.
Before getting started, wait for a clear, dry day without wind or rain in the forecast. Then follow these easy instructions:
- Open the bottle’s flip cap.
- Remove the sprayer from its holding spot in the bottle’s handle.
- Extend the hose coiled inside the sprayer to its full length — about 36 inches.
- Inset the red hose tip into the opening on the bottle’s flip cap.
- Apply a 12-inch band of spray along the exterior perimeter of your home and porch. (Surfaces should be wet but not soaking.)
- Leave the spray for one week.
- Clean up any remaining cobwebs.
When applying, make sure you hit these common spider hiding spots:
- Building foundations
- Eaves
- Light fixtures
- Mailboxes
- Shutters
- Window corners
- Wood piles
If you’re dealing with spider issues inside your home, Miss Muffet’s Revenge can still help! Simply spray a four-inch band wherever spiders have become a nuisance. Then clean up any cobwebs.
Banish Mold, Mildew, Algae, and Other Organic Stains From Your Porch
Of course, spiders aren’t our only September concern. As we mentioned, the season’s weather conditions offer ample opportunity for mold, mildew, moss, and other organic growths to turn your porch musty, slimy, and uncomfortable.
While we have a wide range of Wet & Forget Outdoor products that could help here, we believe in using the right-sized tool for the right-sized job. So, for ridding organic growths and their stains from your porch, we recommend Wet & Forget Ready-To-Use.
Wet & Forget Ready-To-Use is ideal because it comes pre-mixed and can cover between 60 and 180 square feet — perfect for most porches. It comes with an attached sprayer, so it comes with everything you need to kick organic growth to the curb.
It also is safe to use on virtually any outdoor surface:
- Aluminum
- Asphalt and concrete
- Brick and clay
- Metal
- Outdoor carpet and furniture
- Plastic and PVC
- Painted and stained surfaces
- Stone
- Stucco
- Vinyl
- Wood
If you took inventory of everything on your porch, you’ll have trouble finding a surface you can’t use Wet & Forget on. (Though, if you do accidentally spray any plants, we recommend rinsing them with water.)
Wet & Forget Ready-To-Use conserves water, as you won’t need to use your hose or mix the ingredients yourself. It’s also bleach-free, non-acidic, and biodegradable. There’s no need to scrub, rinse, or power wash, and a single application can last up to a year (or more!) depending on your local weather and climate.
How to Use Wet & Forget Ready-To-Use
Treating your porch with Wet & Forget Ready-To-Use is easy.
First, wait for a day that’s at least 32 degrees Fahrenheit, both during and for five hours after application. You should also wait to apply on a day without wind or rain in the forecast.
Once that day arrives, follow these directions:
- Open the bottle’s flip cap.
- Remove the sprayer from its slot in the bottle’s handle.
- Pull the hose coiled inside the sprayer to its full length, about 36 inches.
- Insert the red hose tip into the hole in the flip cap.
- Thoroughly spray areas with organic growth stains.
If you apply the spray to outdoor furniture, rinse them the following day and before anyone uses them. Otherwise, though, that’s it. The spray will work with wind and rain to gently lift stains over time and keep them away.
(To treat moss, make sure to soak it until the spray comes in contact with the surface the moss has attached to. Over the next few days and weeks, the moss will start to turn brown and detach from the surface. Then wind and rain will wash it away.
For lichens, thoroughly soak the growth and then re-apply after waiting 15 minutes. The first application will help soften the outer layer of the lichen, and the second application will help soak through to the inner layer.)
You’ll notice that green stains caused by algae will begin to disappear within a few days or weeks. Black stains caused by mold or mildew can take a month or sometimes several months. If you’re dealing with long-set stains, consider a second application a month or so after your first.
Prep Your Porch for Fall With Wet & Forget
Fall is a time when we welcome all sorts of visitors to our porch, from trick-or-treaters to neighbors and beyond. But spiders, mold, mildew, and other organic growths remain unwelcome and uninvited.
So, to get your porch ready for fall, use Wet & Forget! Buy a bottle today by shopping online or heading to your local retailer.
