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Emma PT
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Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/20/2009 5:38 AM

I read that spiders are repelled by conkers. Does anyone know if this is true?

A guy has done an interesting experiment on this:

http://www.athelstanscave.com/caveblog/spiders-vs-conkers/
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Pathfinder Tags: conkers legend spiders true urban
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JohnDG
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#1

Re: Spiders and conkers - true or not?

03/20/2009 6:57 AM

You may find it worth looking through this thread - there are nearly 150 comments on the subject!

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Emma PT
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#2
In reply to #1

Re: Spiders and conkers - true or not?

03/20/2009 7:56 AM

Thanks John, I looked through it, but no one gave a definitive answer.
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JohnDG
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#3
In reply to #2

Re: Spiders and conkers - true or not?

03/20/2009 8:28 AM

Don't know that you'll get one! You could post to that thread - something like "anyone got any updates?" - it might wake someone up.

BTW - welcome to CR4.

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#4

Re: Spiders and conkers - true or not?

03/20/2009 9:01 AM

What's a "conker"? T
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Hendrik
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#6
In reply to #4

Re: Spiders and conkers - true or not?

03/20/2009 9:29 AM

It is short for a conkerer like Napoleon.

Actually it may be a seed of a tree and you would have to throw it at the spider to be effective.

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CUTiger
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#5

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/20/2009 9:20 AM

What's a "conker"?

Yes, me too.... livin' in the US - I'll subscribe to this thread just to find out
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Emma PT
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#7
In reply to #5

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/20/2009 9:32 AM

I think they may be called American chestnuts? (In England they are inedible as opposed to our 'chestnut's) The photo on Athelstans website may help you identify it?

I would be curious to know what Americans call them myself.
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CUTiger
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#8
In reply to #7

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/20/2009 9:39 AM

Thanks Emma - yes we call them chesnuts here....you can bust them open "green" but they are worthless untill you bake them right

(mostly squirrel food though, if you ask me)

Being a "southern boy" I prefer pecans & peanuts.....cheers!
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Emma PT
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#9
In reply to #8

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/20/2009 9:44 AM

Yes, but do they repel American spiders? Have you ever heard of this?
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CUTiger
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#11
In reply to #9

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/20/2009 10:18 AM

No Emma, never heard of this before, but it does give me a great idea to put this to rest once & for all....

I'm thinking of applying for one of those stimulus grant loans we have now (TARP), so that I can draft a team & the approach to fully confirming this phenomenon, thereby with positive results, it would greatly impact & propel the chesnut industry to greater heights of prosperity!
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#17
In reply to #11

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/21/2009 7:21 PM

No, No, No. You are missing the point of the whole TARP idea. It is NOT to produce new knowledge that leads to some "important" development, and thus, real productive WORK. Its purpose is to absorb as much of the TARP money into your local area as possible doing endless useless studies, so that you may thus ingratiate yourself with your local congressperson, and end up with a political position in the federal ELECTIVE government, from whence you can continue to suck, more directly, and for the rest of your life, from the public trough (read that, taxpayers input. Which you will largely NOT have to make anymore, once you achieve this lofty goal, since those who MAKE the rules, clearly don't have to live by them). (For more on this last part, see Timothy Geithner, and various other OBAMA cronies. Or go back a few years. I'm sure you can find them in Bush, Clinton, Bush1, etc. It works for both parties equally. And you can't EVER get rid of these nits, once you start breeding them from the political lice in your neighborhood, and mine!)

So, do not, I repeat, DO NOT!!!! do anything that smacks of producing useful output from the TARP inout. You'll just ruin the program, and dry up the source of all that lovely money the rest of us want to get our hands on. Or raise the bar on expectations, so that we have to be smarter than we are, or we won't be able to get our hands on it. After all, right now, it takes no more brains than a leech, a tick, or some other useless bloodsucker to get the government to pay you. Why make it harder for the rest of us than it is for a congressperson?

BTW, if "poly" is many, and "ticks" are useless blood-sucking insects, just what DOES that make a politic(k)ian, HMMM?

Micah

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Comrade Col. Clamrod
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#16
In reply to #9

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/21/2009 2:53 PM

What I want to know is will they repel American Republicans...

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JohnDG
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#10
In reply to #5

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/20/2009 10:11 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conkers

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DCaD
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#13
In reply to #10

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/20/2009 11:16 PM

AH HA ... I love to learn new things.

Conkers = Horse-Chestnuts = Buckeyes

Never before heard of Conkers or Horse-Chestnuts, but Buckeyes are common in the Midwestern USA.

Next time I'm back 'home' (not sure were that is anymore), I'll see how the spiders react to them ... it would be great if it works ... spiders in the house, especially the attic and basement, are a real nuisance.

Kind regards ...

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Blacksmith
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#12

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/20/2009 10:57 PM

Okay, I give, What is a conker? And yes I have been living in a cave for quite some time.

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Emma PT
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#14

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/21/2009 6:40 AM

I guess not many people have tried this idea. It does seem fanciful to me and as Athelstans website hilariously shows, it does not appear to work!

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MOBI
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#15

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/21/2009 9:17 AM

There are two types of chestnuts..........the horse chestnut, which is inedible and the sweet chestnut which is edible.

When I was a young fella in the UK, we used to play the game of conkers and to win it was always advisable to have a good hard conker, so that you could smash your opponents conker to pieces.

There were a few ways to harden a conker:-

1. Soak them in vinegar

2. Bake them in an oven.

3. Store a few conkers for a couple of years and they would harden naturally.

............as far as the original thread goes...............if a spider sits on your opponents conker and you get a good strike............it will definitely get rid of spiders!!!!

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Randall
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#20
In reply to #15

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/23/2009 4:18 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_j4BtYGufY

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MOBI
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#22
In reply to #20

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/24/2009 6:28 AM

Very good Randall.........If I had travelled over to the World Championships.........who knows what would have happened...........a good chance of absolutely nothing.

I see Hemel Hempstead has had its name in lights........at least on one occassion!!!!

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Randall
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#23
In reply to #22

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/25/2009 9:54 AM

I live about a mile from Buncefield. I work about 30 mile away. Most of my colleagues (many of whom live 50 miles away from Buncefield) were woken by the explosion; I slept through it .

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Emma PT
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#18

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/22/2009 2:51 AM

I should mention that MOBI's method of preparing conkers is would be frowned upon as you are not allowed to harden them artificially.

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MOBI
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#19
In reply to #18

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/22/2009 6:52 AM

Emma, that was only if you got caught.

#3 method was OK.

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omw7
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#21

Re: Spiders and Conkers - Fact or Fiction?

03/23/2009 5:05 AM

The timber from the horse chesnut continues to crack even after several years. I have heard that the spiders don't like the sounds and so are discouraged from taking up residence. However, it may also be due to the chemicals as stated in earlier posts.

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Anonymous Poster (1); Blacksmith (1); Comrade Col. Clamrod (1); CUTiger (3); DCaD (1); Emma PT (5); Hendrik (1); JohnDG (3); micahd02 (1); MOBI (3); omw7 (1); Randall (2)

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