Spiders are not a problem So please unclutch about the spiders. They don't bother plants.

If you found dead berries, get out more often to check -- with strawberries, the guideline is daily.

The spiders are there to get the flying things. Spiders are your helpers.

Big wolf spiders are the best.

I love finding spiders on my plants, lol! They kill bugs. The little white things were probably dead little bugs, all shriveled up from the spiders' work :D

I don't know what the gnats are. My only problem with strawberries is a big chipmunk that likes green ones! The spiders and toads keep my strawberry bed under control as far as insects go, really. Don't be too quick to use an insecticide (but if someone is familiar with the gnats and they are a big problem for the crop, I could see using one).

Spiders are my friends! As far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier. Fat spiders with short legs, skinny spiders with long legs, green spiders, yellow spiders...

Seriously, though, as everyone else has said...you should welcome spiders to your garden. They're part of a healthy ecosystem, and they'll help to police all of the bad guys. I've really become an admirer of spiders since I began gardening a decade and a half ago, and I'm just as delighted to spy a new resident spider on of my blueberry bushes as I am to discover a pair of cardinals nesting in one of my pear trees.

If you have a fear of spiders (or other creepy crawlies) a comfy pair of garden gloves will be your best friends.

If your concern is really about the white residue and dead berries, I would guess that the spiders are a side-effect. Either the insects are causing the problem or there's something else going on that is weakening the plant and making it appealing to the insects. Either way, the spiders are probably there because the insects are.

Are the berries in question ripe or still white/green when they die?