Im infested with Praying Mantis this year but darned if they arent an interesting critter
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Maggie’s Cool little dudes
- Thread starter wvfarrier
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Beautiful creature, and you'll likely have a lot less bugs around.
Box em up and send them here. Need more in the greenhouse. Goddamn aphids got in and are fucking up my shit.
when i was a kid i brought a nest inside and of course they hatched and where EVERYWHERE, very cool though parents weren't too happy.
We usually have a lot of them around here but not this year. Maybe they're later than normal this year???
When I was a kid we would catch them and put them in the bushes in front of my house and feed them grasshoppers.
Mike
Mike
A predator bug is not going to overtake an infestation, full grown lady bugs don't eat nearly as much as their larval counterparts. You need breeding populations of predators and prey to maintain an eco system. You plants will be toast by the time the predator bugs eggs start hatching, if they will breed in your green house. A two bug ecosystem does not work in a green house. You can add them to your IPM plan, but IMO shipping bugs around and releasing them doesn't help much. They will simply leave, not breed, or die if they don't like where they are. If they like it in there, they will already be there.
Spray aphids with a few drops of dawn dish soap and water. Spray every three days until you have them under control. Then you can probably resort back to spot treatment as you find them.
More air flow through your greenhouse, is something they will not like. Still, humid air in a green house is their perfect environment.
Here is pretty good recourse for some sprays to use.
Honoring the Orchard Ecosystem by Michael Phillips
Honoring the Orchard Ecosystem: one of a series of articles by Michael Phillips on Organic Orcharding
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I was putting away a cart at the grocery store and here is what I saw.
I watched one eat a hornet back to front. Like a fat person with an ear of corn. Munch munch munch.
I've got a ton of them around here as well this year. A few years back I caught a big grasshopper and fed it to one. It started right off by chewing the head off. It was amazing to watch as I had no idea how strong they were.
I just snapped this pic of one eating a beetle on the front porch 
Of course. They are crazy about the tongue.
Hummingbird tongues are a delicacy to man and mantis, alike.
How do you prepare your hummingbird tongues….. and how many does it take to make a meal? Asking for a friend……
just went to youtube and saw it done..amazing those things must be strong…
Usually just stir fried with some broccoli. I call it General Tso's hummingbird tongues. Need about 135 to make a "good mess".
7 in one picture with 2 more off out of shot. One of them eating a moth and clearly bothered by my presence.
I had the same two mantis on my 8 Carolina Reaper peppers that I watched every day from June thru the end of August. It was like playing find Waldo every day looking for them. I even found some of their exoskeleton sheds.
This guy hung out on my strawberries all summer...
Yup. There was a pic floating around recently of one holding a dead hummer. Y'all may like them but I think they're creepy the way they turn their ET looking heads and look at you.
I caught a big one when I was four and the fucker bit the shit out of me, drew blood. My mom said she went out there and all was left were his legs and wings.
One landed on my knee here at the computer a couple of nights ago and I brushed it off with a few choice words. I hold grudges.
You win the internets sir!
Pshaw, that old meme? Ah it twernt nuthin sonny.
Yes, they can bite like hell. Interestingly...when they attack something they begin to eat immediately. No matter what part they grab they start chewing
Will a Praying Mantis do "Palmetto Bugs?" Harmless, perhaps, although they are a species of "cockroach."
Unsettling to see them in the bathroom after "settling down."
Unsettling to see them in the bathroom after "settling down."
They have free rein at my place until it comes to the hummingbird feeder. Then they will at best be relocated and possibly killed.
We covet our hummers here as well. I catch one staking out a feeder and they will be on the business end of a rubber band, quick.
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