Mantis Eggs

[Dignan]

This is for home, in the veggie garden... we have mad grasshopper action (did I sound 25 yrs old right there, huh? huh? LOL) and I had to resort to nuking them last year because they took hold before I even knew what was happening.

This year, I'm going to try to be prepared so that I can rely on natural controls.

I bought a couple praying mantis eggs and am wondering if any of you have any experience with introducing mantis into your gardens.

Thanks!

 

[Verite]

Dont feed them after midnight.

 

[Berry_Coughin']

No, but the shop near me let one loose, and about 200 little translucent mantis babies went wild in their green house..... cute little boogers..... specially your munchkin there Verite...

 

[vonforne]

I had an exgirlfriend that looked like that without make-up after midnight.


Dig, I have never used mantis before but have used ladybugs. I just provided the recomended food and shelter and they ate everything in sight.

 

[Dignan]

K, thanks everyone. Thanks for the chuckle, V. [both of you Vs... just realized there are two Vs now.]

I feel kinda bad... each egg will produce 100-200 mantises and if there aren't enough insects around for them to munch, they'll cannabilize one another. I hate to introduce that kind of murder and destruction into my garden, but shoot... the circle of life and all.

Dignan

 

[vonforne]

You can maintain the population with a recommended food source. This will prevent most of your "cannabilizing" each other and still keep the protection you are looking for.

V

 

[Dignan]

Have any idea what they feed on that I could get my hands on easily and would be either beneficial or innocuous? I know that most insects don't feed on plants and would "work", but not sure where I'd purchase/collect any.

Dig

 

[vonforne]

Do a search and find out what Exactly they love to eat the most that is not harmful to your plants. A pet store would be a good start to find insects.


And while your there, pick up some alfalfa for your compost pile.

 

[Suby]

I wonder if also using neem oil as a foliar or a soil drench in your garden would also kill off the mantis?
Maybe as a soil drench to poison the bugs feeding on the plant but not the mantis feeding off the pests.
LadyBugs are a good bet, I want pictures of those mantis, bugs rule

S

 

[Dignan]

I'll try to get some pics... particularly as they first emerge from the egg... supposedly their 1/8-1/4" long and you can just barely see them. Most people assume the egg never hatched because they don't catch the little dudes coming out. Or so I hear.

I had a big ol' one in the garden last year, but the hoppers go nuts in May/June and the Mantis didn't show up (or at least he didn't reveal himself to me) until late July. But he was pretty big, 3-4", so he had probably been around feasting for a little while. Yeah, it's nuts how their heads articulate... makes them look almost human.

I'll do some research and then check out the pet store.

(BTW, Forgive my lack of composting knowledge, but is actual alfalfa better than alfalfa tablets?)

 

[vonforne]

With the "hay" you add it to the compost pile. The pellets are better used as a tea maker. but you could also add them to your compost. as it decomposes it will add the nutrient value to the compost.

Here is a small write up on alfalfa teas.

Building a better alfalfa tea with the 3LB

there are many benefits to using an old fashioned alfalfa tea on your growing herbs . . . alfalfa is a natural and renewable resource which means it's use as a fertilizer is especially earth friendly . . . and alfalfa has a "secret ingredient" that stimulates plant growth . . .

triaconatol is a fatty acid growth hormone found in alfalfa . . . it is especially good for increasing growth rates during vegetative growth . . . and we call it a "secret ingredient" because we understand it's "hidden" in the composition of the commercial product "Super Thrive" . . .

one sure way to get triaconatol to your growing plants is a foliar feeding . . . some folks will use a recipe as simple as a couple handfuls of alfalfa into 5 gallons of water . . . soak overnight and then use . . . and that works . . .

but our goal is to build a better alfalfa tea . . . and here's what's working at the "bird's nest" . . .

some folks get pellets . . . our preference is alfalfa meal . . . which we've seen even cheaper than the pellets . . . pellets are fine . . . but we think the meal mixes more evenly as a soil amendment (in addition to making great teas) . . . the meal mix avoids "hot spots" of concentrated alfalfa in the soil that might burn delicate roots as alfalfa decays . . .

when we first mix our alfalfa tea . . . we use about 2 cups of meal for something in the range of 4 gallons of water . . . we mix our teas in 5 gallon gasoline cans bought specifically for the garden . . .

then we add some Earth Juice Catalyst . . . about 1 tsp per gallon . . . our thinking is that the EJ Catalyst provides sugars and yeasts to assist in turning the alfalfa into nutrients absorbable by plants . . . it helps to delay the inevitable alfalfa tea stink as well . . .

this soaks 24-48 hours . . . a aquarium bubble rock can be used to aerate the mix if you are already set up for such . . . if you don't have a bubble . . . don't despair . . . just swish the mix by hand a few times . . . agitating and aerating the tea . . . that will do as a sub for the airstone . . .

the longer the alfalfa soaks the stronger the resulting liquid will be . . . at the bird's nest . . . we usually use our teas after 24-48 hours of soaking . . . we'll dump off about 1/2 of the mix = 2 gallons . . . dumping the brewed tea through a cheap nylon stocking to strain out the alfalfa particles . . . the resulting alfalfa tea is useful for foliar feeding as well as general watering . . .

then . . . any strained plant matter is returned to the mixture in the 5 gallon can . . . and we also add 2 more gallons of fresh water to "top off" the tea again . . . then we add about 4 TBSP of molasses to the tea . . . that's 1 TBSP per gallon . . . and then we let the tea "brew" or bubble for another 24 hours . . . the added molasses feeds beneficial bacteria . . . and again helps to avoid the dreaded alfalfa tea = horse manure smell . . .

finally then . . . the "re-brewed" tea is used to water plants . . . if you care to strain out the alfalfa particles they can be added to the compost heap or worm bin . . . if you don't want to bother straining out the alfalfa particles that's fine too . . . they will leave a light layer of green particles on the soil surface . . . almost as if you'd "top dressed" your plants . . .



V

 

[Verite]

Have any idea what they feed on that I could get my hands on easily and would be either beneficial or innocuous? I know that most insects don't feed on plants and would "work", but not sure where I'd purchase/collect any.

Dig

.. Praying mantids will eat anthing smaller than thye are this includes anyhting from insects, to spiders, to other mantids, and I have even seen images of them kiiling and eating hummingbirds and small lizards.
Mantids are very skilled predators, they are very patient and very accurate. They will eat thier fill everyday if they can and this sometimes means multiple meals.
because of this appetite, they have been used for decades as biological control agents in North America, that is why we now have three species of mantids in Canada and the united States.
Female mantids will often, but not always even eat the males during copulation, many say that this is kind of stupid on the male's behalf, but in being eaten, he actually ensures better survival of his genees. All organisms strive to make copies of their genes, it is kind of the "meaning of life" for living organisms, and when the female eats the male, she usues energy from this delicious meal to create more eggs, a better ootheca(egg case) and the young typically are stronger and develop faster just after hatching..

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061212032527AAqiZIS

 

[Dignan]

Thanks, II Vs.

 

[bartender187]

..... and I have even seen images of them kiiling and eating hummingbirds and small lizards.
Mantids are very skilled predators, they are very patient and very accurate.......

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=55379&highlight=mantis[

 

[vonforne]

Now thats a good picture! I will have to keep that bugger away from my Parakeets!

 

[Stoney Bologna]

Do you guys know if mantids or ladybugs can catch fungus gnats? Thanks.

 

[bartender187]

^^
You want to break their cycle... The actually gnat portion of their life doesnt harm your plants... Its the larvae phaze... they feed on your roots. Alot of ppl reccommend BTi.

 

[lc00p4]

yo bartender187, that is one of the sweetist pics i have ever seen. pretty badass to kill a hummingbird if you are that small. will the mantis' come back after the winter or do you have to buy another egg? it would be really sweet to have an army of those things to protect the crop.

 

[Dignan]

I think they die in frosts... but lay these gnarly 1.5" wide cocoon looking eggs that will withstand freezing, etc... and hatch 2-6 weeks after the temps warm up.

I hung my mantis egg in a tree next to my veggie garden this weekend... in a couple weeks, they should start emerging.

 

[vonforne]

Do you guys know if mantids or ladybugs can catch fungus gnats? Thanks.

Best way I found to get rid of gnats......remove the first 1 inch of soil and replace with sand. It dries out the larve and breaks their life cycle. During this time use sticky traps to catch the adults.

V