Awww.. Look what I found in my Basil

[Raven]

Look what I just found in my Basil

It's a baby preying mantis.

Sorry about the fuzzy picture, the basket moved just as I took the snap.

I hope he eats plenty of bugs.
~ Raven ~

 

[BreezyCooking]

Don't you just love them?? I love finding all the egg cases in my bushes & trees - lots & lots of totally organic insect control.

 

[buckytom]

raven, do you practice organic gardening?

i see several praying mantises each year in my garden. i've only seen them in organic gardens, or at least in ones that very little chemicals are used.

i wonder if it is because they don't like the chemicals themselves, or there's not as much food for them. hey, maybe my organic bugs are tastier...

 

[IcyMist]

Have you ever seen those really big ones? I saw one that had to be 6 inches long on some celery growing out in the yard in California. That thing was UGLY!!!!

Memories -- I also remember a time when my grandmother use to tell me to stay away from them because they spit tobacco at you.

 

[Raven]

Yeah Bucky

I didn't start out that way but I have serious respritory troubles (COPD). One year I bought a bottle of Daconil for my tomatoes but after reading the warning on the label (may cause upper respritory infections) I 86'd that idea. That and the fact that we live in an upstairs apartment and one of our downstairs neighbors has 2 kids (one 2 year old and 1 newborn) so I don't want to take any chances with blow-over.

The only chemicals I use in the garden now-a-days is a mouth-wash spray for Spider Mites (which I need to fix up, the plant just underneith that one is infested so I hope that's what he's eating) and usually a milk-mix for powdery mildew, but my tomatoes have Antracose this year so I'm going to have to buy something this year (for the first time in 3 years).

I'm planning on picking up a bottle of Serenade which claims to be "all-purpose organic disease control" and see how that works.

~ Raven ~

 

[Raven]

Have you ever seen those really big ones? I saw one that had to be 6 inches long on some celery growing out in the yard in California. That thing was UGLY!!!!

Memories -- I also remember a time when my grandmother use to tell me to stay away from them because they spit tobacco at you.

LOL! I've heard that too!

We used to catch those big ones when we were kids. My oldest sister was scared of them but my yongest sister could have been an entymologist. She loved them.

We never kept them though. Mom always said they would eat the bugs in the garden so don't hurt them and let them go when we were done.

~ Raven ~

 

[middie]

I rarely see them here. Once every couple years or so.
Ugly creatures yet so intriguing. Did you know it's illegal to
kill them ? Unless that's just a law here ?

 

[BreezyCooking]

When we first bought our farm here in VA 10 years ago, for our first Xmas we went to one of the local cut-your-own Xmas tree & brought one home. Little did we know that it had a couple of Mantis egg cases in it.

Needless to say, with the warmth of the house, within a couple of weeks I had a gazillion baby mantises running all over the house!! It was so sad because it was below freezing with snow on the ground, so I couldn't release them outside. Most of them perished, but believe it or not I did still have some popping up here & there (a testament to my housekeeping. . . . ) when it was warm enough outside to catch & release them, which I did.

 

[htc]

I'm not an avid gardener, so when I saw the picture, first thought was quick kill it!! I didn't realize these little guys are good for your garden.

 

[kadesma]

When we first bought our farm here in VA 10 years ago, for our first Xmas we went to one of the local cut-your-own Xmas tree & brought one home. Little did we know that it had a couple of Mantis egg cases in it.

Needless to say, with the warmth of the house, within a couple of weeks I had a gazillion baby mantises running all over the house!! It was so sad because it was below freezing with snow on the ground, so I couldn't release them outside. Most of them perished, but believe it or not I did still have some popping up here & there (a testament to my housekeeping. . . . ) when it was warm enough outside to catch & release them, which I did.

I just had two mantis cases hatch, one on the house and mind you the case was the color of our house and one on the meyer lemon tree and it was the same bark color as the bark of the lemon tree. The rascals turn color to what they are on!!! Now I've never had a mantis spit at me, but, I can tell you those nasty eat everything in it's path grasshoppers will get ya good if not ..carefull
kadesma

 

[marmalady]

Praying mantis is very good joo-joo for your garden!

Raven - I'd love to hear about your mouth-wash spray!

 

[Raven]

Oh sure!

To 1 Gallon Water add:

1 Tbl. Mouthwash. - This is the actual bug-killer. (I find Scope works best, though I've only tried the original green)
1 Tbl Canola Oil - To stick to the plant and the bugs
1 tsp Liquid Dish Soap - Wetting Agent - Just make sure that it's NOT anti-bacterial.
1/2 Cup 3% Hydrogen Peroxide - Optional - Supposed to have various benefits

Stir well and spray.

It works great on soft-bodied insects like Aphids and Spider Mites but, since it's not as powerful as a chemical insecticide, repeated spraying is necessary to kill them all off. I usually spray once a day for 3 days being sure to completly soak the stems and leaves (top and bottom) until the bugs are gone.

Oh and this is strictly a contact killer. It dosen't stay on the plant long and is not an effective repellant.

~ Raven ~

 

[Claire]

If I remember from when I worked in an entomology dept, aren't praying mantis carnivores? I don't know what a baby one looks like. You WANT them in your garden, ugly and startling 'though they may be if so. People spend money to buy them for their gardens!!

 

[BreezyCooking]

Praying Mantis are one of the VERY BEST things your garden can have!!! I thank my lucky stars that we have dozens & dozens if not more on our property. There's nothing "nasty" about them at all.

 

[Raven]

Oh yeah I definately hope he hangs around and calls my place home for a while and eats anything that wants to eat my plants (except me of course LOL!)

I'm one of the wierd people who have never seen them as ugly, I actually think they are one of the prettier bugs in the garden, and I took this one's picture because he's just a baby and so cute!!! He looked right at the camera just as I snapped the picture

When I went out to water the pot this morning he was still sitting there, but by noon he had flown off somewhere (hopefully a bird didn't get him)

~ Raven ~

 

[BreezyCooking]

Back in NY, I once watched one sit outside a hornet nest & catch & eat the hornets like they were fried chicken. Entertaining & beneficial at the same time - lol!!

 

[240brickman]

Back in NY, I once watched one sit outside a hornet nest & catch & eat the hornets like they were fried chicken. Entertaining & beneficial at the same time - lol!!

I don't see many preying mantises around here; I think I've seen maybe 3 or 4 in the 20+ years I've lived here. But when I lived in NY (not real far from the Hudson River), they were abundant all through the summer. So I think it has to do with having a major water source nearby.

I agree that aside from their fearsome appearance, they're quite beneficial.

Anyone remember that movie (from the 70's, I think) where the 100-foot mantises attacked the town? I'm pretty sure it was mostly special effects. They probably only had one 100-foot mantis, and used him in all of the scenes.

--J