A couple months ago I purchased a package of 1500 live Ladybugs and two Praying Mantis egg cases with approximately 200 of the little critters yet to hatch. I did this to help out with the minor destructive insect problem I have had in the past. The Ladybugs were for controlling aphids and eating the larvae of other "bad" bugs. The Praying Mantis are also good predator insects that are a general blessing to the garden, plus they are just cool to look at.
The Ladybugs went right to work upon release but I hadn't seen any evidence of the Praying Mantis until recently. Now they have been making regular appearances throughout the garden and seem to be working hard just like the Ladybugs as my destructive insect issues seem much lighter so far this year.
Growing my garden without the use of pesticides is extremely important to me and organic methods like this are a great alternative to the harmful poisons that many seem to use without any concern or thought to the environment or their own health.
I hope you will consider using organic methods like this one in your garden. Thanks For Reading!
To read about some other organic methods for saving your garden from destructive insects that I've written about go to: http://smalltownhomestead.com/planning-a-destructive-insect-resistant-garden/
Beneficial insects are hudge! Growing marijuana indoors where I used to live was impossible with out introducing predatory mites and lady bugs to battle the swarms.
I still use lady bugs outside, but I only release maybe 2 -5 at a time.
Thanks for all the pictures of the good guys and bad guys.
Cool post! How do the preying mantises do against thing like the green hornworm? I got a couple of those and it wiped out my tomato plants. I've heard parasitic wasps are good against them but wonder if the praying mantis goes after them too. Thanks!
Thanks. I've never heard that they prey on the green horn worm but you're right about the wasps.
try Bt spray for hornworm. They ingest the bacteria, it ferments in their gut, and they explode. Bt is considered an organic pesticide - it's a bacterium that occurs naturally in the soil. Works awesome and took care of my hornworm problem!
This is really cool. I want to get some Praying mantis into my garden. Do you just release them into the wild?
I purchased egg cases off Amazon then placed them in some plants in the garden according to instructions. They hatched when they were ready.
Yay! I saw a praying mantis the other day. Little bugger was too quick for me to take a picture of tho! I squealed with delight. Now, I just need an organic method to rid ground squirrels... (cats soon on the list). haha.
Cats should do the trick but then they want to use your garden like a litter box. Gardeners just have to deal with one problem at a time before we move on to the next one. :)
I'd prefer that. At least I'd still have my plants! Haha. The ground squirrels ate everything. No garden for me this year! Haha.
I wonder if a hot pepper solution would deter them.
I am going to have to google something! I could just cry! So lame. Haha
No it isn't lame to want to cry about it! Gardening is a labor of love. I've had emotions all over the scale when it comes to my garden. I completely get the disappointment.
What really frustrates me is I really advocate for all these turds, not allowing my husband to "rid" them... Haha. And then they go and do this! They don't know how much I fight for them! Haha
Awesome thank you for this! Will be gandy i do bitany for hobby
I've yet to pull the trigger on my saved orders for my other beneficials. I want a bunch of mantis, nematodes, and some lacewings. I have so much other foliage around that if anything they will live there and make appearances in my garden.