Praying Mantises as Pest Control

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We drove back to Ohio this month to visit my family and check out a number of incredible farming operations.

The three-day journey was well worth the effort, as the boys were able to explore a brand new landscape. One of their greatest finds was a praying mantis at my stepmom’s home.

Praying Predators

Praying mantises are something we’ve read a lot about, but unfortunately they aren’t something we have in our home garden.

I always thought of praying mantises as being one of the best beneficial insects, but I have to laugh because I was informed by the boys that they don’t only eat bad bugs. They will eat whatever they catch, whether it’s a bad bug or a honeybee. It’s important to remember that they are predators. They don’t differentiate. But they’re still neat to have in the garden, since they’re such hungry little critters that are bound to eat the insects that do harm to your plants.

Mantises can be gruesome. They hold their famous position until prey is within reach, then they lash out and stab their game. I wish we had them because they are one of the few insects that can catch larger grasshoppers. And they are famous for cannibalism, particularly the females eating the males. After doing some research, I found out that one of the reasons they do this is so the males don’t eat them first. Talk about serious dysfunction.

Praying Mantis Eggs

My stepmom had been keeping an eye on this particular mantis for a while, in hopes of being able to show her to the boys. Thankfully, it seems once a mantis finds a good location, it’ll stay there for some time. Yet, this isn’t the case if you purchase mantis eggs (or are lucky enough to find an egg sack in the fall) since once they hatch they will disperse to secure an area with enough food and low population of other mantises.

Like buying ladybugs, don’t plan on having an army of mantises to take care of your pest problem. If you purchase and place an egg sack in your garden, they will balance themselves out because if they don’t, they will eat each other.

The females lay 200-300 eggs in the spring and encase them in a durable egg sack that she secures to a twig, branch or even a wall. She dies shortly afterwards. In the spring, the mantises will hatch and fly to various locations to look for food and avoid each other. If you are fortunate enough to have them in your garden, they are easy to observe them at work.

Of course, the best way to keep mantises thriving in your garden is to be gentle with the insecticides. While they will eat practically anything that flies or stumbles within their grasp, they are part of that balance in the garden that helps keep the detrimental bugs from doing too much damage to your garden.

Meet Amy Grisak

Amy is a freelance author and photographer in Great Falls, MT who specializes in gardening, foods, and sustainable agriculture. She provides information on every kind…

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