Praying mantis egg cases are now being sold in many locations. The eggs are easy to hatch allowing you to add this natural pest control system to your garden.
Are these native praying mantis? Do they stay in your garden? Are they a good option for controlling pests in your garden? Before buying a praying mantis egg case read this post and get the facts.
What is a Praying Mantis Egg Case?
Praying mantis are really interesting large insects that are experts in camouflage, so you might have more in your garden than you realize. They sit with their front legs clutched as if praying, but they should really be called Preying Mantis because they are excellent hunters of insects.
Many nurseries and mail order sources now provide mantis egg cases, which is the way they overwinter. As the weather warms in spring, the eggs hatch into baby mantises which look just like the adults.
At this stage of their life, it is important that the young are separated, because in a couple of days they start eating each other. It is quite common that many hatchlings don’t make it past this stage.
Are the Praying Mantis Native Species?
Egg cases (oothecae) of several mantis species are commercially available but the majority are Tenodera sinensis, the Chinese mantis. This species is not native to North America or Europe; however, it has now become naturalized in most regions, so releasing this non-native is no longer a concern.
Should you Buy Praying Mantis Egg Cases
Is it a good idea to release this predator in your garden? Probably not.
The praying mantis is an indiscriminate predator that will eat just as many bees and butterflies as pests. Except in special situations like greenhouses, the mantis is not great at controlling pest problems since it is most likely to eat a few of every insect in the garden.
Better Options for Controlling Pests
The best way to control pests in the garden is to grow a variety of plants that will attract both pests and beneficial insects. Nature will take over and control the pest problem for you. To make this work, you need to allow a few pests in your garden so they attract the beneficial insects. Stop spraying every time you see a bug!
Praying Mantis Catches Hummingbirds
A discussion has been going on in the comments below – can a praying mantis catch a hummingbird?
This video, and others, confirm that it is true. But it is probably a rare occurrence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jOs5VeKV3k
If this video does not play, try this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jOs5VeKV3k
References:
- Image of praying mantis eating a fly by Avenue; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_African_praying_mantis_eating_a_fly.jpg
But is the praying mantis market responsible? How do they farm these ooethecas?? Very interested but always concerned about buying from an irresponsible industry? Thx!
All I used was praying mantis and ladybugs . No chemicals at all for a small garden it worked great I think it’s hard to do what you’re saying with a smaller garden I see your point though
I used neither and no chemicals and I had no problems. You can’t make one change in the garden and know it worked without running controls.
They worked great for my small garden. They eat stink bugs to
How do you know they worked?
would like to reiterate Tom Wenzel’s request for your imput here on growing food next to plastic — especially like 5 gal buckets that might be of food grade or not (I assume pails having contained toxic materials would be excepted).
I started a discussion on our FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GardenFundamentals/permalink/627844627685970/
would like to comment further, but unfortunately, don’t do Facebook
Robert, love your perspective/scientific/experimental approach. I have apparently committed the sin of buying a mantis case at a major garden show in ct. Refrigerated the case as instructed, hatched out newborns, and distributed them throughout my large garden. That was four years ago. Only ever saw one adult afterward that year.
They are difficult to find. Most gardeners have more than they think.
Can you explain why you think that their presence is no longer a concern, as they are now ‘naturalised’? Surely any non-native species is competing with and preying on native species, thus reducing local native biodiversity? Does a species become ‘naturalised’ when it has been present for a certain amount of time? And how does ‘naturalisation’ make them less damaging to the native ecosystems?Sorry for all the questions, but as I am volunteering a lot to get rid of invasive species I would really like to understand this
Once a non-native is everywhere, adding more will not change the population distribution. re: “‘naturalisation’ make them less damaging to the native ecosystems” – it doesn’t. But if the non-native is already present everywhere it has already done all the damage it is going to do. During the naturalization process a new ecosystem balance is reached.
Consider the ash borer. Right now in many locations it is doing a lot of damage. At some point it will have killed all the non-resistant trees or a predator will intervene. In areas where all the ash are gone, the pest dies out, or at least is no longer a major component of the environment. You can think of it as now being naturalized.
We have a phrase ‘You could not make it up”
Thank you! Folks need to hear this. You might also add that the Chinese mantis is much larger than our native, making it easily id’d. This non-native’s size also enables it to capture and eat hummingbirds and other small birds.
Did a quick check about praying mantis eating hummingbirds and there do seem be reports of such an attack, but no real evidence that this is a significant real problem. But if you have a study confirming this, I’d like to see the link.
Love your articles Robert. Your my go to website for many of the questions I have regarding gardening issues. Could you consider doing an article on growing edibles in plastic containers and weather growing food next to plastic is a concern.
Keep doing what your doing.
I’ve added it to my list. Consider asking this on our FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/356927494777686/