Garden Guest
Because my "garden" is 100 ft. from the ground, I don't find that it attracts much in the way of insect life. I was therefore really surprised to find an enterprising praying mantis sittting smack in the middle yesterday. My first reaction was to find better hunting for this guy. I lifted him up to toss him down to the ground; bad move. These guys have sharp pincers for eating insects and he didn't hesitate to use them on me! Then I used a sieve and a towel to persuade him that life would be more rewarding on the ground. Hmmm...was this a smart move? I should have left him to guard my garden!
posted by ArtLife @ 1:57 p.m.
2 Comments
2 Comments:
It looks like praying mantises do eat garden pests without harming the plants.
But I saw an article saying that when a predator (it was about ladybugs) eats prey (aphids), the prey just ramps up production to keep the balance.
http://www.jjcardinal.com/info.htm
That is just too cool!! I've always wished I had a couple of praying mantis in my garden. But I'm afraid the local cats would make mincemeat out of them.
We used to have ladybugs galore but now that the aphid population seems to be pretty much in check, I guess all the ladybugs migrated to another area.
(How come the photo is on its side? Or are your chives growing horizontally?)
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