praying mantis not a foe but a friend to your crop!

Yeah these types of things are great for out plants. I've had a couple crab spiders stop by on my plant as well. These spiders are mainly white with red markings and have there two front legs shaped like crab claws. I haven't seen a mantis yet, although im pleased with the spider crabs. I have a stinky outdoor plant that is massive and im surprised it hasnt been devoured by bugs. widdling soap around your crop but not on your crop is good, as well as pissing around your plants every time you see them and a little bit on them but not too much is also good.

madcow said:

thanks pinkus!

Click to expand...

no problem...you talkin' to me?

Couldn't resist

Anyone know how many mantis's on average a person would get per ball? lol i dont know what to call it

Are these a common thing in greenhouse shops or will you have to do some searching to get them??

about 300 of the lil buggers if you order an egg sac

could i have like just one of these in an indoor garden?

im sure you could it would need to eat bugs to survive

If you're going to just have 1, I would recommend getting ladybugs instead then. You would need more than just one, but they would do the job of a bunch.

I would have at least one just for the hell of it. If you mixed a mantis with lady bugs though i assume the lady bugs would not last long because the mantis would just eat them along with the bugs. Lady bugs do work wonders i have just never tried hatching a mantis egg. Those things are intimidating lol

hahah too true. I'm sure the mantis would eat the ladybugs. Unless you just had 1 mantis and a shit load of ladybugs, then the ladybugs would probably win. Who wants to take bets?!?! j/k haha

I enjoy the Mantis too. One of the smartest and seemingly tamest insects...the only one in the world that can look back over their "shoulder". I like to raise them in jars for a few weeks and when big enough to handle most insects I put them out in the garden. They go through molting where the seemingly grow by double...they hang upside down and then peel the outer shell of skin starting at the head and they come out like twice the size..trip. Anyhow...I buy ladybugs about 1000 every two weeks during flowering especially so they can eat the moth eggs, small aphids etc. They're better than mantis for real pest control since you can't have many mantises near each other. They'll eat one another if they can.

hell yea i put spiders in my closet for that same reason