Posted by John Savage on April 25, 2006, 10:06 pm
>I got a praying Mantid egg case and put it on my Cux trelles April
>10....I live in zone 5-6 St Louis MO area. Its been real warm
>lately. Saturday I saw 12-15 babies around the case. I got a few to
>go onto spoons and put them on Brox plants. I sawa a few others
>later....but Sunday I see no more.....Is this the deal?? Do they all
>hatch on one day and then....poof? Educate me. Madison, IL
>weather report. 64f soil temp 65f. Thanks Farmer Joe
That sounds about right. I remember as kids we once kept a mantis egg
case in a glass jar. One day we noticed the jar was crawling with
tiny mantids so took them outside and set them free.
I'm crossposting this to my local group, aus.gardens in case someone
here (Australia) can add more to this. Mantids would be a valuable
biological control of some garden pests if the mantis numbers were
high enough.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)
Posted by HC on April 26, 2006, 12:45 am
G'day
Besides being a valuable insect in any garden, Mantis are rather cute,
although they do bite finger tips quite hard for their size. Make sure
they have access to moisture.......I mostly spray some pot plants with
water and they drink the droplets.
Bronwyn ;-)
John Savage wrote:
>
>>I got a praying Mantid egg case and put it on my Cux trelles April
>>10....I live in zone 5-6 St Louis MO area. Its been real warm
>>lately. Saturday I saw 12-15 babies around the case. I got a few to
>>go onto spoons and put them on Brox plants. I sawa a few others
>>later....but Sunday I see no more.....Is this the deal?? Do they all
>>hatch on one day and then....poof? Educate me. Madison, IL
>>weather report. 64f soil temp 65f. Thanks Farmer Joe
>
>
> That sounds about right. I remember as kids we once kept a mantis egg
> case in a glass jar. One day we noticed the jar was crawling with
> tiny mantids so took them outside and set them free.
>
> I'm crossposting this to my local group, aus.gardens in case someone
> here (Australia) can add more to this. Mantids would be a valuable
> biological control of some garden pests if the mantis numbers were
> high enough.
> --
> John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)
>
Posted by Farmer Joe on April 27, 2006, 12:53 am
Hey Mate..... Thanks for the reply from Downunder.. I haven't seen any
more Mantid emerge. I know the cux beetles are on thier way and I
hope the mantid get big quick since I want to keep an "organic" garden
but when that crowd shows up its TIME FOR WAR...Chemical Bastard Killer
and the Mantids will leave/die from the stuff. Where do some of the
college Ag web sites come up with crap like??? solutions to Cucumber
beetle problems...Try hand picking??? Last year for me within 24 hours
of the cucumber flowers there were thousands of both spotted and
striped varmits. I had 12 plants...Like these college eggheads have
ever been outside a sterile greenhouse before. Anyway I put all my
"babies" out 3 weeks early here in Madison, IL St Louis area and the
weather has been REAL WARM and soil temp too. So far Toms, Cux
Squash Peppers are doing fine. Brox and Brus Spts have been in for
6 weeks and lettuce always loves this time of year. Its all good.
Thanks Farmer Joe
Posted by godwin on May 1, 2006, 2:53 pm
John Savage Wrote:
> In rec.gardens.edible, "Farmer Joe" joemcsmarty@yahoo.com writes:
> I got a praying Mantid egg case and put it on my Cux trelles April
> 10....I live in zone 5-6 St Louis MO area. Its been real warm
> lately. Saturday I saw 12-15 babies around the case. I got a few to
> go onto spoons and put them on Brox plants. I sawa a few others
> later....but Sunday I see no more.....Is this the deal?? Do they all
> hatch on one day and then....poof? Educate me. Madison, IL
> weather report. 64f soil temp 65f. Thanks Farmer Joe
>
> Praying mantis emerge and clamber over each other to make a chain that
> hangs off the case, this drifts back and forth in the breeze and they
> drop off off getting a bit of dispersal this way, so it's a case of
> first out last off :-) Naturally this necessitates them all emerging
> together.
--
godwin
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>10....I live in zone 5-6 St Louis MO area. Its been real warm
>lately. Saturday I saw 12-15 babies around the case. I got a few to
>go onto spoons and put them on Brox plants. I sawa a few others
>later....but Sunday I see no more.....Is this the deal?? Do they all
>hatch on one day and then....poof? Educate me. Madison, IL
>weather report. 64f soil temp 65f. Thanks Farmer Joe