Fighting the good fight

[Jared77]

Yep bought them on Sunday at Flower Day in Detroit. Its almost a 2hr drive for us, but its worth the the effort. We typically leave the house at 3:30am and are buying flowers by 5am. Goal is to be done shopping by 11:00 and eating lunch then head home. Its already busy at 5am, and it only gets busier. Its a blast and we go not only for the good prices but the experience.

Anyway I saw them and had to give them a try. The Mantis are egg clusters so waiting on them to hatch. First year with them so we'll see how it goes.

 

[digitS']

Don't know about the Matis, Jared, but I've heard that the Lady Bugs should go in the shade when you set them out. Yes, it seems that there may even be a special type - the Shady Lady Beetle - that especially appreciates that.

I don't know where I heard this, however. And, you can't really trust my hearing anyway . . .

Steve

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I was thinking about posting about lady bugs the other day when it was 80 degrees (but that was before our snow on Sunday and now its in the 40's).

Anywho....when I was weeding, I musta saw 100's of lady bugs. They are prolific up here in the foothills. Wonder why...

Also we will begin to have praying mantis later this summer, but they are the most fav food of the local bats. I'll start to find mantis legs and parts below where the bats roost at nite in our eaves. Poor mantis'

 

[journey11]

That flower show sounds like a lot of fun. I would get up in the wee hours of the morning for something like that!

I remember when I was a kid, my dad found a praying mantis to show us kids. He caught a grasshopper and held it between a pair of tweezers and offered it to the mantis and it was wild watching it chomp off the grasshopper's head!

He told us it was illegal to kill a mantis, and I don't know if that was actually true or if he was just wanting to make sure we never harmed any because they were so beneficial.

 

[lesa]

Very excited to hear how these work for you! Yes, that is a trip that would be worth getting up early for!

 

[Jared77]

We're on year 6 or 7 now for Flower Day. I knew about it and encouraged my wife (the first spring we were dating) and at the time future mother-in-law to go (who are both avid gardeners) but I told them if we do it, thats how we have to do it, otherwise its shoulder to shoulder and it wouldn't be any fun. Ever since then its tradition. This last trip we took down a 6' x 12' U Haul trailer that we hooked up to my truck and used that to load flats, hanging baskets, and preassembled arrangements in. It was almost full when we brought it home.

the Shady Lady Beetle

Nice....

 

[lesa]

A U-Haul!!!! You guys don't fool around!

 

[Carol Dee]

COOL, love those GOOD bugs... every time we find a praying mantis we catch and release it at the garden.

 

[thistlebloom]

You probably already know this, but keep an eye on the mantis, when they hatch they eat everything, so if you're a bit late releasing them you may have only one big fat one!

And when you release those Shady Lady beetles give them a drink of dilute sugar water, and release them in the evening into a watered garden. That encourages them to stick around .

 

[hoodat]

I was thinking about posting about lady bugs the other day when it was 80 degrees (but that was before our snow on Sunday and now its in the 40's).

Anywho....when I was weeding, I musta saw 100's of lady bugs. They are prolific up here in the foothills. Wonder why...

Also we will begin to have praying mantis later this summer, but they are the most fav food of the local bats. I'll start to find mantis legs and parts below where the bats roost at nite in our eaves. Poor mantis'

In your area you are seeing them coming out of Winter hibernation about now and starting to move down into the valleys. Believe it or not that tiny little lady bug travels hundreds of miles every Fall to Winter hibernation in the Sierra Nevadas and back again in the Spring.