Praying mantises on the peach tree
Our kitchen peach tree
is currently hosting 10 praying mantis egg sacs. That means
between one and several thousand predators are inside, itching to eat
up bad bugs in the garden next year.
I'm not quite sure why
the praying mantises love our kitchen peach so much. Maybe the
complexity of the forest
garden island or the
large size of the tree makes them feel safe there? Other peach,
pear, and apple trees just as close to the garden each host one or
fewer egg sacs apiece.
No matter what their
reasoning, I think those praying mantis mamas have good taste.
The kitchen peach is currently my favorite yard tree too!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Cool, I haven't taken inventory of the egg sacks in my area. I usually just find a couple around the yard.
I do love to see them around, but I'm kind of torn on the idea of praying mantises. They are a great predator to have, but they are indiscriminate killers. They will kill a honeybee just as quickly as a squash bug. But they are still a great addition to the garden.