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Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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Posted by
carlota So. Calif. z.10 (
My Page) on
Sat, Apr 7, 12 at 20:43
In the fall my daughter Kimberly brought in a rose stem that she thought was diseased and wanted my opinion on the problem. I was thrilled, it wasn't disease but a nice little preying mantis egg sac. Happily, my husband and I carefully put it in a container and waited. The container has switched from my desk to his while we eagerly waited for our babies to be born.
This week our long awaited babies started to hatch and suddenly we were faced with a problem - what to feed the little guys. My husband went out into the rain and brought in a rose bloom to give them hiding places from eachother and the thrips showed up in the container. They were the perfect size for my babies. We garden organically so we weren't worried about harming them.
So, know I know...Thrips have a purpose - to feed the baby Preying Mantis's that are hatching in my garden. I will wait to eliminate them until later on in the season when I hope the rest of the sacs have hatched.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want thrips messing with my roses but...I do want the Preying Mantis's to control the other bugs in my garden so for now they are safe from elimination.
Happy Rosing!
Carlota |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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| No way I just looked up what the eggs look like and I just threw away something that looked like that on my rose!!!! I thought it was some kind of bad thing it scared me! ugh that would have saved me from all this trouble I have had with aphids.. I am glad that I have figured out what it was it has been bugging me even after I threw it away. What was on my rose looked like this
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oakleyoriginals/3235163829/ |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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- Posted by carlota So. Calif. z.10 (My Page) on
Sat, Apr 7, 12 at 21:07
JessicaBe,
I am very to sorry to hear that you lost some potential good guys. The picture you showed me is an egg sac. They usually contain at least 100 babies but it does depend on the size. The good news that if you have one, then you probably have even more. The egg sacs do change as they mature and a white-ish crystal-like coat occurs. Sorry, my description is poor.
In the past I always had to buy my eggs but not any more. Yippee!! For future reference they are supposed to hatch after a period of warm temperatures probably to protect them from the cold. Feeding them was a challenge because they are so small when they hatch but grow quickly. If you choose to raise them in the house choose a container that will be big enough for them to spread out and give them plenty of hiding places. Preying Mantis's will eat anything they can catch. |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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| If I had a full-grown Praying Mantis for every bush, perhaps, otherwise - anything else is like a flag in a sandstorm. Something needs to be done or thrips will have a more detrimental effect on the rose industry than the economy. Calling Bayer ...??? |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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| But that bad thing is my boyfriend is terrified of them... :S |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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| They creep me out too. Especially since I caught one on the bottom of the hummingbird feeder trying to catch one..... |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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| I think praying mantises are cute. Carlota, that is such a sweet story! |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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| They really like an old wood trellis on a warm wall. They will put the egg cases on the side away from the sun. I put some old ones up in late summer just for them and always get a few. They prefer old weathered wood over new. |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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| I once chased a praying mantis in a parking lot to take home to my garden. No such luck... Nice story, Carlota. |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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| Carlota, thanks for bringing this up - and thanks for the link, Jessica - now that I know what they look like, I will keep an eye out for those egg masses. I have seen praying mantis in our garden, but they have such good camoflage that I suspect there are more than I think. Jackie |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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- Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
Sun, Apr 8, 12 at 19:22
| Glad you have some nice beneficials for the garden but I'm not sure having thrips is a good thing in any situation, lol! |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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- Posted by carlota So. Calif. z.10 (My Page) on
Sun, Apr 8, 12 at 21:51
| I figured I only had to allow the thrips until the babies are big enough to eat aphids. I also figure to wait about a month after mine are larger for the ones born outside, then I will eliminate those darn thrips!! I really want to encourage the Preying Mantis population in my yard to get rid of those buggers I really don't want. Grasshoppers are ones that come quickly to mind as do aphids. I've seen a Preying Mantis take down a grasshopper, it was amazing! |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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| Our neighbor an older, unmarried lady, does not maintain her yard. We all politely call her front property a "meadow." Earlier this spring, thousands of ladybug larvae hatched out of the "meadow," marched down her little wall, turned into winged predators and went to work. I haven't seen an aphid yet. Nor has anyone else here. It's lovely. Nature at work. Jeri |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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Perhaps I'm too easygoing, but I never do any pest prevention, beyond squashing bugs here and there, and the roses do fine. We currently have five or six hundred of them. People who grow roses for the cut flower trade I imagine have a different set of issues; I'm not saying they should do as I do. We have our pests, probably the most destructive of which is Coraebus rubi, cane girdler; oh, and the beetles last year were genuinely horrible, which I hope was an aberration. But however irritating the pests, the roses hang in there and give me a lot of satisfaction; and the garden is humming and hopping with ladybugs, praying mantises (I think they look creepy too), wasps, and innumerable other insects, many of them beneficial.
A good garden for me is healthy as well as full of flowers, and that means no pesticides.
Rosetom: well, why not a praying mantis on every bush? If the thrips are so abundant, the predator population will grow until food source and feeders are in equilibrium.
Melissa |
RE: Thrips, they now has a purpose!
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- Posted by carlota So. Calif. z.10 (My Page) on
Mon, Apr 9, 12 at 18:16
| Ohh How I wish a Preying Mantis for every bush! Wouldn't that be lovely? Maybe its because they do have such an important job, or maybe I'm weird - but I like the way they look. I always get so Happy when I see one and on a good day I see many out hunting in my garden and I get all giddy with glee! But then, in my home or shall I say garden, no poison is used by me - unless the situation absolutely requires it and then we spray very little and very reluctantly! |
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