Praying Mantis for Orchids Outside in Summer?

[Jenna09]

Hi Everyone

I am thinking of getting an orchid or two that I could put outside for the summer months.

I have wanted to try a praying mantis kit (you buy a ball/nest of eggs from Home Depot) for a couple of years now and I was thinking an orchid would make a lovely home for one and if not they could go to one of my outside planters.

Has anyone attempted this before? I have tried searching the different forums but came up empty handed.

Thanks
Jenna

[orchidsarefun]

Most of my orchids are outdoors for the summer and I've been doing this for years. I've never seen a mantis on any orchid. Mantis are voracious eaters and require plenty of insect food. Orchids don't attract enough/if any insects.
I introduced mantis to my garden about 5 years ago and over the years have reduced my lawn, by about half and expanded the areas for flowering shrubs, perennials and annuals. Despite this only 2-3 mantis make it to maturity every year as there is just not enough insect life to support more. I've seen in neighbors' yards - only those with big gardens and small lawns.
However if you are in a warmer area with lots of flying bugs, you may be lucky. Leave an outside light on at night to attract them and the mantis should be happy. Note that mantis move around a lot and wouldn't stay on the orchids permanently.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I've never tried growing an orchid and keeping praying mantis in the same enclosure.

I think it'd be easier to keep both separate.

My intuition is somehow telling me that something frustrating will come out of housing both in the same enclosure. I'm not sure why.

I've kept a Ghost Mantis (Phyllocrania paradoxica) before, and she was a pleasure to have as a pet. One thing I remembered was not to be misting the mantis too much for fear that it could drown. From what I've observed of this particular species, it was not particularly active. Most of the time, it'd stay in one place for a long period of time, with the occasional moving to different locations in the enclosure. In my experience, if the enclosure is too big, and if there are too many hiding places for the prey insect to hide, the praying mantis will not be able to catch it. Praying mantis are ambush predators and do not really chase down their prey much. If they see their prey, they will slowly approach it until it is close enough to strike with their grasping arms. Then it will wait until the prey insect gets near it, and strike.

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[Subrosa]

You can certainly establish/increase the population of mantises in an area by stocking egg cases, but as to how much benefit this will have for your orchids.......

[WalkingHorse]

I usually have a good number of Praying Mantis this time of year and they love hanging out around my orchids. They seem to really love patrolling the mounted ones and the Neofinetias. Love them! Natural pest control.

PM1

PM2

[Mountaineer370]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

......However if you are in a warmer area with lots of flying bugs, you may be lucky. Leave an outside light on at night to attract them and the mantis should be happy......

I like praying mantises a lot and always enjoy coming across them on our property. However, I would encourage anyone thinking of putting up lights to attract them (or to attract their prey) to please be considerate of your neighbors. I was just involved in a group discussion concerning another hobby of mine, amateur astronomy, and one member was lamenting the fact that his view of the night sky had just been further compromised by his neighbor putting up a big LED spotlight that was meant to light up an adjacent alley, but, unfortunately, also aimed directly into that person's backyard. Light pollution in general, and especially the proliferation of LED lighting, is having a very detrimental effect on the ability of anyone -- not just astronomers -- to look up into the night sky and enjoy the stars, the planets, and the beauty of our observable universe.

Orchids and astronomy are two great hobbies, two wonderful ways of enjoying the beauty of nature.

[orchidsarefun]

By light I suppose I should have been more specific. I have a deck light that I leave on in August/September - while we are awake - and it attracts a mantis and its prey. It sits on the screen door and waits patiently for its prey. They do become fairly "tame" and last year the one would appear on the screen door to remind us to turn on the ( normal ) light.
This year I've noticed a dearth of hunting spiders and bumblebees. That's not good news.

[DeaC]

Hummingbirds are also on their menu if the opportunity presents itself. Happy and safe holiday all.

[Jenna09]

I think I might give it a try and if one doesn't host on the orchid(s) than hopefully a couple stick around in my planter.

I have to do a little more research on what orchid I can try putting outside in my area before I get the praying mantis egg nest.

Thanks everyone!

[nikkik]

I tried this last spring because I thought my kids would enjoy hatching them. I put each of their egg sacks into their individual critter keepers, which have small holes. My plan was to let my kids look and observe, then to release the mantis in various locations on our property. Well, baby praying mantis are smaller than the small holes in our critter keepers, so I ended up with baby praying mantis all over my solarium. Luckily, a huge percentage stuck around my orchids, which was great because I was getting ready to move them outside for the summer.

Some did stay in their "designated home" and we released these mantis into various locations. We would check those areas every day. For about a week, we knew where to find 15 of them, but those numbers slowly dwindled. Although, there was a female who took to a particular plant and we were able to locate her until the end of summer.

We had a great time hatching them. And we are planning to do it again this year. 😁