Beneficial Insects: The Praying Mantis

The Praying Mantis: Taking Down Pests in the Garden

When you grow flowers and vegetables, you find yourself doing things that seem counterintuitive to people who don’t garden. You find peace in getting your hands dirty. You collect garbage and yard clippings. And… you cultivate an appreciation for critters that make most people shudder. 

Take the praying mantis, which is best known for the females’ tendency to eat males during or after mating. This insect creeps people out. But to gardeners, the praying mantis can be an ally. That’s because aside from its mating habits, the praying mantis enthusiastically eats insects that damage plants, including aphids. And by doing that, it provides a chemical-free, effective form of pest control.

Getting to know the praying mantis

The praying mantis is an impressive predator. When it hunts, it remains motionless, blending into its surroundings, before striking prey with lightning speed and promptly devouring them. Not only does it take down insects, but it has also been known to occasionally capture and eat larger prey including small birds, frogs, and snakes. 

These creatures are built to hunt. They can even rotate their heads 180 degrees, giving them a particularly wide field of vision to detect their next meal.

Not only is the praying mantis famous for being a ruthless hunter, but it’s also known for its unique appearance including a vivid green body, folded forearms (giving it the appearance of praying), and big, bulgy eyes.

Favorite foods

What kind of insects does the praying mantis prey upon? The list is pretty long, including the following garden pests:

• Aphids: These small, sap-sucking insects significantly damage plants by weakening them and spreading diseases.
• Caterpillars: While some caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies, many species can defoliate plants, causing extensive damage.
• Flies: Some types of flies can harm plants, either directly or by laying eggs that develop into plant-damaging larvae.
• Grasshoppers: These insects can consume large quantities of plant material in a short amount of time.
• Crickets: Known for chewing on plant leaves, stems, and roots, crickets can be particularly destructive in vegetable gardens.

When praying mantises lower the population of these pests, they help you keep your plants healthy and enjoy higher yields, all without the need for chemical pesticides that can disrupt the ecosystem and harm beneficial insects.

Should you lure praying mantises to your garden?

Honestly, praying mantises can be both beneficial and challenging in a garden setting. In addition to providing natural pest control, they contribute to the biodiversity of your garden. Generally, diverse gardens are more resilient to pests and diseases.

They offer educational value as well. Observing praying mantises can be a fascinating experience and provides insights into predator-prey dynamics and insect behavior.

You could also argue that praying mantises indirectly support pollination in the garden. By controlling the populations of insects that feed on flowers and disrupt pollinator activity, praying mantises help create a more hospitable environment for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. This, in turn, enhances the pollination process, leading to better fruit and seed production.

On the other hand, there’s the risk that praying mantises will go on to eat the bees, butterflies and other pollinators in your yard, not to mention beneficial insects like ladybugs and lacewings. Praying mantises are opportunistic feeders, and they’ll consume whatever catches their attention.

It might be best to think of praying mantises as your “big guns” if you need to address a serious pest infestation in your garden. 

Attracting praying mantises to your garden

If you decide that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and want to attract praying mantises to your garden, you can buy mantis egg cases from garden centers or online suppliers and release them in your garden to establish a population. 

Additional tips to attract and keep praying mantises in your garden include:

• Aim for plant diversity: Grow a variety of plants to provide shelter and hunting grounds for praying mantises. Tall grasses, shrubs, and flowering plants are ideal.
• Avoid pesticides: Reduce or eliminate the use of chemical pesticides that can harm mantises and other beneficial insects.
• Provide habitat: Your garden should offer plenty of hiding spots and varied vegetation to support a diverse range of insects, including mantises.