Garden Friends - LadyBug & Larva, Wasp & Mantis
As I was picking a few tomatoes this morning, I saw this adult ladybug and large ladybug larvae together on a leaf. By the time I got the camera ready to make the video the adult ladybug had already moved on to a neighboring leaf.
I also managed to get a predatory wasp on film, though, not in the act of feeding on caterpillars! :-(
And we visited our mother Praying Mantis once again....her belly is getting bigger.
Not long now until she lays an egg sac that will overwinter until the spring and the young baby mantids will emerge!
The wind blows a bit and gets picked up on the video, I apologize.
Overall, I hope you enjoy the video!!
Aphids. Can't stand them. This year I had a bumper crop. Next season I will buy that cup of ladybugs to help. Do preying mantis eat aphids. I used to see at least five or ten but this year I only saw 1. Maybe this lead to the bumper crop in aphids. Nice post.
I don't think the adult mantids will try and bother with aphids....but I am pretty sure the young ones do. Maybe 1.5 inch(4cm) and smaller will probably eat all the aphids they can....
Unless eyesight is an issue...mantids have great eyes for detecting movement..and aphids move pretty slow. So...Not Sure!! Need to get the boys to watch and study them next year when the baby mantids hatch out.
Happy to pop in and flag some spam. Have a great day!
Yeah, cornholio is a pitiful retarded nut.
He keeps the reward pool up I guess. From anyone burning their power on his flagging.
I had flagged him on another post....does he follow and badger those that flag him?
Anyway, not much longer and he will be fairly impotent.
Can't see that eyesight is a problem. The eyes on the mantis seem like they take up half their heads. But I don't know how well they can see with those big eyes.
Do you have T.P. for my bunghole? I would hate for my bungholio to get polio.
I don't think I've ever seen a ladybug larva before!
Well I am delighted to be of service!!!
Knowledge is power!
For two weeks, one year, MANY years ago, we squished them when we saw them! :-(
A kind neighbor enlightened me (that "those are the good guys/gals") and I've shared that kidness ever since!!
I've never seen one before either. I had no idea that they look like this.
So many aphids! The ladybugs and their babies have a lot of work to do!
I think this wonderful post qualifies as an @originalworks post!
(I do wish you had a new iPhone. I think the videos are slightly better on the iPhone than the LG.)
Me too!!
Maybe if I get that one $200 post I'll go ahead and splurge and get a refurbished iPhone 6 ...or 7!?.
1 year later and I still dont have a better iPhone. It is amazing what they can do and I really need to upgrade. For real!
I have the 6s for less than a year and when I see the 7's I drool. But it's amazing what phone cameras can do these days.
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Thank you!!
Wow what great photography, so clear and lovely vivid colours!
I'm not a fan of bugs! But great you talk about how they are good at protecting plants and better than pesticides. Good to be reminded that some of them are really good and part of the chain of nature.
Thank you so much! I am glad you appreciated it!
Footnote for later:
Doing a full length video on ladybugs, their larva, ants and aphid farming could be useful on YouTube.
Pleasure! :)
I do not like aphids. They can appear so quickly and so many they literally can cause leaves to curl up around them and then there is nothing to do but remove the leaves. Ants still crawl in these curled up leaves and milk them. So I like to remove as many as I can and for the leaves not curled up I will spray them with soap and water. They may be good feed for lady bugs but this year the amount of aphids was insane.
Usually a surplus in aphids means a lot of sick/weak plants. Was this year drier or wetter for you?
Also.....you know that the ants actually move and bring the aphids to farm them, right? They will carry them onto plants to milk them.
Yes. I mentioned that in my comment about ants milking. My plants are not sick or weak. Someone said unbalanced soil and that may be a possibility only because it was so hot again this year overwatering could have flushed the nutrients. Otherwise, I do test the NPK plus I use microbes, humik and fulvik acid for healthy root and plant uptake. It is something that has baffled me.
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STOPThis is the first time I seen a ladybug larva, nice to be able to see one:-)