Organic13 said:

It is a very fine line, balance, and dance. When we spray, we interrupt it all. I admire people that use nothing; I'm not there yet though. I'm assuming because I spray (organics mainly), I am putting a kink in things and the balance becomes thrown off. It's usually not thrown off in the beneficial insects favor in my yard either.

I will say since using the citric acid and h2o2 (gave it another try), I'm seeing my beneficials more and seeing less pest. Assassin bug nymphs have returned, along with ladybugs and spiders. Not sure if it is a coincidence, but thought I'd share. Not sure if the whey had kept them away, but I wasn't seeing them while using the whey.

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Poekie said:

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Organic13 said:

You don't have to capture them. If you scroll up a few post, you'll see the mating pair I captured on film. If you leave them alone, they will lay their egg casings around your home. I find casings all the time. Your yard has to be welcoming to them with plenty of food. If you use pesticides often, you may not see them ever. They eat a lot. Also, leave long dried stems up instead of cutting them down and discarding. Often times I find egg cases on dead flowers whose stems are long.

I do know you can purchase mantid egg cases, but unless you can verify they are native to your area, it is silly to do. Most of the egg cases sold in the US are not our native mantis.

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DRan88 said:

I haven't seen any Mantis for awhile where I live . I did see a few of them 2 years ago. Very cool looking creatures. I wonder if it's possible to capture them and maybe breed them. Then set them free on plants.

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Organic13 said:

You don't have to capture them. If you scroll up a few post, you'll see the mating pair I captured on film. If you leave them alone, they will lay their egg casings around your home. I find casings all the time. Your yard has to be welcoming to them with plenty of food. If you use pesticides often, you may not see them ever. They eat a lot. Also, leave long dried stems up instead of cutting them down and discarding. Often times I find egg cases on dead flowers whose stems are long.

I do know you can purchase mantid egg cases, but unless you can verify they are native to your area, it is silly to do. Most of the egg cases sold in the US are not our native mantis.

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PlumberSoCal2 said:

They are awesome to watch. I've got them in my greenhouse and my plants outside. I've posted many a pic but they really don't eat that many bugs to make it worthwhile. I get aphids and spider mites of Biblical proportions at times and "washing them off" ain't gonna do it so I don't have any choice if I want to grow my own I've got to spray, mainly neem oil. And even then I get these bastards
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which produce these buds
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and I'm spraying minimum once a week. With dozens of moth species laying eggs each and every day I may have to up it to twice a week. It's either that or give up a percentage of flower. Not spraying I end up with moth shit half eaten buds which i don't really care for

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Poekie said:

Yep those caterpillars are the scourge of the garden.

Dont you use BT?
I only sprayed twice this season and yesterday first time on the sativas.

BT works well on the young ones but much less on the adults.

For some reason its been pretty easy to catch them this season, almost every morning and evening they go out for a walk on the buds and leaves and its easy to spot them.

And what do you use as an emulsifier for the neem oil?
Havent used neem this season, gotta get some for next year...

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