This morning while cleaning out a flower bed I found three cacoons - Does anyone know what they will turn into? They were all the same and uniquely constructed.
Also can anyone help me identify which species of sulfur butterfly landed on the red sage while I was cleaning the garden?
It looks sort of like a praying mantis egg sac.
CatMint - Thanks a bunch. After you told me what you thought it was I Googled and did a little other research. I believe you are right. Very - Very interesting. What amazed me the most was how they were offered on Ebay. Mine will stay in the flower bed where I found them and in hopes that a couple hundred will hatch come spring and go in pursuit of the squashbug.
I have mixed feelings about the mantises. It's nice if they eat bugs I *don't* want, but then there are all the beneficial insects, which they also eat! :-(
In my research it mentioned that they eat squash bugs. Last year in 2012 I had more squash bugs than any one person needed. This year I had practically NO squash bugs. I did not take measures to detour the bugs, so JUST MAYBE the mantises was the reasoning for that. Where I found the three cacoons was pretty close to where most of my squash were grown. I have recently seen the adult mantis (looked like the Chinese, but that is not my expertise). Whow - they sure are large. Must be close to 6 inches long. I have not seen a walking stick in a LONG time. Now tell me the bad news - what kind of beneficial insects do the mantis eat?
yes, they are huge!! I saw one recently in my yard (and also found an egg case). In addition to the pests, they also eat bees, butterflies and their caterpillars, and hoverflies and parasitic wasps (which are beneficial insects that eat lots of aphids and other pests). So, I have mixed feelings about them. However, apparently they love Japanese beetles, so that is something to keep in mind for next June.
Recently I had a swallowtail caterpillar munching in my fennel. I saw the mantis lurking nearby and moved the caterpillar into a mason jar so he could do his thing without worrying about the mantis. He is now a chrysalis!!
Wonder if it might have been more beneficial to have moved the mantise since fennel is one of the host plants for the catapillars. I also found it interesting that sometimes the female mantise eats the male (quite an appetite). Guess I don't know what the hoverflies and parasitic wasps are. I'll have to Google them. I sure know what the Japanese beetle is. As a deterent in fall of 2012 I planted garlic bulbs around all my roses and think it helped with the Japanese Beetles in 2013. Since I did not harvest the garlic from around the roses, there is again garlic around the roses (a good thing - I think). I saw one monarch today. Lots of these - do you know anything about them?
They look like skippers! A type of butterfly. Very beneficial!! They do a lot of pollinating--very good to have in your garden. :-)
I believe your butterfly is the orange sulphur, probably female. Colias eurytheme
Thank you for sulphur identification. I have been noticing several of the very large sulphurs recently - are they migrating too? You seem to know your butterflies. I checked your photos and you are all about butterflies - YEAH!
Just noticed your thread. The skippers look like a bunch of courting Sachems. the females have the glassy white spots and the males are rather plain except for a large black stigma area above. Your sulphur looks like a Cloudless Sulphur to me since it has double spots on each wing. http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/7799/ . Many have emerged recently. Some can be bright greenish yellow and look like "Big lemons" flying about looking for flowers or host plants, Sennae or Partridge Pea.
Brenda, I defer to Shorthog. Much more of an expert than I.
