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    February 27, 2022
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CELEBRATING 26 YEARS! Welcome to my weekly series! THE LANDSCAPE ASK PROFESSIONAL Linda K. Lillie of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K. Lilie has been Prosident of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc. for the last 26 years. She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany, an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects. This week's article comes by way of our friends at The Perfect Earth Project (234birds.org and perfectearthproject.org). Native Carolina Mantis Native Carolina Mantis Ootheca The Great Ootheca Hunt Praying Mantis are garden treasures, right? Not quite. They are more about preying than praying. Seriously voracious, they eat bad and beloved bugs in quantity, but some eat more than others. There are the native ones, and then there are the extra voracious, exotic invasive ones that out-eat the native Mantis, including eating the natives themsehlves, not to mention the occasional hummingbird. The locals are losing. You can play a role in protecting our native Praying Mantis populations. You don't have to spray or squish the invaders, just remove their egg cases (called ootheca), and feed them to your chickens. No Chickens? Submerge in water or a compost bin. The difference between natives and non-natives is fairly easy to tell, and this is the time of year to spot them. Look closely and you will see ootheca attached to twigs, stems, and wood posts. There are actually two different species of invasives with slightly different ootheca. They are both light in color, the Chinese Mantis, the most common, is puffy, the European, flat, scaly, and Invasive Chinese Mantis egg an even pale brown. The native Carolina Mantis egg cases are darker brown and striped. They are harder to find, better camouflaged and fewer of them. These are the ones to keep. Invasive European Mantis egg Sprigs D&wigs EMAIL OR MAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO: info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie, Sprigs & Twigs Inc, PO Box 245, Gales Ferry, CT 06335 best SPRIGS & TWIGS VOTED THE BEST BY DAY READERS EVERY YEAR! CELEBRATING 26 YEARS! Welcome to my weekly series! THE LANDSCAPE ASK PROFESSIONAL Linda K. Lillie of Sprigs & Twigs Linda K. Lilie has been Prosident of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc. for the last 26 years. She is a graduate of Connecticut College in Botany, an accredited NOFA Organic Land Care Professional, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national award winning landscape designer for her design and installation projects. This week's article comes by way of our friends at The Perfect Earth Project (234birds.org and perfectearthproject.org). Native Carolina Mantis Native Carolina Mantis Ootheca The Great Ootheca Hunt Praying Mantis are garden treasures, right? Not quite. They are more about preying than praying. Seriously voracious, they eat bad and beloved bugs in quantity, but some eat more than others. There are the native ones, and then there are the extra voracious, exotic invasive ones that out-eat the native Mantis, including eating the natives themsehlves, not to mention the occasional hummingbird. The locals are losing. You can play a role in protecting our native Praying Mantis populations. You don't have to spray or squish the invaders, just remove their egg cases (called ootheca), and feed them to your chickens. No Chickens? Submerge in water or a compost bin. The difference between natives and non-natives is fairly easy to tell, and this is the time of year to spot them. Look closely and you will see ootheca attached to twigs, stems, and wood posts. There are actually two different species of invasives with slightly different ootheca. They are both light in color, the Chinese Mantis, the most common, is puffy, the European, flat, scaly, and Invasive Chinese Mantis egg an even pale brown. The native Carolina Mantis egg cases are darker brown and striped. They are harder to find, better camouflaged and fewer of them. These are the ones to keep. Invasive European Mantis egg Sprigs D&wigs EMAIL OR MAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO: info@sprigsandtwigs.net or Linda Lillie, Sprigs & Twigs Inc, PO Box 245, Gales Ferry, CT 06335 best SPRIGS & TWIGS VOTED THE BEST BY DAY READERS EVERY YEAR!