The other morning I got a call from a gardener who was having trouble with her rose bushes. “Something is eating them”, she said. “There are stink bugs on them and also some praying mantises. I wonder if either of them could be the culprits.” I assured her that the praying mantises would not be eating her rose leaves because they are insectivores and therefore do not eat plant material; but the stink bugs were another matter.
Stinky stink bugs
“Are the rose leaves being chewed or are they more stippled with little holes all over?” I asked.
“Oh”, she said. “They don’t really seem to be chewed; they just look somewhat spotty and distorted.”
Hmmm, that’s pretty classic stink bug damage. Stink bugs have piercing/sucking mouth parts and they feed by sucking the juices from leaves, stems and flower buds. Apparently they were all over her roses.
Then she asked me a question that I didn’t know the answer to; “If the praying mantises that are also on my rose bushes are insect eaters, will they eat the stink bugs?”
“Well now, I don’t know”, I said. “Stink bugs are pretty stinky and nasty creatures, I can’t imagine the mantids would eat them but I’m not really sure.”
Praying mantis with a "death grip" on a stink bug!
Later that afternoon, I received an e-mail from a longtime listener to “In the Garden with Andre Viette” that had an attached photo of (drum roll please) a praying mantis chowing down on a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug!
Whoa, what an amazing shot and what a coincidence that he caught it on “film” and happened to e-mail it to us the day I got this question!
Thanks to Nicholas R. of Copper Hill Images for these incredible photos! And thanks for clearing up the mystery of whether they eat stink bugs.
So it seems that praying mantises do find these nasty bugs rather palatable!
Chowing down!
More power to them!
I don’t think I am alone when I say that I’m not looking forward to the time when hordes of these vile insects begin to invade our homes in search of a warm, cozy place to spend the winter. Based on the numbers I saw in our vegetable garden this summer, it’s going to be bad!
Many of our vegetables, including tomatoes, sweet peppers, and cucumbers, had visible damage from the sucking mouthparts of stink bugs.
A red pepper damaged by stink bug feeding.
We haven’t sprayed pesticides in our garden for years but after the devastation we suffered to our bean crop from Mexican bean beetles and the damage to other vegetables from the stink bugs, I think we are going to have to do some spraying next season.
Crop rotation is one of the best ways to reduce insect and disease problems in the vegetable garden and we do practice this each year but apparently it wasn’t enough this season. We had very little disease, though. I think this was due in part to the crop rotation but also to the cover of straw mulch which kept soil from splashing up onto the stems and leaves of the vegetable plants.
A praying mantis egg case in goldenrod. Photo taken by Eric Jones
Anyway, back to the praying mantis! When I work in my “natural” garden in the fall, I often come across praying mantis egg cases. These are puffy, tan masses that are attached to the stems of various plants. I often see them on goldenrod and on my ornamental grasses. If you find them, leave them in the garden! The nymphs will hatch out in the spring and immediately go to work noshing on all kinds of insects. They are very efficient and ferocious predators – especially after they grow up! Some people will even cut branches or stems that have praying mantis egg cases attached to them and tie them to plants in their gardens with the hope that when they hatch they’ll stick around to prey on insect pests in their landscape. Unfortunately the praying mantis isn’t especially discriminating of its prey and will devour non-pest insects just as quickly as it will a pest species.
Oh well – if they eat their share of stink bugs, that’s alright with me!
Until next time – Happy Gardening!
More photos from Nicholas of Copper Hill Images and check out the beautiful photo galleries on his website.
Adult praying mantis
Still eating - Yum!
Almost gone! So long stink bug and good riddance.
Great info, that solves a big mystery. Around our house I may have seen 5 or so stink bugs all year. My firends can’t believe that’s all I have. In the spring we had baby Praying Manti all over the place in and around our garage, and a few adults during the summer. I nudged the babies outside though, just a little creepy to have so many. They must have done their share of Stink Bug killing. We have always had Praying Manti around our house for the 7 years we have been here. We must be considered lucky…Any reason they could be considered as nondesirable?
The only reason might be that they don’t discriminate between beneficial or non-pest insects and the destructive insects. They eat whatever they can catch but despite this, most still consider them a beneficial predator in the garden. I think you are very lucky to have so many around your home!
Same thing here. Last year at this time NJ was crusted in stink bugs. I was sweeping piles of them up this Spring – they hibernate in attics etc. And we’ve had loads of mantises around all summer, and hardly a stinker. I just snapped a rather poor photo of one eating a stinkbug, and found this post when Googling to see if they really did eat the little horrors.
The stinkbug plague has shifted down to MD this year. Bet they’ll have lots of mantises next year too.
Good riddance.
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This is great information! I always have a few praying mantis in various locations around my garden or in containers. I didn’t know what their egg case looks like, and I am glad I know that now. I’ve seen a few stink bugs, so I’m waiting for the invasion that others speak of.
Great info, as always! Thanks!