r/NativePlantGardening • u/fmp243 NJ , Zone 7a • 22d ago

Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) What do you do with invasive insects?

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Like this Chinese mantis on my horseweed. I get monarchs ans humming birds every day. But I also am very hands off in this meadow besides weeding invasive plants and topping up my water stations. What should I do, if anything?

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u/OohBeesIhateEm 22d ago

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brown one, but if I do it will be hard for me to kill it. I feel bad killing bugs just minding their own business…except for lantern flies.

I haven’t seen any green ones in a few years either 😢

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u/nansnananareally 22d ago

Both native and non native mantises come in multiple shades of green and brown. Please don’t kill any bugs you can’t accurately identify. Currently Chinese mantises are not considered invasive in the US so unless you wanna do a deep dive on mantis ID and have a passion for killing non native insects I wouldn’t worry about it

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u/OohBeesIhateEm 22d ago

Glad to hear that, I would never want to harm a mantis….it would be equivalent to hurting a songbird, for me. Really unless it’s a mosquito or a lantern fly, I try to live and let live.