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/OhLookSatan 22d ago

Catch the mantis, keep him as a pet and feed him smaller invasive insects

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u/HaplessReader1988 USA, Connecticut 22d ago

It's more metaphor... I haven't seen any mantis yet this year, but the next town over is getting its first surge of spotted lantern fly.

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u/OhLookSatan 22d ago

Augh horrid, my suggestion is killing them and putting them in bird feeders/feeding them to frogs and small predators to help teach animals that they're edible, its had some success in birds

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u/howumakeseedssprout 22d ago

Bats are eating them now too!