File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
I found aphids on two of my rosebushes. Along with these very shiney flies...If only they were Pokemon...

Anyway, I'm not too worried about the flies, but what can I do about the aphids? I remember hearing something like spraying garlic/chile powder on the roses will keep them away, but I think that only works for Mexican vampires. What can I do?
>> Anonymous
dish detergent/water-->very thin and rub onto leaf with towel

or find ladybugs
>> Anonymous
>>234585

Makes sense, thanks. I'll be looking for ladybugs now.
>> Anonymous
Ah, one more question, I was looking at some order forms for lady bugs. I have four bushes, so an order of 100 lady bugs should be plenty, right? Unless I can find a smaller order?
>> Anonymous
should be enough depending on the actual volume of the bushes, would help if you had some of that thin white cloth/breathable you could loosely put around the bushes for a little
>> Anonymous
Aphids are vulnerable to barrel rolls, imo
>> Anonymous
>>234584

You are right about not being worried about the flies by the way.

They are hoverflies who eat the aphids (inbetween pollinating flowers and having lots of sex).
>> Anonymous
>>234606

They sound like bad assess. I knew I like them for a reason. Thank you.
>> Anonymous
I'm not sure where you'd find them, but you can purchase a container full of lady bugs to eat the aphids (I think gardening store or nuseries would be the most likely place) Or, you can take a tiny bit of dish soap and put it in a squirt bottle with water and sprits the little critters with that, it won't hurt the plants, from what I recall, although alternativly it would kill the flies and or lady bugs.
>> Anonymous
>>234670

We don't really have any good gardening stores here, I found out. In fact, they're rather shitty. However, I seem to have gotten my hands on 5(!) praying mantid egg sacks...for a ton cheaper than any ladybug orders I can find online. I'll only use 1 for my little garden, of course, but my neighbors with larger gardens seem eager to adopt.

I figure stealthy killing machines that'll eat anything will do that trick...
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>234671

also they are cute!
>> Anonymous
>>234671
I fucking love praying mantises. They're easily my favorite insect.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>234673

You can bet your pasty ass they are.
>> Anonymous
>>234680
Do they make good pets? I think I've seen people with walking sticks...
>> Anonymous
>>234681

I don't really know, but from what I've read they're easy to take care for. My egg sacks'll be in a glass jar for a while, until they hatch, then I'll release them.

But if you want to keep some, they say you can choose not to release like 4-5 or however many you want and keep them in a fish tank (I imagine like 10 gal. for 3-5, I guess..) covered with netting like old hose. Inside you should have twigs and stuff and you can feed them flies and gnats and aphids (lol) until they're big enough to eat crickets and stuff. They live less than a year and now is a good time to buy. The cheapest place is eBay, seriously, mine were 10.50 including S+H and I've seen websites selling just 1 sack for like twenty bucks.

http://myworld(dot)ebay(dot)com/gphill89/ Here's the dude I ordered mine from.
>> Anonymous
>>234683
Oh yeah, I forgot, you can water them by spraying a little water with a spraying bottle on the side of the glass for them to lap up. I wonder if you could just put a bit of wet sponge in there, too..

And crickets, I'm sure you know, you can get from pet stores. And anything that isn't poisonous around your house is probably fine.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>234680

I would bet 10 asses on this.
>> Anonymous
Is it safe to keep Mantises together? They aren't canabalistic or anything? Remember hearing that story as a little kid where a female Mantis kills the male after mating or something. True? False?
>> Anonymous
>>235196
During mating the female mantis slowly gnaws/chews the head off of the male, yeah.
>> Demyx Wii FC 5155-2805-0806 DS FC 2449 4774 5717 !!lmwZlVKmxPs
>>234779
>>234673
TOUCHDOWN!
>> Anonymous
>>234779

Mantis confirmed for Brawl
>> Anonymous
Mantids are a pretty poor choice if your primary intent is to rid your garden of aphids. Hatchlings will eat them, as well as practically everything else (including hoverflies), but they grow and move onto larger prey too quickly to make any significant difference.

>>235196
They will kill and eat one another if given the opportunity.

Female mantids are prone to killing and eating the male during copulation, but it occurs far less often in the wild than in captivity or when under observation so there's some debate about the role of stress.
>> Anonymous
>>235386

Very few species like the Ghost Mantis can live together their whole life and won't kill each other. Even mating goes on without problems. But it's only a handful of them...