A: I spotted this picture shared in the Creative Gardening Facebook group, and the majority of respondents correctly identified it as a praying mantis sac, or ootheca.
Recently I had ‘Christmas tree guru’ Mark Czarnota from UGA on the show, and he shared the tip to check live Christmas trees for praying mantis sacs before bringing them inside. Can you imagine having this egg case with dozens of eggs hatching in your home??
When the ootheca are in their natural environment outside, they overwinter and typically hatch in the spring with warming temperatures.
Should praying mantises be feared or revered in the garden?
They are generally thought of as beneficial insects, because they’ll devour bugs like aphids and mosquitoes.
But, University of Florida’s entomology department writes, “just remember that mantises are generalist predators, so they won’t discriminate between “bad” pests and beneficial insects like bees." It’s even said that they’ll eat frogs and hummingbirds... yikes!
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