It’s spring, the sun is shining, and many of us are heading into our gardens to start tending to plants and crops in time for the summer months.
But one Redditor got a surprise after spotting an alarming growth on a rose bush in their garden and decided to ask other keen gardeners for some advice.
“What on earth is this?” the original poster writes, sharing a photo of a brown, circular sac attached to a branch of the rose bush.
The image was posted in the r/Gardening forum where keen gardeners go to share tips, tricks, and advice.
As we pick up our gardening tools for the warmer months, it’s helpful to learn new tips such as ways to keep bugs away without using chemicals or how eggshells could be the key to keeping your tomato plants thriving.
Growing a beautiful garden doesn’t just benefit you; it also benefits the environment. Planting plants and shrubs, such as rose bushes, help to reduce pollution, as they absorb carbon pollution from the atmosphere. It also encourages wildlife, as plants are sources of food, shelter, and even hiding spots from other predators.
This seemed to be the case for this Redditor — the alarming growth seemed to be a praying mantis egg sac, according to the gardening experts on the thread.
“Specifically, that is a Chinese mantid egg sack,” one user writes. “If you live in the Americas, they are an invasive species and are much bigger than our native Carolina mantids. Chinese mantids will eat butterflies, hummingbirds, our native mantids, and much more.”
While these are no longer considered an invasive species, they can harm other pollinators and impact native species of mantis.
Learning about this species has proved very beneficial for the original poster.
“I didn’t even know invasive praying mantis were a thing,” says the user. “Kind of fascinating.”
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