Ducks Gardening

Top 11 garden plants for chickens and ducks

Posted on May 3, 2020
Top 11 garden plants for chickens and ducks thumbnail

What are chicken and ducks’ favorite garden plants? Find out what treats you can grow in your garden to share with your feathered family members!

Do you have chickens or ducks? If so and you love your flock as much as we do, your birds are likely spoiled rotten. And completely ungrateful…

It’s important for your flock’s health, longevity, and egg production to make sure they have optimal nutrition. In addition to their primary food, we like to give our ducks plenty of fresh garden goodies throughout the year, which is one of many reasons we maintain a large organic garden/edible landscape.

Over the years, we’ve learned what garden treats our ducks do and don’t like. Now, we’re always sure to grow their favorite varieties to keep them spoiled with fresh organic produce every season of the year.

The fruits and veggies on this list are also some of our favorites to eat as well. So when our ducks aren’t looking, we’ll steal food from “their” garden. (Shh, don’t tell them.)

We use temporary fencing to set up "duck gardens" in our back yard for our ducks. Our ducks can reach their heads in just far enough to "trim" the outer leaves as the plants mature. This gives them a fun activity and fresh foraged greens without allowing them to completely destroy the plants - which is what they'd do with unfettered access.

We use temporary fencing to set up “duck gardens” in our backyard for our ducks. Our ducks can reach their heads in just far enough to trim the outer leaves as the plants mature. This gives them a fun activity and fresh foraged greens without allowing them to completely destroy the plants – which is what they’d do with unfettered access.

Top 11 garden plants for chickens and ducks

If you’re a gardener (or aspiring gardener) with spoiled fowl, you might want to grow the plant varieties we mention below. Depending on where you live, the dates/months that you’ll grow and harvest these plants will vary, but you can just follow the instructions on your seed packets to get great results.

Based on the preferences of our Welsh Harlequin ducks combined with feedback from other gardeners we know who raise ducks and chickens, here are the top 11 garden plants for chickens and ducks (in no particular order):

*note: growing info below is based on our temperate climate region, Zone 7B

1. MILD Asian Greens

Top 10 Garden Plants For Chickens and Ducks: If you think you can't have an edible garden because of shade, think again. There are probably as many edible plants that will grow in shade as will grow in full sun and some edible plants can tolerate both. This is a spot that gets at most 4 hours of direct sun but it's full of edible plants you may be familiar with. Front to back: borage, vitamin greens/vitaminna, lettuce, kale, cilantro, strawberry spinach. They're "trimmed" next to the fencing since this bed is primarily intended to provide our ducks with some forage during the day: they can reach their fat little heads in, but not too far. :)

If you think you can’t have an edible garden because of shade, think again. There are probably as many edible plants that will grow in shade as will grow in full sun and some edible plants can tolerate both. This is a spot that gets at most 4 hours of direct sun but it’s full of edible plants you may be familiar with. Front to back: borage, vitamin greens/vitaminna, lettuce, kale, cilantro, strawberry spinach. They’re “trimmed” next to the fencing since this bed is primarily intended to provide our ducks with some forage during the day: they can reach their fat little heads in, but not too far. 🙂

Season: fall, winter, spring

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Napa cabbage, vitamin greens, mibuna, bok choy, and similar MILD Asian greens all offer a similar, delicious flavor. Our ducks love them, and we do too.

Our ducks do not like spicy greens such as mustard greens or arugula. 

2. Chicory

Top 10 Garden Plants For Chickens and Ducks: There is a huge amount of diversity in the size, shape, color, and taste of various chicory varieties. We've grown dozens of varieties and our ducks like them all, even when they're going to bolt and turn very bitter.

There is a huge amount of diversity in the size, shape, color, and taste of various chicory varieties. We’ve grown dozens of varieties and our ducks like them all.

Season: spring and fall

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: There are tons of varieties of chicory, and they come in all different sizes, shapes, colors, and flavors. Our ducks like it all.

Our favorite chicory varieties for ducks are “leaf chicories” which feature tall upright leaves. You can cut all the leaves at once about 5″ above the ground and they’ll grow back within weeks, making them a highly productive cut-and-come-again veggie. 

Leaf chicory is often sold as “dandelion greens” in high end grocery stores even though they’re totally different plant species. In addition to their productivity, one of the best things about them is they’ll produce continuously from fall through spring. We use row cover/low tunnels to keep it happy in the winter. 

3. Lettuce

Top 10 Garden Plants For Chickens and Ducks: lettuce - A beautiful patch of young lettuce.

A beautiful patch of young lettuce almost ready to meet a duck for dinner.

Season: spring and fall

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Did you know that in poultry heaven, the clouds are made of lettuce? At least that’s what our ducks tell us…

They seriously love the stuff, and it’s hard to pick their favorite lettuce variety. Our recommendation: get the ‘Wild Garden Lettuce Mix‘ from organic plant breeding genius Frank Morton’s farm. It offers a dazzling array of colors, sizes, and shapes. 

4. Kale

Top 10 Garden Plants For Chickens and Ducks: Ooh, kale on top and chickweed growing underneath. If you were a duck or chicken, this would make your brain light up with hunger and excitement. We harvest and chop huge quantities of kale for our flock throughout the cool months.

Ooh, kale on top and chickweed growing underneath. If you were a duck or chicken, this would make your brain light up with hunger and excitement. We harvest and chop huge quantities of kale and chickweed for our flock throughout the cool months.

Season: fall, winter spring for us (our hot humid summers are tough here for kale)

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Our girls aren’t too picky about which kale they’ll eat, but for some reason they seem to prefer extra frilly-leafed varieties. Perhaps it’s fun for them to grab and rip the frilly leaves versus the flat leaves (like Lacinato).

One thing we’ve noticed is that the flavor of kale takes on a more intense, almost spicy flavor as the plants get stressed in late spring-summer in our climate zone. Our ducks stop eating it then but absolutely love it every other season. 

5. Mâche

Mache goes from a tiny, low-growing green to a bush of tiny white flowers very quickly in the spring (you can see it flowering in large clumps in this photo). It's edible at every stage. Beneficial/predatory insects will LOVE you for growing it - as will your poultry. From article: Top 10 Garden Plants For Chickens and Ducks by Tyrant Farms

Mache goes from a tiny, low-growing green to a bush of tiny white flowers very quickly in the spring (you can see it flowering in large clumps in this photo). It’s edible at every stage. Beneficial/predatory insects will LOVE you for growing it – as will your poultry.

Season: fall, winter, spring

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Another incredibly cold-hardy green. We’ve had mâche survive uncovered down into the single digits.

The plants stay small throughout the winter, then doubles in size nearly every week in the late winter/early spring until it starts producing tiny flowers and seed pods. 

Mâche greens are delicious – they taste almost nutty. Some of our ducks also love eating the tiny seeds off the plants, which are probably loaded with good omegas which then go into their eggs. 

6. Austrian Winter Peas (the greens/leaves, not the pods)

Season: fall, winter, spring

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Peas aren’t just a spring plant if you know the right varieties. ‘Austrian winter’ peas are the cold-hardiest variety we grow, surviving uncovered to around 10°F.

The peas from the mature spring pods make a killer dried pea for soup, but they’re not as good as snap peas for eating raw. The real magic of ‘Austrian winter’ peas is in the delicious edible shoots/leaves, which taste every bit as good – if not better – than sugar snap peas.

They’re very high in protein, and as you might have guessed, our ducks LOVE them. These also make a great nitrogen-fixing cover crop. Learn more about how to grow  & harvest Austrian winter peas.

7. Snap Peas (for the peas in the pods)

Season: fall, winter, spring depending on your agricultural zone

Light: full sun-part shade

Description & growing notes: Pretty much every duck parent we know (and we know lots of them) say their ducks go absolutely bonkers for peas in the snap pea category. Thus they grow snap peas and/or buy bags of frozen peas from the grocery store.

However, our flock of Welsh Harlequin ducks must be broken as we’ve never managed to get them to eat a single pea. Don’t take our ducks’ word for it. Peas will likely be very popular with your ducks — if not, you can enjoy them! 

8a. Small Tomatoes (currants & cherry) 

Season: summer

Light: full sun (smaller-fruited currant and cherry tomatoes can actually grow in part shade, although they won’t produce as much fruit.

Description & growing notes: We have no idea why, but tomatoes are probably our ducks’ absolute favorite food. If we were the only thing standing between our ducks and a tomato, we’d be seriously worried for our health.

We love and recommend ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’ tomatoes (in the small tomato category) for a few reasons:

  • the plants are incredibly robust and need no care;
  • the small tomatoes are the perfect size for a greedy duck bill to gulp down whole;
  • they readily reseed and come back in the same spot year after year; and
  • they’re an absolutely delicious tomato for duck slaves (aka humans) to enjoy by the handful as well.

8b. Large tomatoes (beefsteaks) 

Season: summer

Light: full sun (with the larger sized fruits, tomatoes require a full sun spot – minimum 6 hours of direct sunlight per day). 

Description & growing notes: One of our favorite things to do on a summer evening is to score a large beefsteak tomato with a knife, put it on the ground, do our “duuuuuckliiiiing” treat call which sends our flock flap-running across the yard, then watch as our flock viciously rips the innocent tomato to shreds within seconds.

It’s like Shark Week, but with tomato juice instead of blood and ducks playing the role of Great White sharks. We’re not sure who gets more pleasure from this activity, us or the ducks. We hope you and your feathered family takes as much pleasure from tomato-sharking as we do. 

9. Sunberries

Yum, sunberries!

Yum, sunberries! 

Season: summer

Light: produce most fruit in full sun, but tolerate part shade

Description & growing notes: A relatively unknown fruit attributed to the famous plant breeder, Luther Burbank, sunberries (aka wonderberries) are related to tomatoes and other nightshade fruit, but taste more like a mild blueberry.

The 2-3′ tall plants form prolific clusters of berries that ripen black. Ducks, chickens, and humans are all happier when sunberries are ripe.

Do note that some of our ducks absolutely LOVE sunberries and some are meh on them. Who’s to know the mind of a duck. 

10. Ground Cherries

Small currant tomatoes on the left, ground cherries in the white bowl on the right. This is the stuff duck and chicken dreams are made of. From article Top 10 Garden Plants for Ducks and Chickens by Tyrant Farms

Small currant tomatoes on the left, ground cherries in the white bowl on the right. This is the stuff duck and chicken dreams are made of.

Season: summer

Light: full sun for best fruit production and flavor

Description & growing notes: This strange little husked fruit blew our minds when we first ate it many years ago. It tastes like a cross between a pineapple and a tomato.

Ground cherries are a staple in our summer garden every year. As it turns out, our ducks love them to, especially Svetlana the flock matriarch who could eat her body weight in ground cherries if we let her. Find out how to grow, harvest and use ground cherries.

11. Chickweed

See the long stems with tiny green leaves and tiny white flowers? That's chickweed (Stellaria media) - your ducks and chickens will love you for growing it, and it probably already grows as a "weed" all around you in the late winter/early spring.

See the long stems with tiny green leaves and tiny white flowers? That’s chickweed (Stellaria media) – your ducks and chickens will love you for growing it, and it probably already grows as a “weed” all around you in the late winter/early spring.

Season: fall, winter, spring

Light: grows well but will go to seed earlier in full sun; thrives in part shade

Description & growing notes:

Chickweed is a delightful “weed” that grows abundantly in the winter and spring throughout the US. The flavor is sweet and mild and most similar to corn silk (yes, the frills that stick up out of the top of a corn husk).

It was brought over by early European settlers since it’s one of the earliest greens to produce, and has since naturalized all over North America. It’s one of the most cold-hardy greens you can grow – we’ve had it live uncovered through 10°F.

It grows crazy fast in the spring and our ducks will absolutely gorge themselves on it. Yes, the reason it’s called “chickweed” is that chickens do indeed love it too. Once you know what chickweed looks like, you’ll probably see it everywhere during its growing season.

Update: What plants our ducks do NOT like

Just as in humans, there seems to be wide variability in what one duck or chicken (or flock) likes versus another. We talk to lots of poultry parents whose birds like things our flock won’t touch, despite repeated exposure. 

For example, our ducks do NOT like: watermelon, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, beautyberries, grapes, or many other fruits. Other people report that their ducks love these treats.

Since our ducks won’t touch them, these plants are not included in the favorites list above. If you find that your flock does like them, grow away! 

The top 10 plants to grow for year-round, garden-fresh produce for your ducks and chickens. #growyourown #duckfood #chickenfood #plantsforchickens #plantsforducks #tyrantfarms

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KIGI,


 
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Other helpful duck articles that’ll quack you up: 

and more duck articles from Tyrant Farms!

11 Comments

  • Reply
    Pam Davidson
    June 17, 2022 at 3:34 pm

    Have you tried feeding your babies papaya? Mine get either papaya or watermelon every day in their afternoon treat. (It’s also a good way to keep them out of their run while I change out the waterers, bowls, and kiddie pool. Otherwise they tend to be a little too helpful.) I’ve got a variety of babies, buff, welsh harlequin, blue and black Swedish, silver Appleyard, golden hybrid, khaki campbell, and the queen bee, my Rouen, Quackers. All of them seem to love both fruits if the way they attack the food trays is any indication. Especially my boy Georgie. The girls have all learned to get out of his way when the food goes down. He has no qualms about running them over or me for that matter. I have found that if I put the fruit on the bottom they dig past the peas, corn, green beans, carrots, and kale to get to it and hardly notice the powdered brewers yeast I sprinkle on. Everything else is just an afterthought. Don’t get me wrong, they love their veggies, but I guess they all have a bit of a sweet tooth, well I guess in their case it would be a sweet bill. I’m going to try some of the other things you listed to try and give them more variety.

    Any suggestions on how I can go about keeping my kale fresh? I’m new to this so haven’t had time to get my own garden going and have to rely on store bought for now.

    Also, what kind of regular feed do you provide? I’m having trouble finding one that will work for both my ducks and chickens since they grew up together and the chickens are convinced their ducks. They even go so far as to wade in the kiddie pool with the ducks, feet only but I’ve had chickens all my life and never have I had one that would get in the water. At least not on purpose. They don’t roost at night either. They dog pile right in with the ducks. It’s the strangest thing I’ve ever seen, but cute as all get out. I never realized that ducks and chickens could bond. I also didn’t know that they would bond with my german shephard mix. Quackers treats her like she’s part of the flock. She doesn’t hesitate to correct her when she’s being a little to rambunctious. She also calls to her when she gets too far away. Is that normal?

    I’m also working on building them a better pool based on your other article. I just have to make a few alterations so the chickens can wade with them and Ellie can swim with them. By the way, you’ve been a lifesaver as I navigate the new world of raising ducks. I had no idea what I was in for, but I’m enjoying every minute. You might go so far as to say I’m obsessed.

    • Reply
      Aaron von Frank
      June 18, 2022 at 7:15 am

      Wonderful to hear about your various experiences with ducks (and chickens and German shepherds)! Sounds like a good place to be an animal.

      Oddly, our Welsh Harlequin ducks do not like watermelon or papaya. We grow both fruits (yes, even papaya – https://www.tyrantfarms.com/how-to-grow-papayas-in-pots-in-non-tropical-climate-zones/) and can attest that our ducks’ watermelon aversions are not due to low quality fruit. We’ve heard from countless people over the years that their ducks do like watermelon so we’re not quite sure the reason for our flock’s lack of interest. Perhaps we could have continued to provide watermelon to them when they were ducklings so they acquired the taste.

      Perhaps most accurately you could refer to your ducks’ sweet tooth/bill as a sweet lamellae. Ha!

      Keeping kale fresh: we keep ours in the fridge in a bag in the veggie drawer until we use it. When giving it to our ducks, we chop it into small pieces and then put it in their water bowls. It doesn’t last very long from that point on.

      We give our ducks Mazuri waterfowl feed. They have lower protein Maintenance feed and higher protein Layer/Breeder feed. If you want to take a deeper dive into our recommended duck feeding regimen: https://www.tyrantfarms.com/what-to-feed-pet-or-backyard-ducks-to-maximize-their-health-and-longevity/.

      So interesting about your chickens… and your “swimming” chickens – ha!

      As for your duck calling for your German shepherd – not something we have personal experience with but it sounds like she’s quite bonded with the dog, as you said. In that case, being out of visual contact with a beloved flockmate can cause a duck to get a bit stressed and call out with their “where are you?” quacks.

  • Reply
    JAMES ORR
    November 9, 2020 at 4:37 am

    Are any of the plants in your top 10 poisonous to pets? I looked up ground cherries and a lot of sites say do not allow consumption for the unripe fruit or leaves by any livestock, pets, or humans.

    • Reply
      Aaron von Frank
      November 11, 2020 at 5:12 pm

      Hi James! It’s generally a good idea to avoid nightshade leaves (tomatoes, ground cherries, eggplants, etc), whether you’re human or poultry. We’ve grown lots of nightshades in proximity to our ducks and they seem to quickly gain an intuition of what’s edible or not. They also get lots of leafy greens each day so they’re not ravenous for greens or nutrient-deficient. In our opinion, the risk is mostly to the plants which will be trampled to death by ducks or pecked to death by chickens if given full access. Long story short: plants like ground cherries shouldn’t be a health risk to your poultry, but it’s probably best to grow all of these plants in an area your poultry can’t access and dole out the garden-fresh goodies accordingly.

  • Reply
    Vickie Ray Degand
    May 13, 2020 at 3:26 pm

    We have a tropical garden with palm trees & all sorts of tropical plants, many produce fruit. Mixed in the area are tropical flowers, Japanese maple tree, really anything you might find in a tropical setting, minus the alligators. Would it be safe for both the plants & the ducks to allow them to free range in that area? Thank you.

    • Reply
      Aaron von Frank
      May 17, 2020 at 2:03 pm

      Sounds like duck paradise! Yes, should be safe for both plants and ducks.

      They’ll fertilize your larger plants. Be warned that they may trample or nibble your smaller plants though. The main things you’ll need to be careful of are whether you have fencing to keep them on your property and keep predators from getting in. You’ll still want to put them up in a protected coop at night when predators are most active. In our experience, ducks quickly figure out which plants are edible and which aren’t. Also, be sure you’re providing them with a good, balanced diet which includes fresh greens.

  • Reply
    Typical Troll
    June 26, 2019 at 4:22 pm

    Any suggestions for hot weather and shallow root edibles?
    I’m building a “Quacker Box” with a green roof and we’re nearing our hot summer days.
    Might just do a cover crop if I can’t figure it out.

  • Reply
    Dust Bowl Blue
    July 16, 2018 at 1:11 am

    I would also suggest kale – so pretty to grow, but not something I’m fond of eating. My hens go mad for it, so it’s a win-win!

  • Reply
    Randy Bill
    September 4, 2017 at 4:22 pm

    I brought home 4 wonderful, 12 to 13 week old welsh harlequins about 6 weeks ago. Do you have any suggestions for helping to tam the. They know me and know I bring food, treats and fresh water, abundantly, but I still can’t get any closer than about 3 feet.

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Ducks

5 tips to keep your ducks from destroying your yard or garden

Posted on May 3, 2020
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We’ve had quite a few other duck parents reach out to us asking how they can keep their ducks from destroying their yard or garden. It seems their ducks have a different idea than they do about what makes for an aesthetically pleasing landscape… 

Those attractive rows of veggies, neat bed edges, or low-lying landscape plants? Let your ducks have unfettered access to them and they’ll soon look like an F-5 mud tornado touched down. 

What’s a duck parent to do? 

5 tips to keep your ducks from destroying your yard or garden

Don’t despair! We happen to be the world’s foremost experts on “duck gardening” (ha!) and we’ll share tips & tricks of the trade with you. 

A purple artichoke, daylilies, evening primrose, garlic chives, sylvetta arugula, and amaryllis flowers in a bed in front of our house. This bed gets a supervised visit from our ducks each night, but still stays reasonably attractive.

A purple artichoke, day lilies, evening primrose, garlic chives, sylvetta arugula, and amaryllis flowers in a bed in front of our house. This bed gets a supervised visit from our ducks each night, but still stays reasonably attractive.

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6 Comments

  • Reply
    Stephanie
    May 3, 2023 at 11:45 am

    How about hydrangeas and gardenias? I have a few of these scattered around my yard and am considering adding more. I just recently got a couple of ducks they are still young (7 weeks now) and don’t “free range” without supervision much… just yet. I plan to allow them access to most of the back yard and won’t add anymore of those plants if they are toxic to those guys/gals (not sure what we have just yet).
    On a fun note, we have a medium sized stocked pond that they will have access too when they are older. It is in the back corner of our property, so they haven’t found it just yet. They have however found the in-ground swimming pool. The first time by accident. I was on one side pruning the palm trees and they tried to get to me by walking across the pool instead of around the decking. They had wandered off around the deck and then decided I was too far away. I heard a splash and some duck chatter, and one had fallen in and the other quickly followed! They dabbled around and my Black Swedish dove down a few feet and popped up like a cork! They have gotten in a few times since, but I don’t let them stay long. I don’t think it would hurt them … honestly, we are terrible pool keepers so the only chemical in the tap water that was added is salt. We don’t feel the need to put anything else in it as long as the water is pretty clear!

    • Reply
      Aaron von Frank
      May 5, 2023 at 11:06 am

      Ha! Funny story with your ducks and your in-ground pool. If we had an in-ground pool, keeping our ducks out of it would be a never-ending battle. Our neighbor has a pool and our ducks eyed it jealously and tried to get to it until our neighbor put up a fence (they put a fence up to keep their dogs in, not keep our ducks out).

      We have gardenias and hydrangeas as well. Our ducks forage around and under the plants, but don’t try to eat the leaves. That likely means they’re either poisonous or at least unpalatable to ducks. Two other common landscape plants our ducks have access to are azaleas and ‘Crimson Fire’ loropetalums. They don’t touch the azaleas (which are poisonous) but they do enjoy eating loropetalum leaves. That’s actually helpful because our loropetalums are larger bushes and the ducks keep the undersides nicely trimmed up to duck height – ha!

      Our girls get lots of fresh leafy greens each day (lettuce, kale, chickweed, chicory, etc), so they’re not nutritionally longing or desperate for greens. Perhaps if we didn’t give them greens they’d be more inclined to eat plants they shouldn’t.

      Best of luck with your flock!

  • Reply
    Jackie H
    April 21, 2022 at 12:01 pm

    Hello! I’m so curious how you built your self cleaning pond that seems to work well and look great. I cant find much info on doing that and I’ve looked, believe me. We have 2 pet ducks, Pogi and Platty (short for Platypus) and would love to get rid of the kiddie pool that like you said, looks reminiscent of chocolate pudding within 24 to 48 hours!

  • Reply
    Douglas R
    May 4, 2020 at 9:36 am

    Do you have a good online resource for “edible” plants for ducks? My ducks are crazy for a mountain laurel on my property that I’ve read is toxic to sheep and other grazing animals. I’ve put a cage around it but they still make a beeline for it when they see it. I’d hate to remove it but the ducks would come first.

    • Reply
      Aaron von Frank
      May 6, 2020 at 3:09 pm

      Douglas, unfortunately we don’t have a list of every edible plant for ducks. There are just too many plants out there and no way to know whether certain plants are edible due to lack of research on that particular topic. Our general rule, which we’ve not lived to regret yet: we give our ducks lots of greens from our garden each day that we know are edible, so they’re not starving for greens or micronutrient deficient. That way, they’re less inclined to eat things they shouldn’t (at least that’s what we tell ourselves). Then at night they’re out in the yard with us foraging among a couple hundred different plant species, some of which would likely be poisonous if eaten. They seem to have developed a good instinct about what’s good vs what isn’t, so we let them do their thing. When they were young ducklings, they’d sometimes nibble new plants and spit out the ones they didn’t like.

      Long story short: if your ducks have already eaten mountain laurel and exhibited no ill effects, it’s probably not a problem for them – at least at the quantity they’re eaten it thus far. Also, do be sure they’re getting supplemental greens you know are edible on a daily basis, if at all possible.

      Hope this helps!

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Gardening

Lacewings: how to ID and attract this amazing, beneficial insect

Posted on April 25, 2020
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Lacewings are gorgeous, net-winged insects (Neuroptera) that can play an essential role as pollinators and pest control in your garden. In this article, you’ll find out how to create their ideal habitat and identify them at each stage of their lifecycle.

One of our favorite things to do in our yarden is go out on “insect safaris.” Looking closely at our plants always reveals an entire world teeming with life. It’s always fun to see familiar insect faces like ladybugs, honeybees, dragonflies, and praying mantises.

Since we have a water feature (duck pond), we get lots of dragonflies in our gardens each summer. To optimize their pest control potential, we intentionally create hunting perches for them throughout our garden. This is a Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis), enjoying a view from atop a perch in one of our blackberry patches (in this case, one of last year's dead canes). Who hates dragonflies? Mosquitos. An adult dragonfly can eat 30-100 mosquitos per day. Since their larvae are aquatic predators that can take up two years to mature, they also spend the first part of their lives consuming huge numbers of mosquito larvae as well.

Since we built a duck pond, we get lots of dragonflies in our gardens each summer. To optimize their pest control potential, we intentionally create hunting perches for them throughout our garden. This is a Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis), enjoying a view from atop a perch in one of our blackberry patches (in this case, one of last year’s dead canes). Who hates dragonflies? Mosquitos. An adult dragonfly can eat 30-100 mosquitos per day. Since their larvae are aquatic predators that can take up two years to mature, they also spend the first part of their lives consuming huge numbers of mosquito larvae as well.

Most people are familiar with these charismatic insects, but there are countless other lesser known and equally beneficial insects that haven’t become as popular or well-known. One of many such insects is the lacewing. 

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    Gardening Recipes

    Recipe: Stinging nettle pesto with green garlic

    Posted on April 15, 2020
    Recipe: Stinging nettle pesto with green garlic thumbnail

    This simple stinging nettle pesto recipe produces a rich, yet mild and creamy pesto that is delicious on pasta, white fish, or used as a dip. Use the detailed instructions & photos in this article to make your own!   

    Stinging nettle: our favorite winter & spring green

    Last night, while eating stinging nettle pesto and MSC labeled haddock, my husband and I agreed that stinging nettle is probably our favorite late winter and early spring green.  Why?

    As we wrote about in Why you should grow and use stinging nettle, this famously prickly plant has lots of attributes:

    • it’s perennial so you don’t have to replant it each year;
    • it offers a wonderful mild flavor and is incredibly versatile in the kitchen;
    • stinging nettle is one of the most nutritious, high protein greens on the planet;
    • the plant produces huge quantities of greens each year with little effort — arguably a little too much if it escapes your garden beds.  

    We’ve been picking and eating piles of stinging nettle from our two patches this spring. We’re also trying to diversify our stinging nettle recipe portfolio so that we (and thus you) have more ways to use stinging nettle in the kitchen. 

    Hence, this new stinging nettle pesto with green garlic recipe. 

    Stinging nettle pesto with green garlic.

    Stinging nettle pesto with green garlic – this tastes sooo good!

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    2 Comments

    • Reply
      Lisa Aman
      April 16, 2020 at 8:56 pm

      Thanks much cooked this and YUM ! Now garden is less dangerous too lol

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        April 17, 2020 at 2:27 pm

        Haha! Glad you enjoyed the stinging nettle pesto, Lisa! We love stinging nettle so much as a veggie, that I happily endure a few accidental stings each year.

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    Ducks

    What’s the best bedding for your duck coop or run?

    Posted on April 9, 2020
    What's the best bedding for your duck coop or run? thumbnail

    Are you trying to figure out the best type of bedding for your duck coop or duck run? In this article, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of each material option and provide our recommendation for keeping your ducks clean, healthy, and happy.

    We’ve had pet and backyard ducks since 2013. Before getting ducks, we spent about six months reading and learning everything we could about ducks so we could be good duck parents.

    Continue Reading

    42 Comments

    • Reply
      Jenifer G.
      July 9, 2023 at 2:25 pm

      Thank you for all your wonderful information! I am bookmarking your website for ducky references!

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        July 10, 2023 at 7:04 am

        Thanks Jennifer! Glad you’re finding our duck information helpful.

        • Reply
          Mary West
          August 20, 2023 at 12:47 pm

          Hi guys!
          I live in Alaska. Animal feed and bedding getting shipped out to remote places in Alaska gets very expensive. I have been shredding my Amazon boxes in a cross cut Office shredder for bedding! It absorbs way more water in the duckling pen, and keeps my chicken house drier than ANY other bedding I have used so far!
          Mary

    • Reply
      Angelyn
      February 26, 2023 at 3:47 pm

      Hello, soon to be runner duck parents here! Wondering what your base flooring looks like in your pen.. is it 1/2 inch wire on top of grass, gravel, or sand? We’re wanting to make a closed-in pen but also trying to navigate healthy flooring. Will absolutely be going with pine per all your great info! But what’s the best method for the direct floor, under the pine?

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        February 27, 2023 at 11:38 am

        Hi Angelyn and congrats on your new runner ducks! We go into a lot of detail about coop and run construction and setup here: https://www.tyrantfarms.com/how-to-build-duck-coop-and-duck-run/. We have 1/2″ hardware wire under our duck coops to prevent anything from digging or tunneling in (raccoons, rats, mice, etc). We started out with moveable duck coops but they’re now permanently in position on top of a mulched area in our backyard (e.g. we no longer move the coops around). So the 1/2″ hardware wire is affixed directly to the bottom of the coops and pine shavings are placed on top of the wire (we use a modified deep litter method). As a general rule, you don’t want your ducks’ feet to be constantly walking around on mesh wire which is why the pine shavings go on top. Let me know if this answers your question or if you need to know anything else. Best of luck to you and your new flock!

      • Reply
        Mary West
        August 20, 2023 at 12:50 pm

        Try opening cardboard boxes on the floor before adding the bedding. Often it will last long enough to roll the mess up for disposal!

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          August 21, 2023 at 10:07 am

          Good to know, thanks Mary! Our ducks get water and food in their coop at night, so things get pretty wet and messy. Have you used cardboard in the coop of mature ducks yet or just with ducklings? Curious to know how it performs over the course of weeks and months with adult ducks. Low-dust, large-flake pine shavings are quite cheap and easy for us to come by (a Tractor Supply store is about 1 mile away), but if we were in rural Alaska, we’d certainly be considering other options.

    • Reply
      Amy
      January 13, 2023 at 9:02 pm

      Any idea how chopped alfalfa would be for duck bedding? We have done straw in the past and I realized how bad that was just recently. So, we will change either to large pine shavings or alfalfa?

      Thanks for this post!

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        January 16, 2023 at 3:05 pm

        Hi Amy! We don’t have any experience using chopped alfalfa for duck bedding. If you have access to alfalfa that doesn’t contain pesticide residue and you give it a shot, please let us know how it works in your duck coop so we can update this article. Thanks!

    • Reply
      Coral
      July 10, 2021 at 6:44 pm

      Hi! Want to thank you for all the information you’ve provided, I return to your posts over and over! Wondering if you’ve heard of or used yourself, cob bedding? It is marketed for horses but may be an alternative. My ducks are just 8 weeks old and they’ve been on TS pine shavings so far.

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        July 12, 2021 at 1:19 pm

        Hi Coral! Thanks for the kind words – that makes our day. 🙂

        We’ve heard of cob bedding but never used it. Pros are that it’s going to be soft on duck feet and biodegrade rapidly. However, two concerns we have are: 1) it getting mixed into duck food and water then getting ingested in large enough quantities to cause digestive problems, 2) not knowing what pesticide residues are left on the corn cob material. Conventional corn receives quite a bit of synthetic pesticide applications and exposure to those pesticides could pose a heightened risk to ducks who will be spending a lot of time in it.

    • Reply
      Jess
      July 10, 2021 at 8:49 am

      My duck coop has a wooden bottom to protect my babies from things that might try to dig in. Im worried deep litter isnt going to work if it doesnt have contact with the ground. What are your thoughts/experience with that?

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        July 12, 2021 at 1:12 pm

        Hi Jess! Using a deep litter method on top of a wood floor will definitely rot the floor. How long that might take is going to depend on the type of wood, thickness, whether it’s treated or not, etc. But it’s just a matter of time. If you’re wed to a wood floor, you’re probably going to want to remove all your bedding from the home every couple weeks or so, let the flooring dry, and try to get as much life out of it as you can. However, if you’re NOT wed to a solid floor, we’d recommend using 1/2″ wire mesh for your flooring and putting the bedding on top of that. That’s what we do in our coop + modified deep litter method. “Modified” because pine shavings take a lot longer to decompose than materials like straw and hay, so we remove and finish composting them before they’re fully broken down. For us, that means a complete cleanout every 3-4 months or so. Hope this helps and best of luck!

        • Reply
          Catherine
          August 21, 2021 at 6:42 am

          I love your site in every way. Beautiful photography! Carefully and thoroughly explained articles. Sweet suggestions, exciting recipes. Thanks!

          Re: duck bedding, I’ve also tried all kinds of flooring (many of your examples plus marmoleum too) for my waterfowl.
          To add to your cons: Cedar is toxic and potentially fatal to birds. As an example, i had one goose die when the coop was sprayed with cedarcide (and it was aired out for 4 hours – not enough) The other goose that was there now has serious feather abnormalities.

          Also, importantly I wanted to add to your cons about leaf debris – it is a prime spot for ticks.

          Re: pine shavings, i used pine shavings from TS and then started worrying about the source of the shavings. How could I be sure the pine is not from treated wood? Are the mills involved in not only cutting fresh wood but treating it too? Could it be from China (where all the bagged mealworms at TS are from) and much of the wood has been heavily sprayed upon entry to the US. I am neurotic about mulch even more than shavings. Mulch is dyed (probably not a friendly ingredient) which could easily disguise treated wood, old mixes of treated scrap full of chemicals like formaldehyde, creosote, and even manufactured wood.

          I’m betting that you can ease my mind about this!
          Sorry to be such a Debbie downer!

          • Aaron von Frank
            August 21, 2021 at 12:43 pm

            Hi Catherine! We’re equally neurotic when it comes to our ducks, so no need to apologize. 🙂 When we source triple ground wood chips/mulch for our back yard where our ducks live, we make sure we get them from a local company that uses local wood that’s untreated and un-dyed. They also compost the mulch for a few weeks which softens the wood and burns off any potential pathogens in it due to the high heat. Always fun to see a giant steaming pile of fresh mulch in our driveway!

            As for Tractor Supply’s pine shavings, the country of origin is the US, as you can see on their product specs here: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/tractor-supply-co-flake-premium-pine-shavings-covers-8-cu-ft. While that doesn’t 100% guarantee that now fungicides, herbicides, etc were applied to the wood, it certainly makes it less likely. Those treatments are used on imports to prevent non-native invasive plant diseases/pathogens and insects from coming here. Related: that’s one of the reasons we grow our own organic chestnuts (pretty much every commercial chestnut you see in the US is imported and treated with fungicides).

            Hope this helps and thanks for sharing your experience about your own poultry. Pretty scary stuff re your geese being killed and injured from cedarcide! Maybe you could let the product manufacturer know so they could put a warning label on their product(s).

          • Ricky
            April 14, 2022 at 3:56 am

            Hi Catherine,
            I looked up Cedarcide and most of the ads showed it as safe for pets. I am not familiar with it which is why I looked it up. Why would this be marketed to pet owners if it was lethal? I’d think if that was the case, they would’ve gotten tons of complaints from pet owners immediately, no?

          • Aaron von Frank
            April 14, 2022 at 11:11 am

            Just looked to see if Cedarcide is recommended for birds/poultry, and their website specifically warns against such uses:

            “While we have customers who use our products to treat outdoor chicken coops and cages, our products are not formulated for birds, and therefore we suggest you do not use them on or for birds. When applied directly or otherwise used incorrectly, cedar oil can be toxic, even deadly to birds.

            CEDAR OIL AND BIRDS
            Cedar bedding and cedar oil are known to irritate birds’ delicate respiratory systems, and at high doses, can actually kill them. Birds are especially vulnerable to strong scents—like those found in essential oils, candles, and manufactured fragrances. Phenols, which are present in many of these strong-smelling items, are often the culprit: phenols are toxic to several small animals such as cats and birds.”
            -source: https://cedarcide.com/blogs/guides/cedar-oil-safe-birds

    • Reply
      Sheilagh Riordan
      June 7, 2021 at 12:33 pm

      We bought Stall Master large pine shavings at our farm supply store in Jupiter, Florida, and the ducks wouldn’t go near it. They have only been housed only on our “grass” (which is actually untreated weeds) . Best we can figure out, the large pine shavings are too sharp and uncomfortable for their tender flippers. I’d be afraid of getting splinters if I walked on it barefoot. Our barn supply also has a medium flake and the fine flake. We’ll try the medium. Maybe Stall Master’s large is bigger than other companies’. Thank you for this wonderful website.

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        June 8, 2021 at 1:47 pm

        That’s good to know, thanks Sheilagh! We get our large flake pine shavings from Tractor Supply. It sounds like each brand may be different. Tractor Supply’s pine shavings are very thin, light, and soft. A person could easily walk on them barefoot comfortably. If you try Medium or Fine flake from Stall Master’s, please let us know how it compares. Hope you and your muscovies are doing well!

    • Reply
      John Carman
      May 22, 2021 at 12:12 pm

      Try Industrial Hemp, it’s more pricey than Pine but is good for the deep litter method. You only have to fully remove 2x a year and is a lot more absorbent than pine shavings

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        May 23, 2021 at 10:00 am

        Thanks for the tip! We’ll give industrial hemp a try if we see it at our local Tractor Supply which is only a couple miles down the road from our home, thus quite convenient. Looks like the best price per pound on hemp is currently $0.91 vs $0.27 for the large flake pine shavings we use. Obviously, price is only one factor, but it’s quite an important one. Since pine shavings have worked well in our setup for almost a decade, hemp will need to have substantial benefits by comparison and/or come down significantly in price, which is likely to happen in the years ahead as it becomes a more commonly grown commercial crop. It’s just becoming legalized in our state (South Carolina), which is pretty crazy considering the benefits and applications of the crop and the fact you’d need to smoke a field of it in order to use it as a drug given the low levels of THC.

    • Reply
      Andrea Preissl
      March 29, 2021 at 4:53 pm

      Have you tried pelletized horse bedding? I currently use it in our coop. it works great. You get it wet a little, just to start it breaking apart and then throw it in the coop. As they pellets get wet they absorb the moisture and crumble apart and turn to saw dust. In the summer i can literally scoop out the large piles of poo and then give the bedding a mix. In the winter I add in hay from our farm and do a deep litter method. It has worked wonderfully, and like you we use it around the garden and compost pile.

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        March 30, 2021 at 6:52 am

        Haven’t tried that, but thanks for the tip! If it’s working for you, don’t fix it. 🙂

    • Reply
      Melissa
      March 8, 2021 at 3:48 am

      Can I use fine pine shavings or is large flake pine shavings an absolute must? I accidentally bought the fine pine shavings from Tractor Supply. Would that be okay to use?

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        March 8, 2021 at 9:04 am

        Ha! We’ve accidentally done that a time or two as well. We went ahead and used them – granted we have very air, well-ventilated coops since we live in South Carolina. They’re definitely a lot dustier than large flake pine shavings but they’re fine in a pinch.

    • Reply
      Hannah
      February 19, 2021 at 3:57 pm

      I’m looking into/planning on getting ducks soon. I was going to I was going to use their pond water my vegetable and flower garden. Should I feed the vegetables with a soaker hose/drip system?

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        February 19, 2021 at 9:49 pm

        Hi Hannah! Appreciate you aiming to use your duck pond water for your garden plants. However, there are some risks you need to consider that will help you determine the best course of action. Primary concern: there are strains of pathogenic bacteria and other microbes in your ducks’ waste that you do not want to have on plants that you’re going to eat uncooked or they could make you quite sick or worse. For instance, you certainly wouldn’t want to water lettuce with duck pond water. Also, the solids in the duck pond water will likely clog up a standard drip irrigation system pretty quickly.

        The duck water would work great on perennial fruit and nut trees where there’s no risk of food contamination. It would also work great in your flower garden (assuming you’re not growing edible flowers). Hope this helps and best of luck!

        • Reply
          SUH Seung Ji
          September 6, 2023 at 10:07 pm

          I’ve been pumping the duck pond water out to my fruit and nut trees, seasonal plants, for 15 years…never had a problem.

          • Aaron von Frank
            September 7, 2023 at 9:38 am

            We do the same with the water from our duck pond.

    • Reply
      friendlytoanimals
      August 6, 2020 at 4:18 pm

      Getting some pine shavings today 🙂
      Wondering if you have every used coconut coir and if so, what your thoughts on it are.

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        January 5, 2021 at 3:54 pm

        So sorry that I’m just seeing your comment! We use coconut coir in our DIY seed starting mixes, but have never used it for duck bedding. Having handled it quite a bit, I’d say it’s too dusty for use as bedding in a duck coop. I think it would also be fairly expensive by comparison vs pine shavings. If you tried it, please let us know what you thought?

    • Reply
      Sue Angel
      July 11, 2020 at 10:01 am

      We use the pine shavings but if we don’t change them daily they get full of gnats. Is there a way to keep the gnats/insects out?

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        July 12, 2020 at 1:16 pm

        Interesting! Not sure what species of gnat that would be. You could try to top up with fresh bedding as soon as you let your flock out in the morning to keep the substances the gnats are interested in hidden under a layer of unsoiled pine shavings. Other than that, not sure what you could do.

    • Reply
      Shannon Knapp
      July 3, 2020 at 12:13 pm

      ETA: Just saw your response to Vickie, sorry I missed it before. Thanks for such great info!

      Hi quick clarification. It says put your recently removed bedding around your perennials, elderberry, chestnuts…. and then says do not put the bedding around anything you’ll eat in the next 6 months.
      So, I should age the bedding first? Because I will definitely be harvesting my elderberries before 6 months.

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        July 6, 2020 at 8:14 am

        Your elderberries will be fine to harvest even if you put fresh duck bedding under the plants the same day you harvest – that’s because they’re about 10′ + off the ground so they won’t be in contact with the bedding nor will rain splash cause contamination. Plus, most people don’t eat their elderberries raw, they cook them, which also kills pathogenic microorganisms.

        The 6 month warning was more about low-growing annual plants and/or plants with harvestable parts close to the ground: peppers, lettuce, bush beans, kale, etc. Even then, certain low-growing edibles could be washed and cooked to eliminate risk (example: summer squash).

        Does this clarification make sense?

        • Reply
          Shannon Knapp
          July 13, 2020 at 10:45 am

          Yes thank you!!

    • Reply
      Matt Duggan
      July 1, 2020 at 1:13 am

      I owned a random flock of ducks 20 years ago…. getting back on the saddle with some Silver apple yards in 24-48 hrs.
      I can very simply say that you are doing a huge service to new owners of ducks due to a huge lack of understanding specific needs and information that’s critical to health and well being.
      And really not well understood or very well documented.
      Basic niacin deficiency is basically ignored or just plain not understood by any feed store you walk into, small or large.
      Leading to posible immediate failure.
      When “duckling care” is Googled or searched your site should be #1 rank.
      Not sure how you get to that point, but it needs to be.
      There isn’t any site that addresses as many issues in depth with actual information not supposition. Well done.

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        July 1, 2020 at 12:01 pm

        Really appreciate your kind words, Matt. Thank you. It just so happens that we are starting to rank high in Google for duck-related articles! We’ll do our best to keep cranking out helpful, informative, and evidence-based information for other duck parents out there.

        We’ve considered getting Silver Appleyards as well. Are they a breed you have experience with? If so, how would you rank their overall temperament/sociability?

    • Reply
      Vickie Ray Degand
      May 9, 2020 at 6:38 pm

      We have been following your wonderful website & putting into practice your great recommendations. We have our first ducklings & we are using the pine shavings. I have been tossing the duck well fertilized piles in my garden as mulch. Then I read on your site that there is a long waiting period until they are safe to use. So I raked them all up. Did I make my ground toxic? Thank you.

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        May 11, 2020 at 6:04 pm

        Hi Vickie! Thanks for posting this question here (in addition to emailing us) so that other people with the same question can see it.

        You might be over-stressing a bit on the duck bedding issue. Unless you’re planning to eat something that directly touched the used duck bedding, you’ll be perfectly fine.

        Example 1: You put use duck bedding down around your lettuce plants then eat the lettuce leaves a couple weeks later – this would likely cause an elevated health risk, although you could use a similar antimicrobial rinse like is used on farms to kill food-borne pathogens. Regardless, probably not worth the risk.

        Example 2: You put duck bedding around your mulberry tree and there’s ZERO chance that the mulberry fruit many feet above the ground is touching the duck bedding or could get splashed by rainwater hitting the duck bedding – this isn’t a problem. In fact, I just put used duck bedding underneath the blackberry canes from which I’ll be harvesting fruit in about 6-8 weeks (the fruit is at least 4′ off the ground so not much contamination risk, especially given the time frame and the ability for the sun and elements to kill pathogens on the surface).

        Basically, if: a) the parts of the plant you’re eating can’t be contaminated by potential pathogenic microbes in your duck bedding, and b) you’re not planning to eat the plants you’re growing directly in the duck bedding-mulched garden beds within the next few months, then you don’t need to worry about it.

    • Reply
      Rob Hudson de Tarnowsky
      April 12, 2020 at 6:43 pm

      Very helpful Aaron! We started with TSC large pine shavings, but worried that they might try to swallow some. It looks like we were overly cautious. Your approach will work really well for us.

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        April 12, 2020 at 9:07 pm

        Glad this info was helpful, Rob! From our experience, ducks seem to quickly get a handle on what tastes good and/or what’s edible. A duckling might nibble a piece of pine shaving once, then spit it out and not ever give it a go again. Same thing when we let our flock out to forage our full gardens at night. There are countless plants they could potentially eat (some of them poisonous or inedible), but they’ve long since learned what prizes to keep their eyes (and bills) on.

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    Foraged Recipes

    16 incredible edible wild flowers

    Posted on April 7, 2020
    16 incredible edible wild flowers thumbnail

    Wild edible flowers can offer extraordinary flavor, nutrition, and visual “wow” to your meals — or make outrageously delicious sparkling cordials. In this article, we’ll share our favorite wild edible flowers with you — including how to identify and use them! 

    Before diving into our favorite wild edible flowers, we’ll ask you to read our article, Beginner’s Guide to Foraging: 12 Rules to Follow. Once you do, you’ll know the basic foraging rules you need to follow to avoid eating something dangerous — whether that’s accidentally eating poisonous plants or foraging in places where pesticides or other contaminants are present.

    Rule #1 is perhaps the most important of them all: Never eat anything you’re not 100% certain you’ve correctly ID’d AND you’re not 100% certain is edible.

    Edible wild flowers: wild roses, wisteria, and black locust flowers.
    Unless you’re 100% sure you can positively ID these wild edible flowers, don’t eat them!

    Why eat wild edible flowers?

    The world is a giant grocery store full of colorful, flavorful, free food. You just have to learn how to see it.

    Continue Reading

    4 Comments

    • Reply
      Ali
      March 13, 2023 at 2:01 pm

      Do you know if you can freeze flowers to make cordial later? Thanks

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        March 14, 2023 at 7:16 am

        We’ve never tried to freeze flowers for later use in cordial. Best guess is that you’re better off refrigerating your flowers rather than freezing them since freezing them will explode their cell walls and likely negatively affect their flavor potential.

    • Reply
      Susan Clark
      September 2, 2020 at 10:54 am

      This was helpful, but in a different way than you might think. I’m writing about fictional animals that are somewhat humanized. Their diet has some human-like cuisine like pies and cheese and is mostly vegetarian with some fish, but some of my animals are on a long trip by foot and need to forage. I don’t know if this will have more practical applications to me at some point, but it is good information. 🙂

      • Reply
        Aaron von Frank
        September 2, 2020 at 11:56 am

        Neat! Well, we hope your fictionalized animalized enjoy some delicious edible flowers on their journey. 🙂

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    Recipes

    2-in-1 recipe: Jackfruit seed hummus and jackfruit salsa

    Posted on April 4, 2020
    2-in-1 recipe: Jackfruit seed hummus and jackfruit salsa thumbnail

    Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) is the world’s largest tree fruit — and perhaps the most delicious. Most people don’t realize that jackfruit seeds are also edible. In this article, you’ll find out how to use both the fruit and seeds from your amazing jackfruit.

    The start of our love affair with jackfruit 

    Years ago before we had spoiled rotten pet/backyard ducks, we used to throw an annual summer solstice party in our backyard. On one such occasion, our friend Eliza showed up with a monstrously large, egg-shaped fruit. “Anybody want to try jackfruit?” she asked.

    The Tyrant and I are always itching to try new things, and jackfruit was something we’d never seen or heard of before. (Jackfruit’s native range is southern India to Malaysia.) The fruit was sliced open and chunks of orange jackfruit pulp were there for the taking. It was love at first taste…

    What does jackfruit taste like? If you remember what the chewing gum JuicyFruit tastes like, then you have a good idea of what jackfruit tastes: tropical and sweet with notes of pineapple and mango.

    Even though we grow fruit year round, there’s no easy way to grow jackfruit in our climate zone. As unapologetic jackfruit addicts, this conundrum means that each summer we make a couple trips to our local Asian grocery store to buy jackfruit.

    This year, we happened to find a jackfruit on the shelf in March — at Publix no less!

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      Leave a Reply

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      Recipes

      Recipe: raw stinging nettle soup (yes, seriously!) 

      Posted on April 2, 2020
      Recipe: raw stinging nettle soup (yes, seriously!)  thumbnail

      Stinging nettle?! Isn’t that the plant that ruins your hiking adventure when you brush against it and get painful welts?

      Yes, it is. But you can take your revenge and bite back. (With some precautions.)

      We’ve previously written all about the edible virtues of stinging nettles. We love stinging nettle so much as a nutrient- and protein-rich early spring veggie that we grow it in certain spots in our garden, rather than simply foraging it.

      Each spring, we try to make a few new recipes with our stinging nettle. Sometimes the recipes are so-so, and sometimes they’re awesome and become keepers (like this one).

      Continue Reading

      4 Comments

      • Reply
        Andrew Barker
        February 23, 2025 at 5:14 pm

        I have fallen in love with nettles. I have an enlarged prostrate. Before I succumbed to another prescription, I wanted to try a natural solution. I make a tea with them that is my favorite. I have a farm in Nova Scotia and would like to grow them commercially. I didn’t know that the stems could be used as fiber. Thanks for the recipe. I will try it!

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          February 23, 2025 at 7:13 pm

          Thanks Andrew! If you don’t mind, please check back in to let us know if stinging nettle is able to have an effect on your enlarged prostate. Best of luck!

      • Reply
        Betty
        December 23, 2021 at 8:37 am

        I intended to say how much I love South River Miso’s Sweet White Miso, which is a Speciality Miso on their website.

      • Reply
        Betty
        December 23, 2021 at 8:33 am

        Try South River Miso. It’s a Speciality Miso on their website.

      Leave a Reply

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      Recipes

      Easiest ginger or turmeric bug recipe

      Posted on March 20, 2020
      Easiest ginger or turmeric bug recipe thumbnail

      Like ginger bugs, a turmeric bug is a delicious, living probiotic drink that’s naturally carbonated. In this article, you’ll find out the easiest method to make your own turmeric bug in 5-7 days, plus the best varieties of turmeric to use to make it! 

      Each summer, we grow enough turmeric and ginger in our garden to last us the rest of the year. Why not just get store bought rhizomes? A couple reasons:

      1. we use beyond organic no-till growing methods, and
      2. we enjoy growing unusual varieties that probably aren’t going to be available in a typical grocery store.

      Our three favorites ginger and turmeric cultivars that we’ve tried thus far:

      • ‘Bubba baba’ blue ginger,
      • ‘White Mango’ turmeric, and
      • ‘Indira Yellow’ turmeric.

      (Read our article about how to grow your own organic ginger and turmeric.) 

      How to use lots of turmeric or ginger? Make a “bug”!

      Both turmeric and ginger rhizomes store easily, so we eat tons of them throughout the year. However, one of our favorite things to do with our turmeric and ginger rhizomes is make fermented probiotic drinks, often referred to as “bugs.” 

      Turmeric bug and ginger bug. White and orange turmeric bugs served apéritif style. Turmeric and ginger bugs have lots of applications in the kitchen.

      White and orange turmeric bugs served digestif style. Turmeric and ginger bugs have lots of applications in the kitchen.

      Continue Reading

      4 Comments

      • Reply
        Josh
        January 29, 2023 at 3:26 pm

        hi, I’m wondering about mixing ginger and turmeric or different varieties in one bug. I have red and white ginger and an orange turmeric that I am growing and I was thinking of making one big bug or combining multiple. have you tried this?

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          January 30, 2023 at 2:14 pm

          Yes, you can mix turmeric and ginger in a single bug – and, yes, we’ve done it! In ours, turmeric dominated the front flavor notes then it had a nice spicy ginger finish.

      • Reply
        Mark Kotlyar
        July 13, 2020 at 4:24 pm

        Hey there….

        Would love to know what receptacles do you use for the bug?
        Closed lid? Air tight? Or mesh to allow full breathing, but no insects?

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          July 14, 2020 at 6:54 pm

          Hi Mark! Sorry for the lack of specificity on that point. Just updated the article. For our ginger and turmeric bugs, we use glass canning jars with breathable lids – this can be as simple as a paper towel held on top by a rubber band. You can also use linen, cheese cloth, or any similar material.

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      Gardening

      How to grow your own caffeine in your garden or yard

      Posted on March 18, 2020
      How to grow your own caffeine in your garden or yard thumbnail

      Want to find out how to grow your own caffeine in your garden or yard? You’re in the right place!

      Caffeine. Have you ever thought about what an extraordinary plant-derived drug it is? Or tried to imagine your life without caffeine? 

      There’s a reason why caffeine is the world’s most widely consumed psychoactive drug, with at least 80% of the adult population in the western hemisphere consuming enough caffeine on a daily basis to induce effects on the brain.

      Modern minds aren’t the only ones fueled by caffeine. Some historians even argue that 17th century European coffeehouses were the fuel that stimulated the Enlightenment.

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      6 Comments

      • Reply
        Aleah
        October 6, 2022 at 8:15 pm

        check out catchweed/cleavers (Galium aparine). not native but naturalized, also contain caffeine. the seeds can be ground as coffee and the leaves and young stems can infused into water for a cucumber water flavor that’s lightly caffeinated as well.

      • Reply
        Anon
        December 28, 2021 at 5:50 am

        I’ve read that yerbabuena (satureja douglasii), also has caffeinated leaves, but i read that somewhere on the internet so…who knows!

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          December 28, 2021 at 1:27 pm

          Interesting herb, thanks for sharing! We don’t have yerba buena here in the southeast US. Looks like it only grows in the northwest US. It also looks like it’s been recategorized to Clinopodium douglasii based on DNA analysis. We have no familiarity or experience with this herb and there appears to be conflicting information online as to whether or not it contains caffeine. If you find definitive evidence one way or another from a good source, please let us know!

          • Reply
            Ben
            January 15, 2022 at 7:13 pm

            My pleasure. Will let you know if I find out for sure about it’s caffeine content. I recommend giving it a try nonetheless – here in zone 10b it thrives on neglect in a shady spot in the garden; the aroma is much like spearmint but more delicious in my opinion 🙂

      • Reply
        Nick
        May 28, 2021 at 2:28 am

        Cleavers plant is also in the coffee family and has caffeine! It also may be native to north America but there is some debate about it!

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          May 28, 2021 at 10:33 am

          How interesting! We didn’t know that cleaver was in the coffee family or that it contained caffeine. We have cleaver growing and know it as an edible — though not very tasty — annual herb/weed. We’d always thought it wasn’t native to N. America as well, but the US Forest Service notes that it’s likely native (or at least certain species are): https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/galapa/all.html. Sounds like we need to try using cleaver as a coffee substitute. Thanks for sharing the info.

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      Foraged Recipes

      Recipe: Chickweed wine? Yes, and it’s REALLY good!

      Posted on March 13, 2020
      Recipe: Chickweed wine? Yes, and it's REALLY good! thumbnail

      This chickweed wine recipe produces a light, nuanced floral white wine with notes of grass and citrus. In this article, we’ll show you exactly how to make your own!

      Wine made from chickweed?

      If you’d told us a couple years back that:

      1. you can make wine with chickweed (Stellaria media), and
      2. the resulting wine would not only be drinkable but really good,

      then we’d have wondered if you were smoking chickweed.

      Don’t get us wrong — we love eating chickweed and have sung its praises as one of the top edible “weeds” for years. However, raw chickweed tastes like corn silk though — not something we ever ate and said, “we should make wine with this.”

      We promise we're not crazy or poor judges of wine character. Yes, chickweed wine is actually quite good!

      We promise we’re not crazy or poor judges of wine character. Yes, chickweed wine is actually quite good!

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      2 Comments

      • Reply
        Emma
        May 4, 2021 at 6:19 pm

        Thanks so much for sharing! Do you use the greens then or just the flower part or all parts of the chickweed plant?

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          May 5, 2021 at 11:57 am

          Hi Emma! We use the chickweed greens, but the flowers are fine to add too.

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      Recipes

      Duck egg Meyer lemon curd

      Posted on March 10, 2020
      Duck egg Meyer lemon curd thumbnail

      Duck egg Meyer lemon curd is a simple but incredibly delicious dessert recipe that you can eat as-is or as an ingredient in tarts, cakes, and other recipes.

      We don’t eat a lot of desserts, but when we do, they’re homemade and worth the extra calories. This lemon curd recipe definitely falls into the “worth it” category.

      If you follow this website, you know that we’re backyard and pet duck evangelists. We also grow a ridiculous amount of potted citrus.

      This combination of interests means we often have a pile of duck eggs and organic citrus to play with in the kitchen. Duck eggs are larger, more nutritious, and more flavorful than chicken eggs. (We’ve written all about the virtues of ducks eggs vs chicken eggs elsewhere.)

      That’s why most gourmet chefs and bakers you talk to swoon for duck eggs. In our opinion, duck eggs also make for a superior fruit curd due to their creamier, richer flavor.

      What is fruit curd?

      This duck egg Meyer lemon curd is topped with homegrown, homemade Buddha's hand citron candy.

      This duck egg Meyer lemon curd is topped with homegrown, homemade Buddha’s hand citron candy.

      Fruit curd is a thick, pudding-like English dessert usually made with citrus or other acidic fruit. Curd is either eaten as-is like pudding (although it’s richer and more flavorful than pudding), or used as a filling to make tarts, spreads, shortbread dips, and more.

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      8 Comments

      • Reply
        Eileen Patterson
        June 22, 2025 at 5:22 pm

        Great recipe – this curd is fantastic on my raw, Greek yogurt from the same farm where I get my happy duck eggs and raw spring butter. Topped with fresh summer berries, it’s a fantastic treat!

      • Reply
        Amy
        June 12, 2024 at 9:17 pm

        First time making lemon curd and this was delicious! So easy to make! I can’t wait to use it for a dessert with my fresh blueberries.

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          June 13, 2024 at 8:53 am

          Awesome! Glad you enjoyed our Meyer lemon curd recipe. It does seem almost illegal that something this delicious is so easy to make. 🙂

      • Reply
        Kristy Nicole Touchton
        February 27, 2023 at 1:55 pm

        This looks amazing! I’m just curious if it can be canned for gifts?

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          February 27, 2023 at 2:26 pm

          Yes, you could can and gift this Meyer lemon curd. Some folks are comfortable recommending water bath canning but given the ingredients, we’d recommend using a pressure canner instead to eliminate any risks.

      • Reply
        BeebsM
        August 17, 2020 at 9:05 am

        Made this today, and it is delicious! One neighbour gave me a dozen duck eggs (he can’t keep up with his prolific layers!), and another gave me a bag of lemons from their overburdened tree. I make lemon curd on a regular basis (I mean who doesn’t?!), but I’ve never used duck eggs in it before. I didn’t want to direct substitute the duck eggs into my recipe, as I wasn’t sure how that would work, so I found this recipe on an internet search. I’m so glad I did! Very easy to make. My recipe has a bit more sugar and a bit less butter, but you know after tasting this I may just be converted!! It was a bit more tart, and more creamy in texture, so I’m totally sold on it, lol! And I’m with you re leaving the zest in. Don’t notice the texture at all, and why use a strainer, that sounds like effort! I didn’t change anything about the recipe, though I did change to a wooden spoon (instead of the whisk) when adding the butter. I just find I can tell when it’s ready better that way, once it starts to coat the back of the spoon. I didn’t quite get 4 cups (maybe smaller eggs?) Hopefully my neighbours will continue to oblige with the duck eggs and the lemons! Thanks so much for a great recipe.

        • Reply
          Aaron von Frank
          August 17, 2020 at 10:32 am

          Glad you enjoyed our duck egg Meyer lemon curd recipe — and thanks for the feedback! To your point, there is definitely going to be slight variability between duck egg sizes (and perhaps even flavor) based on the particular duck breed. There will also be variability between lemon cultivars. But this recipe should be a good foundation/starting point that you can tweak as-needed depending on your unique ingredients. Good neighbors you’ve got there! Maybe you should grow lemons and get ducks of your own, too! 😉

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      Recipes

      Recipe: 10 minute broccoli mash with citrus miso sauce

      Posted on March 6, 2020
      Recipe: 10 minute broccoli mash with citrus miso sauce thumbnail

      This broccoli mash recipe takes about 10 minutes to make and will blow your taste buds away! 

      An introduction to broccoli mash…

      We grow and eat a LOT of veggies. That means we’re always coming up with new ways to prepare our garden-fresh produce. 

      However, sometimes you stumble into a recipe that is so good you keep using it over and over again. One such recipe for us is broccoli mash with citrus miso sauce. 

      Over a decade ago, we had a friend who was really into eating raw food recipes. (To be clear, we’re definitive “cookavores”, e.g. most of the foods we eat are cooked, not raw.) One night, our friend made a dinner for us that included a raw broccoli mash dish that we immediately fell in love with. 

      We’ve since improved upon that basic broccoli mash recipe using some of our favorite homegrown and homemade ingredients. Any time we have broccoli in the fridge or in the garden, there’s a good chance it’s going to be made into broccoli mash.

      Homemade black garlic is an ingredient we've added to this recipe recently. If you don't have black garlic, regular garlic will do just fine too.

      Homemade black garlic is an ingredient we’ve added to this recipe recently. If you don’t have black garlic, regular garlic will do just fine too.

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        Gardening Recipes

        How to grow and make lemon blossom tea

        Posted on March 3, 2020
        How to grow and make lemon blossom tea thumbnail

        In this article you’ll learn how to make simple and delicious lemon blossom tea — which we highly encourage you to do using your own homegrown organic lemon trees! You can also use the instructions in this article to make tea with other citrus blossoms, like orange and lime blossoms. 

        Perhaps we’re gluttons for punishment, but we go through great lengths to grow our own citrus in a decidedly non-tropical growing zone (7B).

        Sometimes I start to lament having to use our large pot mover to lug our potted citrus trees into our garage during sub-freezing nights and days. When this happens, I go pick and eat some fresh kumquats, calamondins, or blood oranges straight off our trees, at which point any sense of suffering is quickly abandoned.

        The taste of fresh organic citrus eaten right off the tree is indescribably delicious, not to mention rewarding. After munching, I happily lug the pots inside for the night.

        Using all parts of your citrus to the fullest

        When you work your tail off to grow your own citrus, you’re also less inclined to waste any part of the resulting produce.

        We eat some varieties like kumquats, limequats, and calamondins, skin and all. Zero waste.

        As we’ve also written about, the zest of other citrus (such as blood oranges, Meyer lemons, and makrut limes) makes an amazingly delicious addition to countless foods and beverages. Nothing brightens a salad or piece of fish like fresh lemon or orange zest.

        But what about citrus flowers? How do you harvest or use them?

        Citrus blossoms (like these Meyer lemon blossoms) have lots of culinary applications, even though many people who grow citrus don't think to use them.

        Citrus blossoms (like these Meyer lemon blossoms) have lots of culinary applications, even though many people who grow citrus don’t think to use them.

        Continue Reading

        7 Comments

        • Reply
          Ayashia
          August 18, 2022 at 9:26 pm

          Just a caution or tip depending but lime blossoms become a sedative when they start to wilt and you can have a stoned feeling from them

        • Reply
          Noelle
          December 1, 2021 at 10:30 am

          Hi there, Thank you for this information! Is there any special thing you have to do to try the blossoms, or just leave them out? This might be a silly question, but should I remove and keep only the petals, or is the whole blossom OK to use?

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            December 1, 2021 at 9:13 pm

            No a silly question at all! You can use the entire citrus/lemon blossom if it falls off the tree (the majority of flowers don’t set). Most of what you’ll end up with is petals, stamens, and anthers though. To dry lemon blossom flowers, simply lay them out flat in a single layer on a plate or cookie sheet and let them sit for about 10 days in a dry indoor environment. They dry very quickly and will take on a crunchy texture. From there you can store them in a jar or other container until you use them.

        • Reply
          Jenn
          March 20, 2021 at 2:25 pm

          Thank you for this article. I’m sitting in my yard taking in the intoxicating scent of our lemon, orange & pomelo trees watching the bees work. Some of the flowers are beginning to fall and I’ve often wondered if the flowers were edible. I’m so excited about my new project to begin harvesting and drying my own teas to enjoy year round! It will make a great gift as well.

          Do you know of a safe way to preserve fresh zest?

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            March 20, 2021 at 4:32 pm

            Hi Jenn! Glad to hear you’ll get to enjoy all your tasty citrus flowers/blossoms. It is really interesting to note the subtle but distinct flavor differences between flowers of different citrus varieties. My personal favorite is makrut lime blossoms, but they’re all delightful.

            As for zest: yes, we zest all of our different citrus varieties and store it for it later use. Spread the fresh zest on a plate for about a week until it’s crunchy dry. Then store each type of zest in its own ziplock bag since they all taste different and have different culinary uses. We wrote about citrus zest use & storage here if you’re interested: https://www.tyrantfarms.com/easiest-way-to-zest-a-lemon-or-orange/

            Enjoy!

        • Reply
          Allie
          February 9, 2021 at 4:30 pm

          Do I have to wait for them to fall off? My tree is young and I want it to focus on the tree itself before it starts fruiting. Can I pop them of after they bloom or when they bud up?

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            February 9, 2021 at 10:20 pm

            Hi Allie! Even on a healthy, mature citrus tree, only a fraction of the flowers will develop all the way to ripe fruit. So even if you picked a bunch of flowers from your tree in future years, you won’t necessarily diminish final fruit production. You do want your citrus flowers to at least be to the stage where they’re open for best flavor. When they’re still unopened buds, their nectar content is low.

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        Gardening

        Praying mantis egg case identification — and all about praying mantises

        Posted on February 25, 2020
        Praying mantis egg case identification — and all about praying mantises thumbnail

        In this article, you’ll discover lots of amazing praying mantis facts, including learning what praying mantis egg cases (oothecae) look like. Praying mantises are a popular predatory insect common in home gardens and wild habitats alike.

        How much do you know about praying mantises? 

        Most people — especially those who garden — know what a praying mantis looks like. These magnificent insects are famed for their alien-like visages and ferocious predatory habits.

        But how much do you know about the native or common praying mantis species found in your particular region? Can you identify praying mantis nymphs? Do you know what their egg cases look like so you can spot them in your yard?

        Can you spot the young praying mantis nymph in this picture? For size reference, it's on a strawberry leaf and a Sphynx moth is emerging on a pea plant in the background.

        Can you spot the young praying mantis nymph in this picture? For size reference, it’s on a strawberry leaf and a Sphynx moth is eclosing on a pea plant in the background.

        If not, read on to learn more about these awesome insects!

        Continue Reading

        23 Comments

        • Reply
          Helene EVANS
          April 7, 2024 at 6:19 pm

          I have 2 Sedum Plants & a Praying Mantis for the last several years. I only find 1 ootheca. I started to cut back the Sedum & again nothing in one of them but there are five ootheca in the other of the plant. I am so excited. Two of the ootheca are against each other. Is this common?Thank you for all of the information.

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            April 9, 2024 at 10:56 am

            Hi Helene! Do you happen to know what species of praying mantis you have? If you only have a female, you must have a parthenogenic species (aka one that can produce offspring asexually without mating). We’ve only ever seen praying mantis oothecae laid individually and spread far apart, but our mantises are wild organisms living outside with abundant space. Perhaps in a more confined environment, they’ll put oothecae more closely together.

        • Reply
          Stephanie
          December 29, 2022 at 11:23 am

          I have a question. Do Praying Mantis always lay egg sacs in the same location every year? Are they like some insects and go back to the same spot they were hatched? I have a dilapidated Maple tree that seems to have more sacs on it every year. We need to take the old tree down because it got hit by lightning and has only one limb left. Yet I don’t want them to go back to a stump if they need it. thank you in advance for your reply.

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            December 30, 2022 at 9:05 am

            In our experience, no, female praying mantises will not always go back to the same spot they hatched to lay their eggs. We rarely see oothecae on the same plants or physical structures in our yard from year-to-year.

            If it’s good habitat, they’ll likely stay close and produce oothecae close to where they hatched, but you won’t be doing any harm to future populations by removing the remnants of your maple tree – your mantises will simply find new spots for their oothecae.

        • Reply
          Janet
          May 4, 2022 at 5:05 pm

          We just moved to Southern Utah and I found what I think is a pm ootheca, but it’s a different shape than ones we’ve seen before in CA. I’m sending it to your email address (you listed in another comment) if you an identify it for me. We might also have roaches here, and I saw they also make an ootheca.

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            May 5, 2022 at 11:20 am

            Yep, you’ve got a praying mantis ootheca. You already know because we conversed via email. 🙂

        • Reply
          Michael A.J Martinez
          October 26, 2021 at 11:23 pm

          Praying mantises are not beneficial they eat the beneficials such as pollinators bees,butterflies syrphid flies and other predators of pests like dragonflies ladybugs,spiders and others as well as pests . Mantises are generalists predators they eat just as many good bugs as bad what ever they can catch.. And the Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis ) is a non native invasive species that will eat our smaller native mantises such as the Carolina mantis ( Stagmomantis carolina) the Chinese mantis will also catch and eat hummingbirds and small lizards and frogs which they eat alive.. Mantises have no venom so they hold their prey and eat it alive. So don’t buyChinese mantis eggcases . GOOGLE VIDEO PICTURE Chinese mantis eats hummingbird.( that is a Chinese its been ID ) Michael Martinez Entomologist.

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            October 27, 2021 at 4:57 pm

            Thanks for your input, Michael. Please note that nowhere in this article did we describe mantises as beneficial or non-beneficial (either the Carolina of Chinese mantis). We also noted that the Chinese mantises are non-native and have been known to eat native Carolina mantises. They may be partly responsible for the decline in Carolina mantis populations but as far as we know, causation hasn’t been definitively established. (Lots of insect populations are plummeting globally due to myriad factors including climate change, habitat loss, pesticide use, etc.). We also agree that people should not buy Chinese mantises to introduce to their gardens.

            That being said, we’ve observed the following in our gardens: extraordinarily high diversity and overall numbers of insects, hummingbirds, frogs, lizards, etc despite the presence of both Chinese and Carolina mantises. Do the Chinese mantises eat some of our native bees or other beneficials? Undoubtedly. But not to the extent that they’re causing any damage/harm to overall populations of any one species as best we can tell. They have a lot of meal options to choose from, and there are also plenty of things trying (often successfully) to eat them in turn.

            Some sources say Chinese and European mantises and oothecae should be killed/destroyed when detected due to their potential impact on Carolina mantis populations. Maybe that’s the best approach but we’d like to see some good multi-year research showing the effects of that approach on Carolina mantis populations before we start doing that here.

        • Reply
          cassie M
          October 6, 2021 at 2:14 pm

          Hello, I have been admiring a handsome PM outdoors in my garden that I affectionately named Vlad but it seems Vlad is a Vladmira! Also I found an egg sac in one of the shrubs in my front yard. The shrub is not very thick at all and he / she has spent much time in that area over the past month. My question is we live in the North East US and as we know the winters can be brutal. How or what should I do with this egg sac if anything to protect it from the brutal winter? The location of the shrub is right next to the driveway where it will eventually be covered with mounds of snow. Thank you for any assistance!!!!!

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            October 6, 2021 at 4:15 pm

            Hi Cassie! Your momma mantis (Vladmira) survived last winter inside an egg case and emerged this spring once temperatures allowed. The same is true of her mate. The next generation will likely survive the coming winter inside the egg case you’ve identified as well. If you’re concerned about that particular spot having too much snow plowed on top of it, you can cut the branch with the egg case attached and stick it inside another bush or shrub located in a more ideal spot in your garden or yard. Even though her mom won’t make it through winter, Vladmira II (and siblings) will no doubt serve with distinction in her stead.

            • Reply
              Cassie
              October 7, 2021 at 1:56 pm

              Thank you for your reply, I also realize the weather will have a break & we are going to have a week of unseasonably warm temps in the mid high 70’s and the sac is in full sun. Will they begin to develop too quick in that environment?

              • Aaron von Frank
                October 8, 2021 at 10:24 am

                Nope, they’ll be fine. Those developing mantises require months-long chill/freezing period before they’ll hatch.

            • Reply
              Warren
              May 22, 2025 at 10:50 pm

              Are there PMs in western NY around Lake Erie?

              • Aaron von Frank
                May 23, 2025 at 2:29 pm

                Warren, sounds like you all do have Carolina mantises in western NY state and also the non-native Chinese and European mantises.

        • Reply
          George A Montgomery Jr
          September 16, 2021 at 12:34 pm

          Nice article!
          One of my work sites lies within the Pinelands Nat’l Reserve in southern NJ. I get to see a lot of insects that are attracted to the security lights and stay on the walls through the day.
          I ran across a smallish Praying Mantis yesterday that was postioned down low on the wall. It was swaying back and forth, so I looked down at the pavement and saw a small fence lizard sitting there.
          I’m guessing the Mantis was sizing the lizard up as a possible meal.
          I moved though, and the lizard took off.

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            September 16, 2021 at 1:15 pm

            Maybe so! Those two species can have some pretty epic battles. There’s plenty of photos and videos online showing fence lizards and anoles eating praying mantises and vice versa. Seems to come down to a matter of who happens to enter the battle as the larger/stronger creature.

        • Reply
          D Lamb
          May 14, 2021 at 2:51 pm

          Hi! Interesting article! In fairness to the concerns of conservation, perhaps perusing this article about the damage already caused by invasive European and Chinese species may prove sobering. Also, it advises specific treatment of the invasive species’ ootheca in order to prevent further spread of their damaging effects.
          https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-mantis-species
          as a prairie conservation activist back when, it is amazing how profoundly, quietly destructive invasive species have been, whether botanical, ornithological, aquatic, or other.
          Best wishes

        • Reply
          Jenny
          November 7, 2020 at 11:16 am

          In the Spring a few young Chinese mantis showed up on my screened porch. One female never left. I’ve enjoyed watching her grow, eating crickets and collecting her molts for display in the insect lab at the museum where I work. A few weeks ago a suitor showed up on the outside of the screen. After a few days of the two of them pining for each other I brought him in. The next morning he was outside again. I tried again a few days later. After the third time he stayed. Last night I came home to find her in the process of her laying an ootheca! I have a few pictures I’d be happy to share.

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            November 11, 2020 at 4:55 pm

            That’s wonderful! Good for you playing mantis matchmaker. Sure, we’d love to see some photos and would be happy to add them to the post. Email aaron @ tyrantfarms . com (artificially separated those segments so bots can’t see the email!).

        • Reply
          Connie
          October 20, 2020 at 4:30 pm

          Early this summer I found a praying mathis while doing yard work. I made a beautiful habitat where the little thing began to thrive and actually did it’s last molt. During this time I also had one outside living in a small tree trunk. Last week while we had frost warning….I brought her inside and put her I. With the one habitat while making another. After a couple days separated them. To my surprise my mathis #1 had made an egg sack. So…I thought the one I brought inside was a male. Next morning mathis #2 had egg sack. Now how did mathis #1 lay egg sack? When been inside since before last molt?

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            October 21, 2020 at 6:59 am

            Hi Connie! A female praying mantis will still lay eggs/produce an ootheca even without a male around/mating. However, those eggs will not be fertile since mantises are not capable of parthenogenesis (reproduction without fertilization). The exception to that rule appears to be Brunners stick mantises, which are native to the southern US. So, if your female(s) mantises never mated with a male, it’s very unlikely their eggs will produce offspring.

        • Reply
          Tirrell
          October 15, 2020 at 6:37 pm

          I have been watching a Chinese Praying Mantis for many weeks now, she has been living on my front door. I had the honor to observe her mating and several weeks later lay her eggs on my front door. A truly magical experience…thank you for the information in your article about the Ootheca. I can look forward to next spring when they hatch.

          • Reply
            Aaron von Frank
            October 15, 2020 at 10:22 pm

            Wow, what a treat! We have mantises all over our gardens, have seen them mating, but have never actually caught one in the act of laying/producing an ootheca. Yes, keep your eyes out for the next generation as the weather warms next year.

        Leave a Reply

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        Native Passion Fruit (Passiflora Incarnata): How To Grow, Forage, & Eat How to hatch goose eggs – tips, tricks, and troubleshooting How to hatch duck eggs via a mama duck or incubator Best EDIBLE plants to grow in shade (fruit, herbs & veggies) Understanding duck mating & courtship 9 amazing duck facts that will blow your human mind