I meant to ask this before and forgot. No idea why I happened to think of it now! LOL

One day last summer when I was doing something around the pond this big dragon fly flew up and just hovered over my pond. I stopped moving because I wanted to watch it. After a minute if flew right up to me and hovered in the air about a foot from my face! hahaha...it was almost like we were looking each other in the eye. It was very cool, and a bit creepy!

So anyway, is there any way of encouraging them to stay around the pond, or is it basically a question of them will show up on their own and hang around if they like it? Is there any particular plants they they like having around?

I later watched a really good documentary on them which answered some questions, but if possible I would like to see of few of these nasty little buggers around every year! :P

Around our pond the dragonflies always like to hang out on the sturdy flower stalks of the agapantha. They didn't land on the leaves, just the stalks.

We get brown ones (most common), and orange ones, and some skinny smaller blue ones.

I used to kill the nymphs in the pond ... until I found out what they were. :(
I thought they were some sort of evil underwater bug that would harm the fish. :huh:
One morning I saw an old larval skin on a flower stalk, with a dragonfly a few inches above it. I made the connection and stopped killing the nymphs.

PG

I love dragonflies. They are one sign that your water is healthy

I did the same thing last year. I thought they were some kind of creepy crawly that didn't belong in the pond. :o I found some bug site that had a pic of the nymph and then felt bad for killing them. I saw the outer skin of the nymph on top of one of the pond plants one day and the [new] dragonfly next to it. It hung around for a few days then took off. This happened a few times over the summer. I don't kill those creepy crawlers anymore! :)

tia

Not sure how to attract them but I thought I read someplace that the dragonflies go after bees?
We had bees around the pond last summer. I think they had a nest or hive or whatever they have in one of the trees close by. They were Yellow jackets. My neighbor has Honeybees and we would see them too. I don't mind the Honeybees but don't care for the Yellow jackets.

tia

Actually dragonfly nymphs are nasty predators! They will grab at anything that moves. I once pryed a teenaged green frog out of the pincers of one. They will also eat really small fish, other insects, etc. The adults are loved because, not only do they look neat, but they are also called mosquito hawks because they eat adult mosquitoes (the nymphs eat mosquito larvae too). When I clean my 153 gallon pond, I sometimes find a nymph or two and save them along with mayfly larvae and crane fly larvae.

To encourage dragonflies, you need an all around good natural pond. That means lots of other insects, plants, good water quality, no toxic chemicals, and varying depths. The nymphs may overwinter in the pond so there should be an area deep enough below the ice line if there is one.

My old section on dragonflies is at
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/insect.htm#dragon

I have a link on there to a web site with directions to make a dragonfly pond. Of course, it's gone now but here's a link to an archived version that might work (it worked for me with glitches):
http://web.archive.org/web/20060925074236/...t.htm?dap1&home

Added the next day: I forgot to say that yellow jackets are hornets that nest in the ground, not in trees. If you have a hive in a tree, it's probably some species of actual bee.

yes we have the adult dragon flys here have not seen a nymph yet and I am ok with that :o I watched a dragonfly take down a bee it was amazing.

Another favorite little bug o mine is the hummingbird moth. This guy is the size of a large moth social like a moth meaning not affraid to hang out by you but is built like a hummingbird and flies like them and hovers just like them. The first time I saw one had no clue and was telling a coworker about it and she knew what it was it even has a long thing that comes out to get nectar and feeds just like the bird. There is never a lot of them usually a couple in the morning and late afternoon before it gets to hot.

But I still dont like spiders. LOL

C2

hahaha....I don't mind spiders, but if the wife spots one anywhere, she is GONE!!!
:lol:

Needless to say, I keep a jar of them on hand for those time I just want to be left alone........"Oh honey, look at that cool huge spider..."........Zoooooooommmmmm...


:o :D

C2, I love the hummingbird moths too but there seem to be fewer and fewer each year.

I have never seen a hummingbird moth. Not a real one anyway.
I did see some pictures in one of the garden books that I have. They are cute aren't they?
I don't know if we have them around here...

Yeah Robyn I have only seen a couple heck maybe even the same one for all I know I wish there was more. TLC you would know if you saw one it is a very odd looking thing the first one I saw my brother n law was over and we called it NORBIT the alien thing then I realized what they were later.

I WILL LEAVE THE HOUSE FOR A BIG SPIDER I wont even try to get it they are about the ONLY THING I am truely affraid of. Snakes no problem will catch them crickets not a huge fan of worms but they dont make my stomach turn spiders can make me ill.

Growing up in Texas (in ohio now) we had the brown recluse (sp) jumping spiders they are awful you try to kill it and before you know it the damn thing is chasing you around with a shoe. no way.

C2

Last year, I saw what I thought was a loose cricket on the floor and picked it up with my bare hands as I've done countless times since they often escape. It was kind of dark. Once I picked it up, I realized I was holding a huge spider and dropped it. That gave me the willies. Really though, the only animals that totally creep me out are centipedes. The way they wiggle and try to move even after someone squishes them really makes me shiver. They just move too fast!

OMG last year we had an outbreak of centipedes not exagerating there were millions of them all over the lower deck (ground level) the whole floor was black and moving I would kill them shop vac them and the same amount would be back in the morning. I did some research and they lay dormant for a long time in the ground and then something triggers them up by the millions and usally only attack one side of the house usually the east and guess what they were only on the east they would climb half way up the walls of the house absoloute strangest thing I ever saw I battled them for 3 months I am hopeing that they will not come back this year I PRAY THAT THEY WILL NOT COME BACK THIS YEAR. I have pics of it I will try to post.

Robyn the spider thing would have made me pee myself yeah I said it pee. I would have lost it.

C2

C2, I think you are thinking about the millipedes not centipedes. We get explosions of millipedes in the fall with hundreds all over the bottom levels of the house. They are slow moving and have short legs. I don't mind them but end up stepping on many during that time. Centipedes have long legs and move lightning quick.

yes you are right still creepy i coul dnot stand it they were everywhere crunch crunch crunch

C2

Yeah, I've heard that crunch too many times. I take a step backwards, and oops!

we had earwigs here bad a few years ago. Those things give me the willies.....yeeeaahhhllllkkkk! :blink:

ewwwwwwwwwwwwww earwigs NASTY. Those creep me out too. I miss my bugs only becasue it would have to be spring to see them BRING ON THE SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

C2

They have Brown Recluse (sp) spiders in Central Oregon too!
My dad (bless his sole) got bit on the sitter-pon in three different spots. He was a tough old guy. He tried home remidies to remove the infection! You would not believe me if I told you what he did but one of the things that he did was take out his pocket knife and tried to cut away some of the dying flesh!

Youch!!!

C2...I lived in TX for a few years back in the 80's and I don't remember any jumping brown recluses! Thankfully! The scorpions falling down out of the air ducts in the ceilings was bad enough. And the crickets in the spring that would cover the ground...talk about crunching with every step!

Y'all are grossing me out with this discussion! LOL!

Pyrogirl95, Yeah that is gross! It would make a person stay inside!

Your user name doesn't mean that you set fires does it? ;)

Welcome to the board! :)

I notice a strange phenomenon where I live where every time someone sees a spider, they think it's a brown recluse. I'm not sure if they live here, but we have many, many kinds of spiders (or used to; I don't see wildlife here often since they spray a lot of pesticides).

My favorite spiders are the black and yellow species that builds huge webs, and wolf spiders.

OH YES THE scorpions. We had one bad outbreak of those (wen all the new costructionwas going up). My daughter (2.5) at the time was sitting naked on the couch right after bath right between two cushions. My dad was sitting beside her. She said PAPA BIG BUG he looked down and there was a scorpion comming out of the cushion heading straight for her privates my dad FLUNG her across the room we caought it and laid out flat stinger to nose 9 inches long NASTY. Outside of that yer we did not see to many (in our house) and we were righ by the desert but we had to keep our house sprayed every three months like clock work. The worst are the babies they are see through so you could not see them at all until they were on ya.

I could be wrong We had the brown spiders huge hairy mabe they were just called brown jumping spiders HUGE absolutly HUGE I hate all spiders can not tolerate them i am so affraid of them I wont even kill them. I think the reculses (sp) are here in ohio.

my hairs on my arm are standing up.

C2

9" scorpion ?!!?!?!!
That's huge! :o

What did you do with it? (or should I even ask)

PG

that was stinger to nose he was thick it nasty we put him to sleep and showed our bug sprayer guy their tails are long.

C2

Dragonfly seem to like lurking in floating foliage, fairly shallow, I guess they find better pickings where they can ambush things that drop in the water, with less risk of something like a big fish or turtle pestering them...

Shallow dense cover such as anacharis and bladderwort are the usual favourite places to find dragonfly larvae, if you don't mind risking being bitten when you go looking for them

Regards, andy