A LOW MOW, NATIVE LAWN? Sign Us Up! - Ep. 044
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2021
- If you can't tell by the shirts we're wearing / making for Flock Finger Lakes, www.flockfingerlakes.com/shop - we're a group of "lawn loathers"....meaning, we want to minimize non-native lawn, which can be high maintenance, dirty (considering all the pesticide and fertilizer use) and quite sterile for wildlife (read: doesn't provide any food, coverage, or habitat).
So we started to do research on alternative lawns, low- to no-mow lawns, and native lawns. We were wondering if even a low-mow or no-mow, native lawn even existed, and lo and behold, one of those lawns existed right in our backyard, which was orchestrated by Krissy Boys of the Cornell Botanic Gardens and team. We met up with the Natural Areas Director at Cornell Botanic Gardens, Todd Bittner, to take us through the genesis of the lawn and how it performed after its inception in 2009.
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Most people that have lawns have never even thought about it being any other way. Hopefully this idea will spread.
Lawn loathers! Count me in haha. Grateful for your efforts to show alternatives, this exposure does a lot. Another very informative, interesting video, as always. x
Glad you found it as informative as we did. We'll continue to be doing research in this area and experimenting in our own backyard, so stay tuned!
I'm so glad that you brought up the ticks because I've been embroiled in disquiet watching Summer Rayne bare leg it. Frankly I do too - but I do a careful tickcheck with my partner every evening and I wear Wellies when mowing etc. Of course we are worried about Lyme - but I've seen even worse acute infections from anaplasmosis. Its serious. I've had Lyme myself 4 times and have had the 2 pill Doxy preventive a lot more times.
I do have a lot of native grasses on my property that are mixed w disturbed soil plants etc. Raspberries love to move in. But I mow areas SHORT where kids play and people are likely to drop their guard - just around the house for example.
Great video - Thanks
Warm regards
Jennie
I love that you and your crew are choosing an alternative to the 'traditional' turf grasses. I would rather have something under my feet that is native to my area and benefits the environment rather than disrupting it as well.
The debate between standard turf lawn and law alternatives was a source of healthy debate in our lawn care class last year. Our instructor was very pro-turf (understandable I guess since her background was landscaping) but the majority of our class (all women) were pro lawn alternatives. To her credit our instructor did present both sides fairly and appreciated that we all have our own opinions.
Very interesting that it was a topic of debate in your course. I wondered what criteria was used for "for" and "against" ... Must have been an interesting class to sit it on!
@@FlockFingerLakes Most of the students are VERY interested in restorative agriculture/landscaping and alternative ways of doing things.
Our instructor's views were that turf provides natural A/C, water filtration, trapping air pollution, benefits our mental health, storm water management, erosion control, reducing the urban heat island, and oxygen production.
On the flip side, we talked about how turf grasses are non-native species and are harmful to native insect populations, it's time consuming to maintain, uses a lot of fuel , water, and chemicals to maintain as well. We all agreed it's boring to look at too LOL It was quite the class that day.
It's the same here in the UK. People here love neatly mowed lawns and I detest them! I stopped mowing my lawn two years ago (apart from a winding path in the middle) and apart from snobby looks and comments from the neighbours i'm thrilled with the results. I save money on petrol, less time on my weekends mowing, wild flowers and more wildlife such as birds and insects.
Over 50 years ago, most lawns were clover. ☘️🍀 If we could just go back to that, it would help, y'all taking it even further! I love it! 😀
This is cool, can’t wait to see your meadow develop. It’s way more interesting to walk through than a typical lawn.
Any plant nurseries selling theses plants or seeds to start a native lawn? Your content is really inspiring.
They are, though admittedly, I couldn't find some that we were looking for. Ernst Conservation Seed is a really, really good resource. We're working with American Meadows as well to do some seed sourcing. All in all, sometimes you have to go to quite a few places. And there are quite a few seed companies that specialize in native grass seed in the midwest for prairie growing.
In shade, I discovered moss gardening. Really low maintenance and low water requirements.
So glad you're showcased this! 30 years ago we stopped the senseless waste for a traditional lawn and let nature take over. We haven't used any fertilizers or watered our lawn in all that time and we have a green lawn even in our hot southern sometimes dry summers. We have friends and family ask what we do to have such a nice lawn, and they never believe us when we say nothing. It's an every changing lawn, what's dominate in spring is different than what's dominate in the summer and so on.
Thanks for sharing your inspirational journey!
Great information. I live in a suburban neighborhood with a HOA that wouldn’t allow a full natural lawn but what I have been doing is adding more native plants and now with this information, grasses to bedding areas as well as the lawn…slowly moving the needle towards a native lawn and garden. ✌🏼🪴🌳
That's fantastic. Wondering if some of these lower-growing native grasses and sedges can just surreptitiously "make it" in to your turf without anyone knowing any better!
@@FlockFingerLakes 😉 that’s my plan…by the time we move in the next few years I should have converted a lot of the area to native. 🤞🏻
I love this! I worry about walking on natives, don’t want to squash caterpillars.
Mosquitos like taller vegetation to, especially in Michigan when we get a lot of summer rains and morning dew, they'll rise like a cloud of doom when you walk in meadows
Thanks for the info! I planted native grasses and clover on my lawn. I hate the idea of monocrop of blue grass.
Thanks for this video, I am growing a native meadow in the middle of DC on a 1600 square foot plot. Trying to add as much biodiversity to the land to compensate for the adjacent asphalt.
Where has this channel been all my life?! I thought I was one of only a handful of people who were passionate about restoring viable habitat! My goal is to have no lawn at all. My back yard is clover & violets, the side yards are golden alexander & dogbane. The front is mostly mulch with native shrubs & herbaceous plants. There's still a 10 × 10' section of lawn, so I can play nice with the neighbors. Grrr..... Thank you for everything you're doing to help rectify and bring awareness to mankind's folly! If I had any kind of money I'd do just what Cornell has done; buy up land and keep it from being destroyed by "progress" and development. Also loved hearing the orioles in the background!
Thank you for this effort. We've been no-mow for eight years. We built a new house and most city codes require you to seed a lawn. We chose to seed with clover and wild flowers, not knowing that deer LOVE clover! In fact, that's what deer hunters plant. We also tried big sections with English ivy. Unfortunately our deer pressure here is intense (not just because of our clover). So now we just let it self-rule and, once or twice a year, I'll knock some unruly sections back with the weed-eater.
Wonderful tutorial.
Great video and really interesting. A friend has those cactuses growing in his garden.
Over 30 years ago I turned my front and back yard into perennial gardens with pathways and no grass at all. So many people would stop and tell me "wow, that's so much work", but when I explained that caring for a garden is far less demanding than keeping up with cutting the grass many could see my point. Sometimes it's been difficult to be different when a neighbour doesn't like the non-traditional approach, but many more younger people compliment the garden.
Love love Cornell!! Great place great people! So informative!
Wonderful video 💚💚💚 and a lot knowledge. Thank you.
I appreciate you Flock folks!
Thanks so much for the video(s)! My wife and I are just starting our small farm rehab project in Ithaca and would love to reseed our meadows with native grasses, so this one is spot on and super helpful. We'll definitely be checking out the demonstrator lawn at the botanic gardens now. Very excited to continue to follow your team's journey.
Please do check the demo lawn out. It's very revealing. One thing to note: They really did have to "prep" the place in advance to promote the native seed sets. Something to keep in mind while you're on your journey. We will continue to be doing experiments here, including with different mowing techniques.
@@FlockFingerLakes Point well taken, thanks!
I always love your videos, great channel!!!
I enjoyed this so much! Your videos are getting better and better. Your questions were super informative, Sander is great (watch your step!), editing, length, everything worked super well for me. Thanx.
Thank you for this.
Again so inciteful! Thanks for taking us along your journey
absolutely. Thanks for tuning in.
Another good episode Summer!!!
Thanks! Glad you are enjoying on the other side of the great pond!
I erased a 1/2 acre of lawn from the front of our house over the last year and I'm getting ready to plant native prairie seeds next month. I plan on doing this to all of our current turf grass. I hope to be able to get rid of our lawn mower someday (although it is a battery powered one;))
It feels good to comment for the first time....I've have been watching your videos on your channel plant one on me. All of your videos have helped me throughout my journey.
However doing this is pretty interesting.
Great thanks 😊
You're most welcome. Thanks for writing in and tuning in.
Wonderful alternative
That is beautiful. I like sedges, too...seeing them in their natural surroundings. I like the idea of clover, instead of grass...with the white flowers that attract pollinators. I look forward to the progress of your meadows. Thank you, Summer. :)
I’ve achieved a very similar low-growing lawn just by removing grass clippings. I use them to mulch my vegetable garden. And of course, I don’t fertilize it or spray it with anything:) After soil became less fertile, nature took its course:) I mow 1-3 times per year and usually, it depends on the amount of rain.
I have with many failures tried planting lawn alternatives so thank.
Well we're just in the beginning of our journey too, so hopefully more to learn for all of us here!
I'm on pure sand on an extremely windy coast. My lawns are used for mulch constantly. Over the summer any grass dies off and I only have paspalam and dandelion left lol I would love to have a flower meadow lawn.
Great video and nice to see some academic development on this front.
A note though about the "fertility" talk. It's not so much what we typically think of as fertility (soluble nutrient availability) - what is more important is succession and fungal to bacterial ratios. Disturbance tends to reduce fungal biomass, and increases bacterial counts (agricultural soils may look "fertile" but with so much disturbance, they are successionally inferior). As higher successional plants develop (via less disturbance), they tend to be more complex (lignens) and require more fungi to support the nutrient cycling they require. That's why disturbance = weeds... they thrive on nitrates and are short-lived, with no foods available for fungi, but rather faster bacteria.... it's a bit complex.
When it comes to turf, we're mimicking grazing systems, which have regular disturbance. So naturally, they are going to have a lower F:B ratio... but every ecosystem is a bit different, depending on the sort of disturbance... occasional inundation is one form and has a very different effect on soil biology too...
I wish we had here in Puerto Rico a place like this that has all the native grasses and the information to replicate it in our lawns.
Looks as if it may be time for you to do some of your own research to start the trend!
I'm all about this, but yes the ticks. There's so many here in Missouri. Most are so tiny that they're hard to see and I know multiple people with life long diseases because of them.
I’ve never appreciated perfectly maintained fescue yards. I’ve always disliked perfectly manicured lawns with their perfectly separated flower garden beds of flowers that aren’t native 🤦🏽♀️ whereas the natural meadow and grasses just seems so right because it is right! Especially in my area where we’ve endured decades of drought now. I see neighbors waist time watering obsessively when it’s not helping anything or anyone. I really appreciate the knowledge shared here
cool!
Nice video
This is why I'm not against lawns. There are choices better than typical but still provide lawn space.
In many settings and households, you just can’t get rid of having lawns. I’m going for a modified lawn, perhaps with more clovers but it’s tough to find trample-resilient varieties that won’t take over and devour the lawn.
There definitely needs to be more research and experimentation in this area. We don't want to get rid of all of our "lawn" area either, but are totally up for experimentation on different mowing tempos, augmenting lawn with native seeds, and also just taking up entirely. There is an area of our lawn now, which naturally over time has quite a few different species of plants, including self heal, yarrow, sedges, etc. that seems more diverse than other places. We want to see if we can encourage more of that as well.
@@FlockFingerLakes I totally agree about more experiments. Self Heal is very interesting as the flowers are great for pollinators.
Eu amo que ela era a rainha das plantas domésticas e agora tá abordando flora nativa, muito bom ver esse desenvolvimento! GoNative!
So informative. Have you watched Roy Diblik UA-cam videos about growth rate and growth habit and plant community?
Great informational and inspirational content here! I’m curious about a grass that is finely bladed, vibrant green, 6-8 inches tall and clumping with a lemon scent. Any idea what if might be?
What part of the world are you in? Maybe Elionurus citreus. Otherwise regular citronella grass (the one used in cooking) is typically thicker bladed and harsh to the touch if you rub it.
@@FlockFingerLakes NJ…it’s not lemon grass….it’s a turf grass that when mowed fills the air with a lemon scent.
Summer, I feel like there must be a story behind your motiffed outfit and I am curious to know it! May the meadow movement go mainstream :)
Well done. Great presentation, waiting for the Extension Bulletin. Only question I have is: Has the Cornell Botanic Garden noticed and increase in mice and voles? I know when other areas with cool season grasses are left un-/or reduced mowing there is usually an increase in rodents with a subsequent damage to trees.
Loved the mowed pathways something I did when I was mowing here. I could become quite selective with a smaller self propelled push mower encouraging particular species.
Good question. Definitely something for the Cornell folks to answer!
We have not observed a change, but given the large amount of surrounding forest, it would be hard to tease out natural changes versus those from our modest-sized native lawn. Additionally, such small mammal populations are generally the results of seed abundance, rather than just grass cover, and between our annuall or biannual mowing and native seed collection, few seeds remain to boost mice and vole numbers much.
@@Toddbisontube Thanks Todd
So… my lawn is weird and wet. Lots of low spots and sometimes the water sits until June. It is silty loam soil though. What can I do to?
Sedges!!! There's some great research coming out of Mt. Cuba on great lawn alternatives with sedges. We'll be experimenting in our wetter areas.
💚🌱
Native species lawns are right up my alley, so cheers for posting :) Just a note re your end of film promotion, particularly the Cow Manure Compost. I don't know if you've heard about the negative effects of Climate Change or indeed stopped to consider what the causes are ? But, my understanding is that the Cattle Industry is one of those major contributors, and guess what ? We don't even have a need for Cows. Additionally the colourful imagery on the compost packaging is v misleading as it depicts a fanciful farm environment that is so far removed from reality that it's shamefully embarrassing. Sure, some cattle are raised on grass fed free range organic systems, but it's practically impossible to collect manure in this situation. All of this is gonna make peeps feel a tad uncomfortable, but that's life, that's how we are able to analyse ourselves and contemplate change. The alternative to change is to sit back and watch the next Wildfire rip through pristine habitat, ravaged crops wither and die in draught situations , distraught neighbourhoods flooded out, again and again, species loss due to deforestation to create space for mono cropping for the animal feed industry ........What's not to enjoy:)
People down here are afraid of armyworms moving in & I'm like " save the bay, forget the lawn, grow more
In my location I let my lawn go dormant every summer. And I let the weeds exist in my lawn.
It would be ironic if in Eurasia people are wondering why they surrounded by American grass…
It definitely would be! We've traded grasses. You can say that people always think the grass is greener on the other side.... "ba dom chick"
omg i often walk in my natural habitat in england therers no such thing as a monoculture here
Get some Guinea fowls, let them roam free. They'll take care of tics