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Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

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Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#111

Post by bmitc »

taeric wrote: post #66
bmitc wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still not totally certain how to "manage" the trees in our yard. We are in a quite woody area with huge trees. I contacted an arborist place last year and plan on paying them to come out and teach me about the trees on my property. The previous owners cutdown some huge trees, but luckily mainly concentrated on the trees that were super close to the house. It's possible remaining trees could hit the house, and the…

What was the reasoning to cut down 50+ trees? That feels excessive in any world.

I have no idea. The house has literally sat completely empty for well over a year. The tree cutting was the first activity I have ever seen there. I don't know if they plan on tearing the house down and rebuilding or what. I also have no idea if there's someone who actually plans to live there or if it's owned by an investor.

It's possible I overestimated, but it has to be at least over two dozen trees. And these are not small trees. There's of course smaller ones but others are easily over 40-50 feet.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#112

Post by toast0 »

taeric wrote: post #66
bmitc wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still not totally certain how to "manage" the trees in our yard. We are in a quite woody area with huge trees. I contacted an arborist place last year and plan on paying them to come out and teach me about the trees on my property. The previous owners cutdown some huge trees, but luckily mainly concentrated on the trees that were super close to the house. It's possible remaining trees could hit the house, and the…

What was the reasoning to cut down 50+ trees? That feels excessive in any world.

50+ has to be weighed against the total volume of trees. If you have too many trees in a small space, none of them thrive. It can be valuable to actively thin the forest so that you have a smaller number of thriving trees rather than a larger number of struggling trees.

If someone planted 50+ trees that are a terrible fit for the lot, well that's a good reason to take them out too, hopefully with replacements.

Personally, I live on a large lot with hundreds of trees, and it would be easy to select 50 trees that would be reasonable to cut down, and you'd hardly notice. But the only large tree we cut down was a (non native) cottonwood planted near the house that had bifurcated and was likely to fall on the house in the foreseable future. When we thin the forest, it's mostly younger trees in thick growth that don't have room to grow well.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#113

Post by bmitc »

justajot wrote: post #98
bmitc wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still not totally certain how to "manage" the trees in our yard. We are in a quite woody area with huge trees. I contacted an arborist place last year and plan on paying them to come out and teach me about the trees on my property. The previous owners cutdown some huge trees, but luckily mainly concentrated on the trees that were super close to the house. It's possible remaining trees could hit the house, and the…

Thank you for leaving the dead … super important habitat! Also wanted to mention the importance of diversity. Everybody thinks trees trees trees but, at least where I live, native prairie plants are just as, if not more important, and are unfortunately largely ignored.

That's a good point. I am mainly concentrating on plants and haven't even got to bushes or trees yet, in terms of planting. I will want some professional advice on where to place the trees I'd like to plant. I want to plant trees for looks, to return some areas back to trees where some were previously cut down, and to also re-block a backyard neighbor (another one) who tore down all their trees.

The plants are really fun because you can just basically plant them anywhere and see how they do. They take quickly and don't pose any harm to infrastructure.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#114

Post by wcarron »

bmitc wrote: post #3

After getting a house with a decent sized yard and trees, I have been having a lot of fun with planting native plants. While my neighbors are cutting down trees, which is honestly hard to watch, and paying landscapers to plant non-native plants, I'm spending a lot of time researching and planting native plants. It is honestly one of the more fulfilling things to walk outside and see all sorts of bees, butterflies, mo…

> I sort of disagree with the article though. I think one should actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting only native plants. Just because you have a lot of activity around a plant doesn't mean it's the right activity. You could be attracting non-regional and non-native species which is generating the activity.

I disagree. Native plants are great, but so are tomatoes or some bell and habanero peppers. You're projecting your personal opinions on what makes a garden good. To some, a good garden is defined by its native-plant biodiversity. To others, it's getting fresh herbs for salads at dinner. To others it is something else. It's not an either-or thing. You can plant many things and reap varying benefits.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#115

Post by bmitc »

wcarron wrote: post #114
bmitc wrote: post #3

After getting a house with a decent sized yard and trees, I have been having a lot of fun with planting native plants. While my neighbors are cutting down trees, which is honestly hard to watch, and paying landscapers to plant non-native plants, I'm spending a lot of time researching and planting native plants. It is honestly one of the more fulfilling things to walk outside and see all sorts of bees, butterflies, mo…

> I sort of disagree with the article though. I think one should actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting only native plants. Just because you have a lot of activity around a plant doesn't mean it's the right activity. You could be attracting non-regional and non-native species which is generating the activity. I disagree. Native plants are great, but so are tomatoes or some bell and habanero peppers.…

I was distinguishing plants from crops. I think it's perfectly fine to be growing non-native vegetables and fruits that you'd like to eat or sell.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#116

Post by neonnoodle »

inkcapmushroom wrote: post #108
neonnoodle wrote: post #103

During the process of buying our house, one of the disclosures was that the house has a huge inground swimming pool, but some aspect of the plumbing was broken, and nobody knew how much it might cost to repair. So, as-is. Nobody in our house swims, and the costs of repairing and running the pool would be excessive. At first I thought about having it drained and either removed or converted to some kind of outbuilding…

>circulation speed Do you run the pool pump, or else how is the water circulating? This sounds like an awesome project, what a joy to have that right in your backyard.

I made a bubble pump, but it's still very much a work in progress. A lot of the circulation is just "traffic" of all the little dudes swimming around. I recommend watching some of David Pagan Butler's videos on organic pools. https://www.youtube.com/user/davidpaganbutler

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#117

Post by bmitc »

dahfizz wrote: post #86
bmitc wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an example of part of the problem though. By originally cutting everything down and destroying the ecosystem, it pushed out the predators that would keep the rodents in check. We have rodents here for sure, but there are also foxes, coyotes, fisher cats, hawks, raccoons, bobcats, and owls.

A simple proposition for homeowners - trade your lawn for a bunch of coyotes and raccoons. I wonder why more suburbs don't do that.

I have all sorts of predators in my area, and the only time you see them is from the security camera picking them up at night, and even that is rare.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#118

Post by bmitc »

LegitShady wrote: post #68
bmitc wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an example of part of the problem though. By originally cutting everything down and destroying the ecosystem, it pushed out the predators that would keep the rodents in check. We have rodents here for sure, but there are also foxes, coyotes, fisher cats, hawks, raccoons, bobcats, and owls.

I dont want coyotes and bobcats around my house. neither does anyone who has pets or livestock. There's a reason they were pushed out. We still have owls and other birds of prey. We have raccoons and they are annoying and can damage property.

That's why it's important to leave areas completely undeveloped so that these animals have somewhere to retreat to.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#119

Post by taeric »

toast0 wrote: post #112
taeric wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was the reasoning to cut down 50+ trees? That feels excessive in any world.

50+ has to be weighed against the total volume of trees. If you have too many trees in a small space, none of them thrive. It can be valuable to actively thin the forest so that you have a smaller number of thriving trees rather than a larger number of struggling trees. If someone planted 50+ trees that are a terrible fit for the lot, well that's a good reason to take them out too, hopefully with replacements. Person…

I mean, not wrong, but doesn't seem in the spirit of the upper post. "All that's left is a graveyard of stumps" does not sound like someone thinning out a forest. Or even preparing a lot for a house, since you will have to grind out all of the stumps.

Re: Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot

#120

Post by bmitc »

kccqzy wrote: post #110
jmspring wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this when I bought a house in Santa Cruz. Planted a bunch of natives, in particular bushes that flowered at different times of the year - ceanothus, manzanita, etc. I happily had bees and other insects around the yard almost all the time. It's worth doing. Funny thing, monarch butterflies (and the caterpillars) seem to prefer the non-native Milkweed to the native variety.

In my yard, I didn't plant any milkweed but I found them growing on its own. Or at least, Google Lens told me it's milkweed. How do I know if they are native or not? How do I know if they are harmful or beneficial to the ice system, and whether I should remove them or let them grow? Where do you get this knowledge?

I use the app PictureThis (https://www.picturethisai.com/) and then supplement it by researching the online on various sites. I don't have any particular sites to offer offhand, as I'm still figuring everything out myself. Another thing I have considered is buying some books from local native plant societies and organizations. They publish books that contain pictures and information of regionally native plants. They also have plant sales every year, where they sell native plants that have been grown by themselves or by known third-parties.

In general, I have tried taking an additive approach. I have only removed plants that I knew for a fact, through the app and subsequent research, were non-native and particularly damaging.

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