Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

Post by labster » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 5:32 AM UTC

SubiculumCode wrote: post #6

Waterluvian wrote: post #3

Are scientists often in a position to provide advice with holistic value? I'm usually quite skeptical of advice like this when it comes from someone who is laser focused on a specific domain.

lawn care invites exorbitant water consumption, pesticide use, creates smog from lawn mowing, and induces a mono-culture ecosystem. I for one would like drought tolerant (in CA anyway) native plant species to fill our lawn spaces...especially the ones that get rarely used.

Post by Polylactic_acid » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 5:38 AM UTC

3fe9a03ccd14ca5 wrote: post #2

I’d love to see my “progressive” city end setback laws, which require me to keep 15 ft of either grass or dirt in front of my house.

Post by Waterluvian » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 5:43 AM UTC

perl4ever wrote: post #10

Waterluvian wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. I'm not debating the specific case here. I generally think this is good advice. My back yard is 100 foot maples and artificial grass because normal ground cover will not grow under that canopy. But broadly speaking, I'm skeptical of taking advice from a domain expert rather than some form of generalist who synthesizes understanding across the board. I want to know what the civil engineer has to say. I want to h…

Well, you say you're skeptical of taking advice from a domain expert, but then you list a lot of, apparently, domain experts you want to hear from. I agree with the latter sentence - I want to hear from a lot of people with narrow expertise and different perspectives on anything important, but I probably don't care what a generalist thinks, because why should they be better at synthesizing the experts than me?

Post by ravenstine » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 5:52 AM UTC

colechristensen wrote: post #14

jws wrote: post #5

The article seems sloppy. It’s just grass with pesticides. I take care of about two acres of lawns across a few properties for a few decades. I’ve never put pesticides on the lawns. Herbicides, sure, sometimes lots of herbicides, but all very much plant specific. I suppose some places must use pesticides, but here in the middle of the US grass just sort of uses sun, water, nitrogen, and some other stuff and grows. Al…

My family never put anything on the, eh, 3 acres of grass I regularly had to mow as a kid. It wasn't perfect, nobody cared. There were dandelions, there was some clover. If you can bear to tolerate the fact that your lawn isn't going to look like a putting green, you can do literally nothing but cut it and perhaps water it if your climate requires and be done with it. If there are plants you don't want in your lawn,…

Post by 0xB31B1B » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 5:55 AM UTC

jws wrote: post #8

3fe9a03ccd14ca5 wrote: post #2

I’d love to see my “progressive” city end setback laws, which require me to keep 15 ft of either grass or dirt in front of my house.

Setback laws are usually about not building a structure too close to a lot line. On the front, a minimal setback keeps the street from becoming a canyon. Larger setbacks are more of a look and feel thing for a neighborhood. Front setbacks may also be governed by adjacent houses to encourage all the fronts to line up. It’s tidier that way.