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Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

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Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#21

Post by perl4ever »

Waterluvian wrote: post #15
perl4ever wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

If you want to take on the cognitive load of being the generalist for everything, all the power to you! For me I pick and choose. I pretty much leave my car and rooftop to the experts but I dabble in electrical, plumming, carpentry, landscaping, etc. Etc.

It doesn't matter what I want.

Your second sentence is about when you defer to experts and when you don't, so apparently you too are your own generalist.

There are no "expert generalists"! If you wanted one, you'd need an even more general generalist to choose which generalist was trustworthy...

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#22

Post by freepor »

ravenstine wrote: post #17
colechristensen wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

What's sad is dandelions are neither ugly nor bad for your lawn. They feed bees and the tap roots draw nutrients from deep in the soil, which also benefits the grass.

As the parent of a toddler I love dandelions because he loves to pick them and blow their seeds into the air.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#23

Post by freepor »

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.

I mean, lawns are obviously a dumb idea unless you're using the lawn for something like relaxing or playing games. If you're just in a conformity contest with your neighbors then you might as well have something zero-maintenance or agriculturally productive there.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#24

Post by pdkl95 »

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…

> I’ve never put pesticides on the lawns. Herbicides, sure, sometimes lots of herbicides

Herbicides are a type of pesticide.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#25

Post by _qwfv »

Getting rid of our lawn and growing other stuff has been amazingly fulfilling. I have fresh produce most of the year, I've got honeybees and bumblebees and mason bees coming around. I have to do a lot less maintenance, and when I do it's more varied and interesting.

Everything from fruit trees to berries, flowers to vegetables, herbs to herbal teas like chamomile.

Strongly recommend looking at what will grow in your area and start replacing your lawn. Chunk out a four by four foot section and grow some sugar peas and tell me it wasn't a thousand times more rewarding than a lawn.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#26

Post by Pfhreak »

pdkl95 wrote: post #24
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…

> I’ve never put pesticides on the lawns. Herbicides, sure, sometimes lots of herbicides Herbicides are a type of pesticide.

Furthermore they are a pesticide that often targets food sources like dandelions and clover.

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#27

Post by shartshooter »

Why do lawns even factor into the equation when the reality is that industry, farms, etc. own the majority of all water usage? I live in a desert area and hate seeing lawns watered in the middle of the summer but its impact seems trivial.

Agriculture is a major user of ground and surface water in the United States, accounting for approximately 80 percent of the Nation's consumptive water use and over 90 percent in many Western States.[0]

Households only make up a small percentage of the total water consumption worldwide[1].

Recommendations to cut foods that require an inordinate amount of water per calorie are probably better served(if you care about freshwater consumption) and it appears the simplest way to reduce this would be to cut out bovine meat.[2]

[0] - https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-practices-management/ir...

[1] - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/water-in-water-ou...

[2] - https://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/product-water-...

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#28

Post by asdf333 »

labster wrote: post #11
SubiculumCode wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Every drought-tolerant landscape I’ve seen looks passable for about two months and becomes an overgrown mess after that. I know we need to change, but if we can’t come up with a yard people will maintain, lawns and giant driveways with a soul patch will keep winning.

i've seen some really good ones in my neighborhood.

it does require maintenance but choosing the right plants can do wonders

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#29

Post by smt88 »

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.

Which city is this? I've only ever heard of rules like this coming from HOAs.

Are you claiming that you're not allowed to plant trees or a native ground cover?

Re: Renowned Entomologist Says ‘Get Rid of Your Lawn’

#30

Post by lysium »

0xB31B1B wrote: post #19
jws wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

setbacks are about reducing FAR so people need to buy a lot more land than they need to build a home to live in. It helps keep property values high and land as a scarce resource.

That is a consequence, not the intention.

I don’t see how you can avoid street canyons otherwise.

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