Why do pollinators show up on NO-MOW lawns in May?

[Model35mech]

Almost all lawn GRASSES in the US are WIND pollinated. Such grasses don't attract pollinators, and unsurprisingly those grasses lack nectar bearing FLOWERS that attract Hymenopter-ous pollinators.

On the Other hand, Flowering WEEDS DO FLOWER and most lawn weeds flower. Their flowers attract pollinators and give their visitations a reward of nectar. Unsurprisingly, in search of the evolutionary success of the flowering semiotic of "NECTAR HERE!" represented by showy flowers, flying pollinators notice and divert their travel to the flowering weeds.

So be aware of the nature "game" you are entering when you go on a mowing strike for a month. What you get is pollinators pollinating the flowering crop of spring weeds.

If the weeds are removed before they mature, this may not change the balance of weeds vs grasses in a lawn. But don't forget that weeds are R-selected and many of them can produce flowers and mature seeds withing 31 days (think dandelions, for example).

Kill them now or kill them later, or maybe don't kill them at all. I am not pushing an agenda. But, do be aware that no-mow is favorable to seed making in weeds and doesn't have much impact at all on seed making in grasses. Watch what is going on, and adapt as you need to to keep your grass vs flowering weed balance where you want it.

 

[LuvLoogie]

1. Kill your lawn. Grow food and native flora that feed birds and pollinators.

Pulling weeds is fun, especially the edible ones.

[Model35mech]

5. I don't have a lot of edible weeds, but I do occassionaly put dandelion leaves in salad

My point here is most people don't really understand why bees show up in NO-MOW MAY lawns

It's because flower weeds are THERE!

My renter sees Milkweed as a weed. I see it as food for Monarchs.
My county arborist isn't happy my 7 acres of wood containe Prickly Ash. Native Americans call Prickly Ash "toothache tree"

I don't fight toothaches with it, but "Wisconsin Pepper" produced in the hulls of the berries are a fully functional, satisfying replacement to Chinese 5 Spice. I produce 5-10 lbs of it a year divided among my friends (It's too time consuming to mess with at higher harvests).

[rog]

11. re: edible 'weeds' ...

My dandelions were spectacular this year, especially the ones I let grow in the border of my raised bed. The leaves are massive this year, and I've been enjoying them lightly steamed with other veg or raw on sandwiches, in place of lettuce. Yummy. Edited to include Queen Anne's Lace ... those greens are delicious.

I did not do 'no mow May' in the front yard this year, but I have a really large back yard that just got cut down today for the first time this year. I keep my mower on the highest setting, and I only mow a few times a year back there. I NEVER pull weeds, so my 'lawn' is a great mixture of various grasses, burdock, creeping charlie, dandelions, and other wildflowers. It's not a golf course, but I never have to water it, and it stays green, even during dry spells. I always do 'no mow May' in the back. I've got birds and insects everywhere ... they keep the 'pests' in my little garden at bay. I also have rabbits, woodchucks, and other wildlife, but that's what chicken wire is for!

.rog.

[Ocelot II]

2. Weeds are just plants you don't want.

If you want pollinators you'll have to tolerate some "weeds," like dandelions. You can grow turf grass and kill anything that isn't grass if you don't want pollinators.

[Model35mech]

3. the policy relevant part of that being "YOU DON'T WANT"

I'm just saying, flowers from "weeds" or desireables, attract pollinators.

THAT is their EVOLUTIONARILY EVOLVED BEHAVIOR.

[Ocelot II]

4. Yes, of course.

Some plants, flowering ones, rely on pollinators to reproduce; that's why they have flowers, and hence the name "pollinators." Grasses do not. So if your lawn consists entirely of flowerless grasses you won't attract pollinators. If you have flowering plants, weeds or otherwise, you will.

[Model35mech]

6. Yes, and the logic of that says... WEEDS in your lawn attract pollinators...

NOT the grasses!!!

I think it's good to be aware of what is really going on...

[Ocelot II]

9. Yes, they do. Weeds with flowers attract pollinators. Grasses don't.

So you can kill your lawn and replace it with native plants that attract pollinators. That's what I did about ten years ago, and now I don't have to mow a lawn, and instead I can watch the bees and butterflies that come to the flowers. I pull those few plants that I consider invasive weeds, like creeping bellflower, but everything else that has flowers is welcome.

[Kaleva]

8. My backyard is that way

I mow it at a high setting. The more dandelions the better.

[H2O Man]

7. oh

[Model35mech]

13. Well, re dandelions, creeping charlie, queen annes lace... they are European colonizers

just like the folks who packed their breakables in grass and hay (not much newsprint at that time) before sending them (and the seeds they contained) to their progenies unforeseen "lawny" futures in the new world.

I haven't a gripe about weeds. As a biologist I just want people to better understand what they are or aren't part of...

[Mosby]

10. Grass lawns provide a great environment for insects and worms

Which then provide food for the birds. Gravel and concrete provide nothing but a lot of reflected heat.

[Ocelot II]

12. They also provide an environment for the grubs that become Japanese beetles.

Insects and worms do just fine in areas with plants other than turf grass.

[Mosby]

15. Depends on the area.

I live in Phoenix. Japanese beetles aren't an issue. But yards without sprinklers just drip systems become extremely arid, and can't support anything.

I have a lot of pollinator plants in my front and back yard, so the bees are happy, along with the birds.

[Ocelot II]

17. You're lucky. Damn things are a freaking scourge in the midwest.

They eat everything, especially plants in the rose family, and they are constantly mating. And they are really hard to get rid of, you have to pick them off your plants and drown them in soapy water.

[Think. Again.]

14. There are a few seed companies...

...that offer low-mow seed mixes (meaning you have to mow less often, not less high) or even no-mow mixes which contain a variety of low-growing plant seeds that are great replacements for standard grass dominated lawns.

[Hekate]

16. Bees love clover & sweet alyssum. They smell nice, too. They used to be common in lawns before

…herbicides came along and homeowners were sold on the idea that lawns should be a sterile monoculture.

I got rid of my dying front yard during one of our years-long droughts. Over a thick layer of newspaper (to discourage weeds) I had a truckload of woodchips dumped, which gave it a more attractive look.

“Sourgrass, “ as the children who chew on the stems call it, is a type of oxalis with a pretty yellow flower. My mother used to weed it out, and told me “nothing” would grow where it competed. She was wrong — altho what it seems to do is fill in where other plants fail. Sourgrass covered my woodchipped front yard 1/3 of the year, then died back to nothing when the heat came, only to return in the rains. One time I went digging into our claylike dirt before it got too hard after the rains and discovered the sourgrass roots were fat with stored water.

[NanaCat]

18. I'll have to find where I read it

But some scientific research shows that the 'smell' of cut grass is the grass equivalent of screaming in pain or blood splashes, and insects (including pollinatos) pick up on it. They'll avoid whatever else is in the immediate vicinity, because it's like going to a mass murder scene for them.