Okay so where can I grow something that won’t be full of ticks?
succession
Submitted 1 month ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/33507eda-8783-4ad3-b373-d274d308c67a.png
Comments
imPastaSyndrome@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Photuris@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
Basically, how can we, as humans, use our propensity for destroying entire species, but do it on purpose so we can eliminate ALL TICKS FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH‽
Squibbles@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Maybe we can breed super mosquitos to eat the ticks or something
Quadhammer@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Get a colony of fire ants and then feed them meth and hgc
jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 1 month ago
You foster a family of possums at the same time.
Halo@lemmynsfw.com 1 month ago
Hate to be the bearer of bad news. Possums don’t eat ticks.
Midnitte@beehaw.org 1 month ago
You don’t.
Instead, you always have a roving band of chickens following you to eat them.
MoonMelon@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
You’re going to have ticks in the native area too. Ticks are native insects, unfortunately. Remediating your land for native insects’ benefit will actually be better for ticks than having an acre of 2" turf grass, but that’s just because short lawns are totally ecologically dead.
When I was more uninformed I was more of a purist. The more I’ve done on my own property, and the more I’ve consulted with experts, the more I’ve learned that it’s actually a balance between human needs and ecology. Now I’m sort of in the “if planting turf grass by your house is what you need to be on board with the rest of it, fine.”
We can’t promise people ticks will go away, more like teach people the critical value of native insects. Keep tall grass away from your house, sure, but think about walkways instead of acres of lawn for the rest of it. People plant laws and call Mosquito Joe to fog it all so “their children can play” but consider your children living in a world with no bugs at all. That’s the trade off. IMO it’s a lot more scary than ticks, and I fucking hate ticks.
other_cat@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
One of my relatives’ primary concerns isn’t ticks, it’s mice getting into the house. Is that a valid concern? Personally I think just keeping a couple of indoor cats would offset encroaching rodents.
drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Depends on that cat.
MoonMelon@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
In my experience if you have access points for mice they will get in whether you have a suburban turf grass lawn or not, and a cat can’t get them if they are in the walls or crawlspace. So the best bet is to seal up any holes and keep all vegetation, native or not, at least a couple of feet away from the house.
Umbrias@beehaw.org 1 month ago
it kinda does both, there are more mice but the more naturalized habitat gives them more places to hide that isnt your house, especially in the spring/summer fall, but winter too. I dont know, others get mice all the time anyway, we occasionally do, i dont know if it’s an improvement or not. I do know that a well sealed house in the woods with totally native habitat for acres (not mine sadly, lol) has far fewer pests than in any suburb house so i think there’s merit.
RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I had a cat once that let a mouse come up to it, touch noses, then run away.
It really REALLY depends on the cat.
ReplicantBatty@lemmy.one 1 month ago
One of my cats would probably be scared of the mice, and the other would probably make friends with the mice. They are both disappointments to their Great Ancestors
Jax@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
I’m required to keep a 100 ft perimeter of defensible space around my house, so I do need to clear quite a bit. I try to leave as much otherwise, recently (5 ish years) I had considerable sprouting of oaks. Probably 15 or so across my property, not sure if that’s indicative of the land being healthier but we get a decent amount of wild mushrooms as well.
MoonMelon@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
Oak are great. A lot of the understory in oak/hickory forest is now maple and tulip poplar due to shifting climate and possibly deer pressure. It’s called mesophication.
My property is also oak/hickory complex and I can say anecdotally that the native understory has a lot of tulip poplar.
Dojan@pawb.social 1 month ago
Hehe. The image makes it look like pine matures to oak and hickory.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
this is now canon in the pokemon universe
Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Tallpine evolved into Oakollossal.
Oakollossal wants to learn Acorn Drop?
Forget a move to learn Acorn Drop?
dumples@midwest.social 1 month ago
For a lawn or yard you don’t have to go all the way to a forest to have a stablish ecosystem. Perennials can do a lot.
FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
And actually in some places prarieland is probably more important for conservation.
In my case it was plant a couple of native fruit trees for me, dig a small perrenial pond and add some rocks so amphibians can feel safe, and sprinkle in seeds for native grasses, especially edible ones and let nature do it’s work. It was probably my favourite. Loved it.
Shame I don’t live there anymore.
dumples@midwest.social 1 month ago
Its easier to get natives but still takes some effort. But its front loaded and makes beautiful spaces
darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
There’s no way you’re going to get Hickory growing naturally in your garden, unless your garden is in some very specific parts of the world.
SpongyAneurism@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 1 month ago
This is just an example of course. Succession can look differently and lead to very different results, depending on where exactly it is happening.
I’d also argue, that leaving your garden alone to let succession run its course is not neccessarily the ideal to strive for. Even simply speeding up the process to get to the final stage isn’t.
Gardens are a very different sort of ecosystem from an extended woodlands area and there are many ways to use them for human recreation and as a habitat for many species, that even exceed the biodiversity of the potentially naturally occuring ecosystem.
A trimmed suburban lawn is just one of the worst options.darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
This is just an example of course.
Of course, but it does annoy me when something so specific is mentioned, instead of simply writing “hardwood trees” (or whatever information it was that the reader was supposed to infer from that example).
Psythik@lemm.ee 1 month ago
So how do I skip the weeds and grasslands stages and go directly to mature oak-hickory forest, then?
humorlessrepost@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Millions of dollars, and taking them from elsewhere.
MDCCCLV@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Artificially plant and water the trees. Gather a lot or pile of branches for dead wood, one of the defining parts of an old growth forest.
JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
What does the undergrowth of an oak hickory Forest look like? People can plant the trees, but how do you get the undergrowth?
masterspace@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Order a bunch of plants that are native to your region, plant the medium and shade loving varieties under the trees, see what sticks
wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
I tried that but the groundhogs and rabbits ate the native plants down to their stems
Halo@lemmynsfw.com 1 month ago
I have 20 or so acres of woods behind me. Oak, 2 types of hickory, American beech, and black cherry.
It’s just dirt. These trees have thick ass canopies
JollyBrancher@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Forreal. Packed dirt later looks like… “Dirt.” Then heavily compactes leaves and sticks. Then leaves. But it’s mostly leaves all the way down. Nothing like trodding atop centuries of pressed organic leaves.
Mordred_85@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Given time enough sand and leaves and other organic matter deposits in the soil, decomposed by long numbers of life cycles together with dirt and moisture becomes soil, but you cannot plant everywhere trees. Imagine plant an oak in the Sahara, no chance it’ll make it after 3 hours at noon. That’s what succession suggests!
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
At some point, it you’re assuming a single infographic is intended to be followed to the letter in every area across the planet, then that misunderstanding is your fault
JoYo@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
this weekend we chiseled off the grass sod out of our backyard in preparation for planting native species. it’s all clay back there so it’s going to take some soil prep.
turnip@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Where I live you can’t cut down a tree, and if it gets destroyed you need to pay thousands for a botanist to come out. I would never take the risk of planting a tree.
Manifish_Destiny@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Where tf do you live?
suite403@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Yikes. One of those good in theory, but completely backfired ideas
halowpeano@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Destroyed no matter the cause? I’ve heard of laws like that for intentionally cutting down healthy trees, but it never applied to natural causes.
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
I wish I could allow my yard to revert to the low brush it naturally was, problem is that a certain invasive weed from central fucking Asia would disagree. I blame the fucking Russians.
PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
Is it kudzu? Shit’s everywhere.
vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
As the other dude noted it’s tumbleweed.
pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
tumbleweed?
Spacehooks@reddthat.com 1 month ago
Plant some trees to skip a few steps!
TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
I love this artstyle of “Google images + Photoshop” vibe!
wise_pancake@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Huh, my back yard is a gradient of 1-4
drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I’ll stop at shrubs. Seems like a fair balance
hedhoncho@lemm.ee 1 month ago
But the spiders!
zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
I love spiders.
SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
Some spiders are really bad.
…hmmmm…
LOTS of spiders are really bad, and some are acceptable. As long as there is balance and not millions of brown recluses AND they all stay the f away from inside my home.
And they eat the mosquitoes and ticks and whatever else is bad. But also leave the ladybugs and rolley-poleys and honey bees.
And no murder hornets or whatever… in fact, no hornets at all.
jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 1 month ago
IIRC there are ways to greatly speed this up by selectively planting certain fast growing trees to attract certain birds that will poop all over your lawn thus planting certain seeds. Basically you skip the first two steps with free bird poop. I think it was an old rail siding in London somewhere… or something like that. They planted a single willow tree that attracted the birds and BOOM
head shothabitat.Entheon@lemmy.world 1 month ago
That’s really interesting! Do you have any links or more info on this process?
jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 1 month ago
I’ll try to find tho links when I have time. Remembering it more, it was I think “anarchist gardening” or something like that. It was a I think the side of a man made ravine that was in stage 1 or 2, so the sped things up a little to make it more habitable.
kamenlady@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Can i apply this to other areas as well, like building a house or something else?
jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 1 month ago
Of course, but the steps you skip might not be the ones you want to skip. I.e. free bird poop would only come into effect after the house was built progressing between the step of removing a human centred habitat and the gradual growth of a normal habitat.