I wonder if it’s location dependant? I threw some native wildflower seeds in half of my backyard just before winter set in and it grew into a mini meadow the next year without any further input from me. I didn’t even water it
The pulling of anything you don’t want there, sure. But plants don’t exactly move at 100mph. Unless this is a multi acre plot there’s no reason why pulling by hand once a week won’t win the war of attrition.
Hand pulling is feasible on far more than small yards, particularly if the plan is a wildflower meadow rather than, say, vegetables.
Why try and create a patch of wildflowers if you’re just going to spray herbicides all over it though? It defeats the purpose of the wildflowers! Unless all you care about it aesthetics, which is what this post is mocking in the first place.
You state that the native plants win as if that’s a hardship. Native plants are of course going to win out, they’re evolved for that location’s climate. Choose native wildflowers. Help your local ecology, work with it, don’t fight it. Spraying herbicide is the plant equivalent of napalm or agent orange. It costs you time, effort, money, and more than that, your environment, and in the end you don’t even get what you’re after.
Ignore what local businesses tell you, they’re trying to get your money, use the vast wealth of information on the internet. Let nature do its thing.
Native plants are of course going to win out, they’re evolved for that location’s climate.
If that was the case, no one would care about invasive species because the natives would outcompete with them when humans stopped intervening. It all depends on the specific plants and environment.
Hand pulling is feasible on far more than small yards
I have 3.3 acres.
Hand pulling is feasible on far more than small yards
Why try and create a patch of wildflowers if you’re just going to spray herbicides all over it though? It defeats the purpose of the wildflowers!
That was my point! I refused to use herbicide to give the illusion of natural. So called wildflowers are rarely natural. If they were, they’d already outcompete local flora and wouldn’t need to be planted and maintained.
I also volunteer at the local nature preserve where everything is hand done. Not even power tools are used there. I’m well aware of what’s needed for hand maintenance.
Ive a spot I keep wild and this is what I do. Probably only every two weeks I weed it for invasives, and let everything else, just be. mad native plants sprouted up including a dogwood tree im trying to foster.
It was by an unmaintained strip of lilacs that acted as a property fence. Definitely had some invasive weeds but I suspect not watering them every day like the rest of my backyard killed them. I did need to dig up some Chinese elm saplings a few times, but I’ve had to do that on the rest of my property too
I wonder if it’s location dependant? I threw some native wildflower seeds in half of my backyard just before winter set in and it grew into a mini meadow the next year without any further input from me. I didn’t even water it
I think it’s idiocy dependent.
No herbicide is required. No tilling is required.
The pulling of anything you don’t want there, sure. But plants don’t exactly move at 100mph. Unless this is a multi acre plot there’s no reason why pulling by hand once a week won’t win the war of attrition.
For more info on restoring land to meadow / nature see here: https://wearetheark.org/
How is tilling, planting seeds, and watering idiocy?
I said in my post that it is multi acre. The photos above aren’t small yards where hand pulling is feasible.
Hand pulling is feasible on far more than small yards, particularly if the plan is a wildflower meadow rather than, say, vegetables.
Why try and create a patch of wildflowers if you’re just going to spray herbicides all over it though? It defeats the purpose of the wildflowers! Unless all you care about it aesthetics, which is what this post is mocking in the first place.
You state that the native plants win as if that’s a hardship. Native plants are of course going to win out, they’re evolved for that location’s climate. Choose native wildflowers. Help your local ecology, work with it, don’t fight it. Spraying herbicide is the plant equivalent of napalm or agent orange. It costs you time, effort, money, and more than that, your environment, and in the end you don’t even get what you’re after.
Ignore what local businesses tell you, they’re trying to get your money, use the vast wealth of information on the internet. Let nature do its thing.
If that was the case, no one would care about invasive species because the natives would outcompete with them when humans stopped intervening. It all depends on the specific plants and environment.
I have 3.3 acres.
That was my point! I refused to use herbicide to give the illusion of natural. So called wildflowers are rarely natural. If they were, they’d already outcompete local flora and wouldn’t need to be planted and maintained.
I also volunteer at the local nature preserve where everything is hand done. Not even power tools are used there. I’m well aware of what’s needed for hand maintenance.
Ive a spot I keep wild and this is what I do. Probably only every two weeks I weed it for invasives, and let everything else, just be. mad native plants sprouted up including a dogwood tree im trying to foster.
How many acres and were there already large weeds?
It was by an unmaintained strip of lilacs that acted as a property fence. Definitely had some invasive weeds but I suspect not watering them every day like the rest of my backyard killed them. I did need to dig up some Chinese elm saplings a few times, but I’ve had to do that on the rest of my property too