I'm so happy to see this. I've been reading lately that even a couple of square feet of native plants would make a huge difference if everyone were to put some in their yards. Flowers are so often...
I'm so happy to see this.
I've been reading lately that even a couple of square feet of native plants would make a huge difference if everyone were to put some in their yards. Flowers are so often treated as frivolous, but they exist in an ecosystem for a reason.
Same! I'm trying to get my in-laws to make a natural flower patch in their front yard instead of grass or tanbark. I've also been trying to convince them to put down clover instead of grass for...
Same! I'm trying to get my in-laws to make a natural flower patch in their front yard instead of grass or tanbark. I've also been trying to convince them to put down clover instead of grass for similar ecological reasons. They're currently doing a full reno on their house, and I really hope that they follow through so we can help with drought resistance, and ward off invasive plants.
I think I'm winning them over, but it's still a bit of a ways away before they work on their front yard. They're still building internal walls into their house from their full renovation.
This is very cool. I'm particularly surprised by some of the findings among the linked studies, particularly related to the soil microbiome. 9 meters is not insignificant, and could make the case...
This is very cool. I'm particularly surprised by some of the findings among the linked studies, particularly related to the soil microbiome.
Prairie strips increased [potential enzyme activity] in adjacent soils (9 m) by as much as 38% and shifted bacterial and fungal beta diversity, but neither showed patterns with distance from the prairie strip, indicating that prairie strips cause field-scale shifts in soil biota and functioning, and these effects are not mediated by proximity to the prairie strip.
9 meters is not insignificant, and could make the case for more intercropping of prairie strips between rows, depending on the width of equipment. A 15m or 20m combine harvester could get between two prairie strips easily, and the benefits on soil health, erosion and infiltration appear massive.
...prairie strips had 26% and 38% greater early infiltration than row crops during fall testing periods, but no treatment difference was found in the summer testing period... Within prairie strips, greater early infiltration relative to row crops delays and limits surface runoff generation. Therefore, this study suggests that a row crop field containing prairie strips will generate less surface runoff than a comparable 100% row crop field during a given rainfall event...
And
...subcatchments with prairie strips median [total suspended sediment] load was 89.5% lower (95% CI, 69.2% to 96.4%, p < 0.001) than the control subcatchments.
A nearly 90% reduction in sediment runoff is enormous. This practice spread across farms in the Midwest, especially in the Mississippi watershed, has the potential to dramatically reduce the effects of agriculture on the Gulf of Mexico. If these strips are able to act as catch-crops for excess nutrients from nitrogen fertilizers as well, then doubly so. These are very exciting findings!
I'm so happy to see this.
I've been reading lately that even a couple of square feet of native plants would make a huge difference if everyone were to put some in their yards. Flowers are so often treated as frivolous, but they exist in an ecosystem for a reason.
Same! I'm trying to get my in-laws to make a natural flower patch in their front yard instead of grass or tanbark. I've also been trying to convince them to put down clover instead of grass for similar ecological reasons. They're currently doing a full reno on their house, and I really hope that they follow through so we can help with drought resistance, and ward off invasive plants.
I think I'm winning them over, but it's still a bit of a ways away before they work on their front yard. They're still building internal walls into their house from their full renovation.
This is very cool. I'm particularly surprised by some of the findings among the linked studies, particularly related to the soil microbiome.
9 meters is not insignificant, and could make the case for more intercropping of prairie strips between rows, depending on the width of equipment. A 15m or 20m combine harvester could get between two prairie strips easily, and the benefits on soil health, erosion and infiltration appear massive.
And
A nearly 90% reduction in sediment runoff is enormous. This practice spread across farms in the Midwest, especially in the Mississippi watershed, has the potential to dramatically reduce the effects of agriculture on the Gulf of Mexico. If these strips are able to act as catch-crops for excess nutrients from nitrogen fertilizers as well, then doubly so. These are very exciting findings!