• Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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    6 hours ago

    Also the weird fixation with perfectly manicured lawns with absolutely no debris and no plants touching any other plants.

    They like to lay their eggs on leaves and grasses on the ground. Doesn’t mix well with lawn mowers and rakes.

    I used to mow my parents property, and I would leave about 1/4 acre unmowed on the side, touching the treeline. They had so many fireflies hanging around the tall grass over the summers.

    This summer I moved too far to keep mowing, and they don’t leave anything, and have been complaining they haven’t seen any fireflies all summer.

    • MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net
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      1 hour ago

      I would leave about 1/4 acre unmowed on the side

      If I did that my entire yard would be overgrown, because it’s smaller than that lol. I did let the backyard mostly go wild a few years ago, had an interesting mix of native species and invasive. Invasive won by a landslide, even while manually keeping the English ivy in check. Creeping Charlie and purple deadnettle went everywhere. Some areas eroded so much due to lack of turf roots (either outcompeted or succumbed to the combo of early direct light followed by shade most of the day) that it’s basically just big baked bald spots. One of these years I’m going to try and figure something out to repair it… just need the intersection of time and money.