inside: Read also about bees, native bees, and No Mow May’s downsides for homeowners.
Lyrical but not logical
I’m so happy to end the month with tall grassy meadows in my suburban front yard. but why? Why would a bee-loving environmental activist like me think No-Mo-May is a bad idea?
Some people stop mowing for bees, while others stop mowing for other pollinators, including bees, alone. But No Mow May is a stupid idea. The name is catchy, alliterative and rhyming, but the charm ends there. As far as I know, there is little benefit for pollinators.
6 strikes against No Moe May
By letting spring weeds bloom instead of cutting, you can provide starving pollinators with extra feed early in the year. Sounds good.
But does it really promote the health and survival of pollinators? What will happen to these happy creatures on June 1st? Mulch on the first pass of the mower? pack up and leave for a safer environment?
Let’s start with the bees and see some of No Mow May’s flaws.
What month is the most natural forage in North America? We know it happens in the spring, probably April, May or June. My guess is that it’s May when everything blooms: trees, shrubs, annuals, and billions of roadside weeds.
Flowering individual weeds for bees is a good idea, but the bottom line isn’t great. Perhaps, if I had carefully selected the weeds that bloom in abundance in August, I might think differently, but May has an endless variety of flowers in abundance. Avoid disturbing your neighbors and just mow the lawn at least in the spring.
Tall grass is a problem for native bees that nest on the ground
Did you know that most solitary bee species live underground? About 70 percent of them. And these bees want bare ground without mulch, weeds, grass, or excessive shade. They are often found nesting along sidewalks and curbs where the ground is visible, or in bare ground between grass and bushes. These areas are great for ground bees such as diggers, miners, and sweat bees.
But if you stop mowing the lawn and the tall grass blocks the sun in a soily area, the bees won’t be happy. Not only is it tangled with weeds and grass, making it difficult to find a home, but the ground remains cold and damp. These bees rarely run out of food in his may, but nesting sites are often scarce in suburban areas. No Mo May makes things even worse.
You may think you don’t have that kind of bee in your garden, but you do. Many people do not recognize them as bees and mistake them for gnats, fruit flies, or small beetles.
Tall grass overpowers native flowers clinging to the ground
I admit my lawn is unacceptable by suburban standards. There are yellow violets, wild strawberries, small magenta-flowered shrubs called purslane, and many other things that poison others. These graceful plants grow along the edges of lawns where grass turns into trees. Hardly conspicuous, perennials that stick to the ground will grow well if you don’t shade them with turfgrass.
I leave them for pollinators and mow overhead as needed. You can’t see the vegetation from a distance, but small bees and small butterflies are frequent visitors unless the grass gets too tall to block their flight.
Unmowed lawns give invasive species a head start
Very small native plants cannot compete with uncut grass, but bulky exotic plants can. Plants such as prostrate knotweed, broad-leaved plantain, crabgrass, goosegrass, and quackgrass quickly invade.
Once aggressive weeds take root, people don’t just mow on June 1st, they use herbicides to follow up. And herbicides, like all other pesticides, kill living things. Anything that kills living cells will surely have effects that we are unaware of. If you have to use glyphosate spray and follow no momei, it’s better to just keep mowing.
Nothing pleases mites like long grass
I live in tick heaven. They love it here, jumping from the tall grass onto everything they walk: people, dogs, deer, goats, cats large and small. Depending on where you live, ticks carry many nasty diseases, not just Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. When you stop mowing, keep yourself, your children, and your pets safe by watching for ticks and other pesky insects and arachnids.
All the sources I’ve researched about tick control recommend keeping the lawn short. The longer the tick, the better, because they prefer grass that retains moisture.
Unexpected effects of tall grass
If you live in a hot, dry climate, be aware that overgrown lawns can be a special wildfire hazard. Fire spreads like lightning as the tall grass becomes dry and crisp.
Online discussions about the dangers of lawn mowing bans also mentioned mowing garden hoses, children’s toys in the lawn, and tripping over lawn sprinklers. One family has exposed swarms of rats nestling on foundations, and several families have reported increasing sightings of rats.
Others described the difficulty of cutting tall grass that had grown for a month. One man said he had to clean the blades of his mower every few feet, and he “used up all the time I was saving by not cutting the grass in May.”
Pollinators need your help, but…
No Mow May will appeal even to those who don’t particularly like mowing the lawn. But there are many other ways to help pollinators besides keeping the grass taller in May when the flowers are in full bloom.
Start by planting garden flowers that bloom all year round, especially in the dry months of July, August and September. Give pollinators bare land, water sources, and pesticide-free reserves. Give them sun and shade, upright stems, nesting sites and places to hide. Try adding a bee hive, a bird bath, and a hummingbird feeder to complete your pollinator attraction.
And if you really want to stop mowing for a month, try September. Autumn flowering of dandelions can be a boon to bees, bumblebees and other late-maturing species. Overall, following common sense rather than following the crowd will yield better results for pollinators.
Rusty
honeybee suite