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Psilosopherr
A psilly goose



Registered: 02/15/12
Posts: 12,278
Last seen: 1 month, 10 days
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Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read
#22076083 - 08/11/15 11:51 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/08/03/my-town-calls-my-lawn-a-nuisance-but-i-still-refuse-to-mow-it/
I think this needs more attention. Its the perfect super simple solution to a lot of problems, just STOP doing something. Stop buying lawnmowers in the first place 
It'll really help the bees, which is huge. All wildlife would seem to benefit though.
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akira_akuma
Φύσις κρύπτεσθαι ὕψιστος φιλεῖ


Registered: 08/28/09
Posts: 82,455
Loc: Onypeirophóros
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22076097 - 08/11/15 11:59 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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my old house had a fucking jungle for a backyard. i approved, at least.
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Psilosopherr
A psilly goose



Registered: 02/15/12
Posts: 12,278
Last seen: 1 month, 10 days
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: akira_akuma]
#22076111 - 08/11/15 12:03 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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I would adore such a thing. I would just go out there and watch the bugs.
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makaveli8x8
Stranger

Registered: 02/28/06
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Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22076126 - 08/11/15 12:11 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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i converted my lawn to moss
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  We were sent to hell for eternity Ø h® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,672
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22076127 - 08/11/15 12:11 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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With regulations as asinine as the one highlighted in the article, it's hard to believe these people live in what we call the free world. Obviously they should be allowed to let their lawn run wild if it pleases them, regardless of any ecological benefits. It's their damn lawn.
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makaveli8x8
Stranger

Registered: 02/28/06
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: koraks]
#22076133 - 08/11/15 12:13 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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and then california runs out of water and they tell you to NOT water the lawn, can't they make up their minds?
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  We were sent to hell for eternity Ø h® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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SirShroomsAlott
Howdy



Registered: 05/15/14
Posts: 6,945
Loc: United States
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: koraks]
#22076140 - 08/11/15 12:17 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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In a town by my work, a lady called the township on her neighbor for not mowing his lawn enough, and the township fined him because he refused, and he ended up basically being forced to. Lady was a cunt bitch and the only reason we found that out is because it was the person we were doing the job for at the time and everyone in the town badmouthed her because she complains about everything.
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Psilosopherr
A psilly goose



Registered: 02/15/12
Posts: 12,278
Last seen: 1 month, 10 days
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: koraks]
#22076141 - 08/11/15 12:17 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
koraks said: With regulations as asinine as the one highlighted in the article, it's hard to believe these people live in what we call the free world. Obviously they should be allowed to let their lawn run wild if it pleases them, regardless of any ecological benefits. It's their damn lawn.
you should read the comments man. so much ignorant bs
People comparing anything other than a mowed lawn to a "crack dealers yard" and saying its bad for other peoples property value, or being scared of it attracting mice.
The one that really confuses me is people saying it looks bad.
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Eggtimer
HotSauce Lover

Registered: 05/04/13
Posts: 3,097
Last seen: 4 days, 1 hour
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22076270 - 08/11/15 12:59 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Mowing has to be one of the silliest things ever. Waste resources and hurt the environment. The smell of grass is the grass warning it's neighboring grass it's getting killed. It's basically screaming for help. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140922145805.htm
Quote:
Trauma, that’s what. It’s the smell of chemical defenses and first aid. The fresh, “green” scent of a just-mowed lawn is the lawn trying to save itself from the injury you just inflicted.
Leafy plants release a number of volatile organic compounds called green leaf volatiles (GLVs). When the plants are injured, whether through animals grazing on them, you cutting or mowing them, or even just unintentionally rough handling, these emissions increase like crazy.
The rush of chemicals does a few things. Some of the compounds stimulate the formation of new cells at the wound site so it closes faster. Others act as antibiotics that prevent bacterial infection and inhibit fungal growth. A few spur the production of defensive compounds at un-wounded sites as sort of a pre-emptive fortification. And still others react with other chemicals to act as something like distress signals. Scientists found in one study that the saliva of certain caterpillars reacts with the GLVs released by coyote tobacco plants to make them attractive to the "big-eyed bugs" that regularly eat the caterpillars.
Thankfully, the mix of lawnmower blades and GLVs won't get you eaten. Instead, humans get a treat. Among the GLVs released by damaged grass are a group of eight related oxygenated hydrocarbons, including aldehydes and alcohols, that cause the “green odor.”
There may be a high cost to that wonderful smell, though. These compounds are precursors to ozone formation, according to Australian researchers, and can contribute to the formation of photochemical smog in urban areas.
Quote:
The smell of cut grass in recent years has been identified as the plant’s way of signalling distress, but new research says the aroma also summons beneficial insects to the rescue.
“When there is need for protection, the plant signals the environment via the emission of volatile organic compounds, which are recognized as a feeding queue for parasitic wasps to come to the plant that is being eaten and lay eggs in the pest insect,” said Dr. Michael Kolomiets, Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant pathologist in College Station.
The research stems from a look at the function of a large family of lipid-derived molecular signals that regulate differential processes in humans, animals and plants, according to Kolomiets, whose research was published in The Plant Journal.
In an effort to better understand these signals, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is granting Kolomiets $490,000 in 2015 to study how the signals may also impact drought tolerance.
The molecular signals are less understood in plants than in animals and humans, he noted.
“People take certain drugs such as aspirin to suppress the activity of these signals, because overproduction of these molecules may lead to headaches and pain and all sorts of disorders,” Kolomiets said. “It’s the same group of metabolites that are produced by the plants, but we know so little about them.”
Yet a plant does “communicate” when attacked – whether by blade of a mower or jaws of a predatory insect – by producing defensive proteins and secondary metabolites either to repel the pest or make itself less appetizing, he said. What happens next is what scientists have been trying to figure out.
The best characterized molecule of the fatty acid-derived signals is called jasmonic acid, because it was first isolated as a volatile produced by jasmine, Kolomiets said. Jasmonic acid, one of perhaps 600 oxylipin molecules identified in plants, is known to have diverse functions. Another volatile group derived from fatty acid is known as the green leaf volatiles.
To test how it functions in plant during insect attacks, Kolomiets and his team used a mutant corn plant that could not produce the green leaf volatiles, mown-grass smell when cut or torn.
And that’s when they observed that the parasitic wasps didn’t pay attention to plants without the green leaf volatile.
“There are actually two roles for this molecule,” he said. “First, it activates the jasmonate hormone, which involves activation of defenses against insects on the plant. Then this molecule, since it is a volatile, attracts parasitic wasps. They come to the plant that is being chewed up by insect herbivores and lay eggs in the caterpillar’s body.
“We have proven that when you delete these volatiles, parasitic wasps are no longer attracted to that plant,even when an insect chews on the leaf. So this volatile is required to attract parasitoids. We have provided genetic evidence that green leafy volatiles have this dual function — in the plant they activate production of insecticidal compounds, but also they have indirect defense capability because they send an SOS-type signal that results in attraction of parasitic wasps.”
Kolomiets tested the phenomena both in the lab and in the field.
“We did not have to do any artificial infestation, because we had plenty of insects,” he said. “We have discovered that even under the field conditions when there’s enough insect pressure, then the plants are more susceptible to insect damage when they lack the green leaf volatiles.”
Kolomiets hopes to continue the research by testing the impact of the presence of jasmonates and green leaf volatiles in other grassy crops such as sorghum.
“This is just a tip of the iceberg. We have found that this gene is required for many, many different physiological processes, such as drought tolerance,” he said.“We observed that mutant plants are drought susceptible as well as susceptible to insect feeding. We are trying to identify the exact function of green leafy volatiles in drought tolerance and how it works.”
Such findings may help plant breeders know how to develop new varieties that are more resistant to insects and drought, he noted.
-------------------- It's all for the s
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makaveli8x8
Stranger

Registered: 02/28/06
Posts: 21,636
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Eggtimer]
#22076277 - 08/11/15 01:01 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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on the flip side, mowing lawns employee's like half of america so, there's that
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  We were sent to hell for eternity Ø h® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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Eggtimer
HotSauce Lover

Registered: 05/04/13
Posts: 3,097
Last seen: 4 days, 1 hour
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: makaveli8x8]
#22076290 - 08/11/15 01:03 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
makaveli8x8 said: on the flip side, mowing lawns employee's like half of america so, there's that
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AlanMag



Registered: 05/19/14
Posts: 185
Loc: in the woods in the fores...
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: makaveli8x8]
#22076342 - 08/11/15 01:15 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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i have been thinking of doing that to mine! i literally wanted to go to this spot full of moss cut some out and replace my grass with moss sod. would that work? howd that process go for you? im really interested in trying this out.
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Tantrika
Miss Ann Thrope




Registered: 03/26/12
Posts: 17,138
Loc: Lashed to the pyre
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22076382 - 08/11/15 01:23 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Three months earlier, I had stopped mowing my nearly one acre of country land outside of a rural Ohio town. A potpourri of plants began to flourish, and a rich assortment of insects and animals followed. I had essentially grown a working ecosystem, one that had been waiting for the chance to emerge.
Living on an acre of land outside of town? Can totally agree with the idea not to mow.
Just lucky that the highest up predator listed in the article seems to be a hawk. Out here we get coyotes, bears, and mountain lions. Go out to put seeds in the bird feeder by the driveway and find a black bear eating out of it instead -- head right the fuck back into the house.
The appearance of a clean lawn does help neighborhoods look a little nicer; however, out on an acreage am not clear why they are policing it. Maybe it just seems absurd to me because among my nearest "neighbors" are reclaimed marshland and a few acres of trees and brush.
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badchad
Mad Scientist

Registered: 03/02/05
Posts: 13,372
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: makaveli8x8]
#22076430 - 08/11/15 01:31 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
makaveli8x8 said: on the flip side, mowing lawns employee's like half of america so, there's that
And more importantly, my yard looks pretty fucking awesome. No dandelions, or weeds, a perfect sea of lushful green grass. Lawn of the month, here I come!
-------------------- ...the whole experience is (and is as) a profound piece of knowledge. It is an indellible experience; it is forever known. I have known myself in a way I doubt I would have ever occurred except as it did. Smith, P. Bull. Menninger Clinic (1959) 23:20-27; p. 27. ...most subjects find the experience valuable, some find it frightening, and many say that is it uniquely lovely. Osmond, H. Annals, NY Acad Science (1957) 66:418-434; p.436
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makaveli8x8
Stranger

Registered: 02/28/06
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: AlanMag]
#22076560 - 08/11/15 02:01 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
AlanMag said: i have been thinking of doing that to mine! i literally wanted to go to this spot full of moss cut some out and replace my grass with moss sod. would that work? howd that process go for you? im really interested in trying this out.
yah thats what i did, some lived, some didn't, key is to water the shit out of it after you transplant i think and to provide it with some shade, its obviously not going to grow well in full sun, so put a bunch of umbrella's all over your lawn
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  We were sent to hell for eternity Ø h® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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Patlal
You ask too many questions



Registered: 10/09/10
Posts: 44,797
Loc: Ottawa
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: makaveli8x8]
#22076580 - 08/11/15 02:05 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Yes. it makes sense. Mowing your lawn fuck the environment.
Then again...
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Mad_Larkin

Registered: 11/29/07
Posts: 18,606
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: makaveli8x8]
#22076626 - 08/11/15 02:15 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
makaveli8x8 said: i converted my lawn to moss
dassit mane
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makaveli8x8
Stranger

Registered: 02/28/06
Posts: 21,636
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Mad_Larkin] 1
#22078390 - 08/11/15 08:25 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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another option, actually a much much better option, is to convert your grass to chives.....ALL CHIVES

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  We were sent to hell for eternity Ø h® We play on earth to pass the time Over-population the root of all Evil-brings the Elites Closer to the gates.
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koods
Ribbit



Registered: 05/26/11
Posts: 106,059
Loc: Maryland/DC Burbs
Last seen: 1 hour, 20 minutes
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: makaveli8x8]
#22078418 - 08/11/15 08:31 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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I'm going to start a gofundme to pay for the fines and do what the OP says.
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NotSheekle said “if I believed she was 16 I would become unattracted to her”
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King Klick
That Guy Everyone Knows



Registered: 11/13/11
Posts: 7,267
Last seen: 7 months, 3 hours
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: koods]
#22078463 - 08/11/15 08:39 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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I've always felt the same way. I live in the middle of the burb though and that would piss everyone off.
-------------------- Your god is dead, and I killed him. When you’re lost, here I am. Forever with your soul
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Konyap

Registered: 06/30/07
Posts: 33,945
Loc: Planet Piss
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: King Klick]
#22079932 - 08/12/15 05:01 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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if you make a garden you pretty much guarantee bugs and birds to be nearby
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Burke Dennings
baby merchant

Registered: 11/29/04
Posts: 81,641
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22080139 - 08/12/15 06:52 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Very interesting article, some real "food for thought"! The numbers part was pretty alarming, especially that 17 million gallons of the 800 million spent annually on lawn care in the US is just spilled. I don't know how they quantify something like that, but it could be true. Every time I fill my mower, I spill a bit because my gas can is kinda fucked up. I never considered the cumulative amount.
Thing is though, I like having a mown lawn. My sons play in the yard a lot, my fiancé and I picnic in it. We couldn't do any of that if it was overgrown. It looks nice and trim all shorn. I even like doing the mowing; it's a satisfying chore that yields immediate results. So I'd probably still mow even if I wasn't legally obligated to, but maybe not as much.
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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,672
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Burke Dennings]
#22080157 - 08/12/15 07:00 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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As a kid, we used to have a big ass meadow (well, for my standards; maybe 3 acres) behind the house. It was mowed maybe once a year or once every two years by a farmer living nearby. In the late autumn, if the weather would have been dry for a few days, we would burn off the dry patches of grass. Our goats used to graze it. I can assure you that as a kid, it was a lot more fun playing in that wild grass than it was playing on the neatly manicured lawns of my friends. And we picnicked in it too; why not? Put down a plaid if you don't like to sit directly in the grass.
It's really about conditioning and conventions. If you dare to break them, you'll see you can enjoy yourself just as much in a wild patch of grass as on a tidy lawn. Heck, even more so.
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Burke Dennings
baby merchant

Registered: 11/29/04
Posts: 81,641
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: koraks]
#22080170 - 08/12/15 07:08 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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That is your personal preference and is fine, but it does not align with my own. I would not want to trample down waist high vegetation to put down a blanket just to not be able to see around me as I sit in the middle of a bunch of plants. Overgrown vegetation harbors ticks, which may not be a huge problem where you live, but it is here. Also, one of my sons cannot walk and a meadow poses obstacles and dangers to him.
I do not have goats.
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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,672
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Burke Dennings]
#22080171 - 08/12/15 07:09 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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You might have to resolve the goat situation.
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vinsue
Grand Old Fart



Registered: 02/17/04
Posts: 17,953
Loc: The Garden State(NJ)
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Burke Dennings]
#22080180 - 08/12/15 07:15 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Probably need to start a gofundme to help defer the cost of purchasing and maintaining an organic lawnmower...
also,

. . .
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"All mushrooms are edible; but some only once." Croatian proverb. BTW ... Have You Rated Ythans Mom Yet ?? ... ... HERE'S HOW ... (be nice) . ...
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Turtletotem
Dutch Delight



Registered: 09/02/13
Posts: 3,763
Last seen: 4 years, 11 months
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22080191 - 08/12/15 07:19 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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My frontyard is a jungle. At first neighbours complained, but then I complained that their yards look like stone wastelands, and now nobody is talking anymore.
I should get a goat!
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Patlal
You ask too many questions



Registered: 10/09/10
Posts: 44,797
Loc: Ottawa
Last seen: 6 hours, 41 minutes
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Turtletotem]
#22080264 - 08/12/15 07:51 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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I love the chives idea.
Brialliant and delicious.
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Shroomslip
Architekt



Registered: 11/25/12
Posts: 23,651
Last seen: 14 minutes, 22 seconds
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22080296 - 08/12/15 08:03 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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A mowed yard is a convenience. Don't care about the natural eco system it may bring. You can do that through other means besides just being lazy which you veil under being environmentally friendly. Gardens attract all kinds of wild life, and they don't require just letting whatever naturally pops up grow endlessly.
I live in Texas, we have tons of snakes you do not want to cross. Have fun with your hospital bills.
Want something other than mundane grass? Get creative with it. Just letting everything grow wild is nothing more than a lazy/cheap cop out.
--------------------
With my face against the floor I can’t see who knocked me out of the way. I don’t want to get back up but I have to so it might as well be today. Nothing appeals to me no one feels like me, I’m too busy being calm to disappear. I’m in no shape to be alone contrary to the shit that you might hear. You can't wake up, this is not a dream. You're part of a machine, you are not a human being With your face all made up, living on a screen. Low on self esteem, so you run on gasoline
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psi
TOAST N' JAM


Registered: 09/05/99
Posts: 31,456
Loc: 613
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Shroomslip]
#22080302 - 08/12/15 08:05 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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In some places, if you don't mow, the city will send someone to do it and then bill you. Bastards.
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specialpeopleclub



Registered: 04/10/14
Posts: 5,584
Loc: Mitten
Last seen: 3 years, 7 months
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: psi]
#22080344 - 08/12/15 08:16 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Fuck lawns. I got weeds to mow
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nicechrisman
Interdimensional space wizard



Registered: 11/07/03
Posts: 33,241
Last seen: 4 years, 6 months
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Psilosopherr]
#22080351 - 08/12/15 08:19 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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I keep the front lawn mowed because I like to be a good neighbor. I don't water it though. The back lawn doesn't get mowed very often at all. It's been several months.
-------------------- "Cosmic Love is absolutelely ruthless and highly indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not." John C. Lily
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Beanhead
IS IRONIC PARADOX


Registered: 10/11/08
Posts: 17,257
Loc: Geospatial inversion.
Last seen: 3 years, 5 months
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Eggtimer]
#22080381 - 08/12/15 08:29 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Eggtimer said: Mowing has to be one of the silliest things ever. Waste resources and hurt the environment. The smell of grass is the grass warning it's neighboring grass it's getting killed. It's basically screaming for help. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140922145805.htm
Quote:
Trauma, that’s what. It’s the smell of chemical defenses and first aid. The fresh, “green” scent of a just-mowed lawn is the lawn trying to save itself from the injury you just inflicted.
Leafy plants release a number of volatile organic compounds called green leaf volatiles (GLVs). When the plants are injured, whether through animals grazing on them, you cutting or mowing them, or even just unintentionally rough handling, these emissions increase like crazy.
The rush of chemicals does a few things. Some of the compounds stimulate the formation of new cells at the wound site so it closes faster. Others act as antibiotics that prevent bacterial infection and inhibit fungal growth. A few spur the production of defensive compounds at un-wounded sites as sort of a pre-emptive fortification. And still others react with other chemicals to act as something like distress signals. Scientists found in one study that the saliva of certain caterpillars reacts with the GLVs released by coyote tobacco plants to make them attractive to the "big-eyed bugs" that regularly eat the caterpillars.
Thankfully, the mix of lawnmower blades and GLVs won't get you eaten. Instead, humans get a treat. Among the GLVs released by damaged grass are a group of eight related oxygenated hydrocarbons, including aldehydes and alcohols, that cause the “green odor.”
There may be a high cost to that wonderful smell, though. These compounds are precursors to ozone formation, according to Australian researchers, and can contribute to the formation of photochemical smog in urban areas.
Quote:
The smell of cut grass in recent years has been identified as the plant’s way of signalling distress, but new research says the aroma also summons beneficial insects to the rescue.
“When there is need for protection, the plant signals the environment via the emission of volatile organic compounds, which are recognized as a feeding queue for parasitic wasps to come to the plant that is being eaten and lay eggs in the pest insect,” said Dr. Michael Kolomiets, Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant pathologist in College Station.
The research stems from a look at the function of a large family of lipid-derived molecular signals that regulate differential processes in humans, animals and plants, according to Kolomiets, whose research was published in The Plant Journal.
In an effort to better understand these signals, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is granting Kolomiets $490,000 in 2015 to study how the signals may also impact drought tolerance.
The molecular signals are less understood in plants than in animals and humans, he noted.
“People take certain drugs such as aspirin to suppress the activity of these signals, because overproduction of these molecules may lead to headaches and pain and all sorts of disorders,” Kolomiets said. “It’s the same group of metabolites that are produced by the plants, but we know so little about them.”
Yet a plant does “communicate” when attacked – whether by blade of a mower or jaws of a predatory insect – by producing defensive proteins and secondary metabolites either to repel the pest or make itself less appetizing, he said. What happens next is what scientists have been trying to figure out.
The best characterized molecule of the fatty acid-derived signals is called jasmonic acid, because it was first isolated as a volatile produced by jasmine, Kolomiets said. Jasmonic acid, one of perhaps 600 oxylipin molecules identified in plants, is known to have diverse functions. Another volatile group derived from fatty acid is known as the green leaf volatiles.
To test how it functions in plant during insect attacks, Kolomiets and his team used a mutant corn plant that could not produce the green leaf volatiles, mown-grass smell when cut or torn.
And that’s when they observed that the parasitic wasps didn’t pay attention to plants without the green leaf volatile.
“There are actually two roles for this molecule,” he said. “First, it activates the jasmonate hormone, which involves activation of defenses against insects on the plant. Then this molecule, since it is a volatile, attracts parasitic wasps. They come to the plant that is being chewed up by insect herbivores and lay eggs in the caterpillar’s body.
“We have proven that when you delete these volatiles, parasitic wasps are no longer attracted to that plant,even when an insect chews on the leaf. So this volatile is required to attract parasitoids. We have provided genetic evidence that green leafy volatiles have this dual function — in the plant they activate production of insecticidal compounds, but also they have indirect defense capability because they send an SOS-type signal that results in attraction of parasitic wasps.”
Kolomiets tested the phenomena both in the lab and in the field.
“We did not have to do any artificial infestation, because we had plenty of insects,” he said. “We have discovered that even under the field conditions when there’s enough insect pressure, then the plants are more susceptible to insect damage when they lack the green leaf volatiles.”
Kolomiets hopes to continue the research by testing the impact of the presence of jasmonates and green leaf volatiles in other grassy crops such as sorghum.
“This is just a tip of the iceberg. We have found that this gene is required for many, many different physiological processes, such as drought tolerance,” he said.“We observed that mutant plants are drought susceptible as well as susceptible to insect feeding. We are trying to identify the exact function of green leafy volatiles in drought tolerance and how it works.”
Such findings may help plant breeders know how to develop new varieties that are more resistant to insects and drought, he noted.
Wait so you're telling me that everytime I enjoy the scent of freshly mown grass i'm actually celebrating their survival of death?
That's metal as fuck
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Prisoner#1
Even Dumber ThanAdvertized!


Registered: 01/22/03
Posts: 193,665
Loc: Pvt. Pubfag NutSuck
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Beanhead]
#22080411 - 08/12/15 08:40 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Beanhead said: Wait so you're telling me that everytime I enjoy the scent of freshly mown grass i'm actually celebrating their survival of death?
That's metal as fuck
*mowed
is it their survival you're celebrating or is it that you're rejoicing in the butchering and allowing to live of the defenseless grasses
decomposing grass is one of the largest sources of methane so not only are you destroying the environment with hydrocarbons you're destroying it with the dead grass as well... you've doomed us all beanhead
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Burke Dennings
baby merchant

Registered: 11/29/04
Posts: 81,641
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Prisoner#1]
#22080417 - 08/12/15 08:42 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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"Mown" is a past tense of mow.
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Beanhead
IS IRONIC PARADOX


Registered: 10/11/08
Posts: 17,257
Loc: Geospatial inversion.
Last seen: 3 years, 5 months
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Prisoner#1]
#22080419 - 08/12/15 08:43 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Thanks
Nah I feed my grass to chickens, so I guess not only do I chop off their heads, I also enjoy watching the remaining parts get devoured.
+
I do it by hand 
Quote:
Burke Dennings said: "Mown" is a past tense of mow.
Phew I was feeling dumb.
Edited by Beanhead (08/12/15 08:43 AM)
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Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,509
Loc: Uncanny Valley
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Burke Dennings] 1
#22080507 - 08/12/15 09:16 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Burke Dennings said: "Mown" is a past tense of mow.
Actually, "mown" is the past-participle of "mow". "Mowed" is the past tense.
Examples:
"I mowed the grass" "freshly-mown grass"
Still, in Beanhead's sentence, the past-participle is correct.
You and pris both just got MWNED.
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
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Mad_Larkin

Registered: 11/29/07
Posts: 18,606
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Enlil] 1
#22080515 - 08/12/15 09:19 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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ur mums a past-participle
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Shroomslip
Architekt



Registered: 11/25/12
Posts: 23,651
Last seen: 14 minutes, 22 seconds
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Enlil]
#22080520 - 08/12/15 09:20 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Enlil said:
Quote:
Burke Dennings said: "Mown" is a past tense of mow.
Actually, "mown" is the past-participle of "mow". "Mowed" is the past tense.
Examples:
"I mowed the grass" "freshly-mown grass"
Still, in Beanhead's sentence, the past-participle is correct.
You and pris both just got MWNED.
If I could +100 you for being able to correct Burke, I would.
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With my face against the floor I can’t see who knocked me out of the way. I don’t want to get back up but I have to so it might as well be today. Nothing appeals to me no one feels like me, I’m too busy being calm to disappear. I’m in no shape to be alone contrary to the shit that you might hear. You can't wake up, this is not a dream. You're part of a machine, you are not a human being With your face all made up, living on a screen. Low on self esteem, so you run on gasoline
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Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,509
Loc: Uncanny Valley
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Mad_Larkin] 2
#22080522 - 08/12/15 09:21 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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My mom is way past being a past-participle. She's now a past-ciple. She was, however, a past-participle in the past. Part of being a past-participle is only being part of a ciple. Since she past that part, and partly past being a past-participle, she's a past-ciple.
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
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Prisoner#1
Even Dumber ThanAdvertized!


Registered: 01/22/03
Posts: 193,665
Loc: Pvt. Pubfag NutSuck
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Enlil]
#22080545 - 08/12/15 09:28 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Enlil said: You and pris both just got MWNED.

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lood_dood
Magical Badger Catcher



Registered: 05/20/14
Posts: 414
Loc: Galloway
Last seen: 7 years, 14 days
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: makaveli8x8]
#22080751 - 08/12/15 10:32 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
makaveli8x8 said: another option, actually a much much better option, is to convert your grass to chives.....ALL CHIVES

GENIUS! Why have I never done this before?
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BILL NYE IS A LIZARD. THEY'RE ALL LIZARDS!

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Psilosopherr
A psilly goose



Registered: 02/15/12
Posts: 12,278
Last seen: 1 month, 10 days
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: lood_dood]
#22080820 - 08/12/15 10:57 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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at those of you who look at this as an excuse to be lazy. What's wrong with simple solutions?
I live in a land with no poisonous snakes or ticks: all lights are green since I'm capable of coping with tall grass.
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Void_Hawk
e^(i*pi)+1 = 0
Registered: 04/15/15
Posts: 200
Loc: Sol 3
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: koods]
#22082678 - 08/12/15 06:14 PM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
koods said: I'm going to start a gofundme to pay for the fines and do what the OP says.
Be sure to promote it here once you are set up, I am sure the denizens of the Shroomery won't mind
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Mad_Larkin

Registered: 11/29/07
Posts: 18,606
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Re: Well written article about why mowing your lawn is doing far more harm than good. please read [Re: Enlil]
#22084631 - 08/13/15 03:01 AM (8 years, 5 months ago) |
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Quote:
Enlil said: My mom is way past being a past-participle. She's now a past-ciple. She was, however, a past-participle in the past. Part of being a past-participle is only being part of a ciple. Since she past that part, and partly past being a past-participle, she's a past-ciple.
gotcha
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