Research: Not Mowing The Law Can Help Bees

A new study shows being lazy about mowing your lawn actually does some good work in helping your local bees and other pollinators.

"Doing good by not doing much," says Susannah Lerman Forest Service Wildlife Biologist. Working with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the Forest Service found during a 2-year study on lawns in Springfield Massachusetts that the less-frequently you mow, the more flowers and flowering plants bloom in that yard. Researchers suggest that rather than mowing every week, we mow every two weeks to attract the most bees to our yards, providing bees with food, and providing us with more free time.

"You can do nothing!" Lerman says. "Don't mow your lawns for a while, let those flowers blossom and you're doing something good for the bees. I like to think that I'm giving lazy people an excuse to be lazy."

Lerman is expanding the study to see if similar lawn mowing delays will help to promote bee populations in other areas of the country.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekradio.com