this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2024
859 points (99.0% liked)

Science Memes

11408 readers
2089 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
all 39 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 51 points 5 months ago (1 children)

TIL clover is a legume. Neat.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

As is the locust tree! The one with the huge spikes on it

[–] Omega_Man 41 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I don't understand the dandelion hate. They are puffballs for maybe two weeks tops. The rest of the time they're either invisible or beautiful flowers.

Also, I'm like the only yard with fireflies in my neighborhood.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I harvest them to make lotion etc.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Lotion, as in it puts it on it's skin or it gets the hose again?

[–] Omega_Man 7 points 5 months ago

My gran used to pick them and make dandelion wine.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

I like the smell of yellow dandelions too. Had a lot of those around in the town where I grew up

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I’ve been supporting pollinators and bugs at my house since I moved here.

I have a portion of my yard set aside for lightning bug habitat.

So many this year … that my neighbor got a bug zapper. I hate that fucking thing.

[–] Omega_Man 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What kind of monster doesn't like lightning bugs?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

I think they’re just angry at bugs in general, bug zappers are just … dumb.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago (2 children)

My whole property is nutrient void clay. Its greener where I piss.

[–] ThrowawaySobriquet 32 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Daikon radishes. They grow in about anything and are especially good at clay busting. Grow a bunch then let them die back. Till them in and repeat until you get enough environment for the worms to take over the tilling. You can keep piling on radishes with something like clover and peas to add some nitrogen fixers. This is more a pasture revitalization technique, but if you don't mind being the weird radish guy for two or three years (depending on local conditions), you could do it on a smaller scale for a lawn

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

So it is indeed greener where you water. Try the body thing next and let us know.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)
[–] Num10ck 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

you might like the movie: Cloverfield

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

Just finished cloverfield.

Not a single goddam clover in the whole goddam movie.

Good movie though.

[–] ChicoSuave 6 points 5 months ago

That's a bit in the weeds of gardening technique. If OP wants a simpler documentary about living with cloverfields, check out 10 Cloverfield Lane.

[–] moistclump 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Oh wowwwww.

Was it grass before and you had to tear that up first?

Did the Clovers propagate by themselves after you put in a few patches?

Tell me as much of the story as possible if you have the time and inclination.

Also, do you take naps on the clovers and does it stain your clothes?

It's difficult for me to imagine having a clover lawn and not sleeping on it.

You just go outside and grab some clovers to cook sometimes and stuff haha.

Do pests live in there?

I want to live under the clover roof.

Oh it looks so nice.

[–] nepenthes 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Not who you asked, but here is another one:

clover lawn pic. Very bright green

Planted by my septuagenarian father with just seeds and water. This is ~~three~~ six weeks in. He had to water a bunch at first while it was taking root, but it should need less water than grass. The grass prior was pretty toast, but he took the time to remove crabgrass.

I will take a nap on it next time I visit and let you know :)

EDIT: MB, not three weeks-- six weeks! Apparently, I have experienced a time warp (again) 🙄 SOZ!!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Whooooa yusss, all clover lawns are welcome. That's awesome.

That's good to know that your dad was able to put it in so simply too.

Wow! It looks so lush for 3 weeks since, that's amazing.

I heard about alternative lines a while ago and decided I didn't want grass, but I had never considered clover and that seems pretty great

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Not for nothing it is often desired to mix grasses in with clover.

Monocultures are rarely ever good.

Clover is awesome but it’s not a hardy plant, it tears and crushes easily, so mixing some native grasses in with it will increase its durability.

That said if you can just plant clover and let wildlife seed the rest then you’re in business.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Got it, thanks. I like a mix in a lawn, i let my last backyard grow wild for half a year to see what happened. It was pretty cool, lots of honeybees showed up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

If you can find pollinator mixes for your area they’re great to over seed clover with.

When I do no mow may the wildflowers I over seed grow faster and taller than the grass

[–] adj16 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I actually have serious doubts that plants grow better in the complex soup of fats and proteins that a body turns into. In fact I’m pretty sure I remember reading that the romanticized idea of turning your body into a tree after you die basically doesn’t work for this reason!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Biologist here, the body itself isn't what grows the "greener grass". It's just the start of a long biological process that will lead to ecological growth.

A tree isn't going to feed directly off of the body. But the decay process will provide nutrients to the tree. We're talking about insects and fungus at various levels of the process here. You can look up things like the Trophic Levels and Nutrient Cycles for more details on this whole process.

TLDR would be that the corpse floods the area with nutrients and maybe even kills off the plants with over abundance of nitrogen, but then fungus and bugs move in, then bigger bugs and small animals, and so on and then better plant systems. It's kind of neat.

[–] Shou 3 points 5 months ago

That's dope! I can become compost! I hope my leftovers get used by a tree. Trees are cool.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The message of the saying is that you only think that grass is greener because you're not living with it. The grass isn't actually greener on the other side of the fence

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Grass looks greener from the side than from directly above.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

From the side, the blades obscure the dirt. Either that, or my neighbor's grass really is greener.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

okay so that would apply if you could see the dirt, but if we're just talking about a thick turf layer it seems like the top would be greener because that's where most of the reflection is going

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If the grass is laying flat against the ground, I guess. But it usually just leans. Either way, this is outside the scope of my statement.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

well, you're saying the grass looks less green because of the dirt, but then you're not talking about how green the grass is you're talking about seeing dirt

[–] venoft 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Wait, clover is a legume? How tiny are their peas?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

average size. actually if they were any bigger it would be uncomfortable.