Wildflower meadows must be mown regularly to maintain plant diversity. However, insects overwinter in the stems, leaves and flower heads, and would disappear if mowed. The Bayreuth Botanical Garden is therefore trying to find out how to preserve as many insects as possible despite mowing. Mowing flower meadows Classic flower meadows consist of grasses and a wide variety of wildflowers. Wildflower meadows with local seeds are particularly valuable for our native insects, as they are ideally adapted to the plants. Depending on the location, wildflower meadows must be mown one to three times a year. Poor locations less often, nutrient-rich locations with rich meadows more often. It is important to leave the mown grass for a few days so that the seeds can fall out and only then remove it from the area to remove nutrients from the location. If the meadows were not mown, they would eventually become overgrown and the plant diversity would become increasingly smaller. Cut, count, identify However, insects can overwinter in the stems, leaves and flower heads of the plants. They would be lost if the grass was mown. The time of mowing is crucial. As part of her master's thesis, Alina Haitzer wants to find out exactly that. The questions: Which and how many insects overwinter in meadows? By when do the insects hatch? To do this, Alina Haitzer has selected 10 meadow areas in the Bayreuth urban area. From March to June, she collects plant material from these areas once a month. Five times per meadow, she randomly selects a square meter of area from which she cuts off some of the vegetation close to the ground. She then puts this plant material into so-called eclectors, a type of box-shaped collecting container. A container with a collecting liquid is screwed to the top of the eclectors, into which the hatched insects fly. Alina Haitzer empties these containers weekly and counts and identifies the insects. You can find out more about natural gardening in the ARD Mediathek: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/que... You can also visit us here: Querbeet on the Internet: https://www.br.de/br-fernsehen/sendun... Querbeet on Facebook: / querbeet.br Querbeet on Instagram: / querbeet.br When do insects hatch? In her work, Alina Haitzer was able to show that the first insects hatch as early as the end of March and then continuously until the end of June. And different groups of insects hatch at different times. At the end of March it is mainly flies; beetles and bugs hatch more frequently in May and June; the cicadas mainly in June. When and how should you mow? Alina Haitzer's master's thesis shows that the principle of so-called "mosaic mowing", which is already partly practiced, has proven to be gentle on animals. Mosaic mowing means that different areas of a meadow are mown at different times. For example, part of the area at the end of May/June and a second part in September. This also allows the animals to escape from the mown areas to the unmown areas. At least 10 to 20% of the area should be left standing over the winter and should not be mown until June at the earliest. For animal-friendly mowing, a classic scythe is recommended, or for larger areas a scythe. And the cutting height should not be less than 10 cm.