Dandelion Dilemma

My neighbor and I discussed this year's bumper crop of dandelions while we were both out mowing our lawns, or whatever is left of the lawn, in between the  sunshine-yellow flowers and white puffy seed heads. It might be the rain and early heat of this spring that's brought on the dandelion onslaught.

 Iowa State University Extension notes that the best time to apply a broadleaf herbicide to control dandelions and other broadleaf weeds in Iowa lawns is fall. Here is more from ISU: Mid-September through October is the best time to control perennial broadleaf weeds in the lawn with broadleaf herbicides. In fall, perennial broadleaf weeds are transporting food (carbohydrates) from their foliage to their roots in preparation for winter. Broadleaf herbicides applied in fall will be absorbed by the broadleaf weed's foliage and transported to the roots along with the carbohydrates, resulting in the destruction of the broadleaf weeds. Spring applications are generally less effective than fall applications.

 Of course, not everyone likes to use chemicals on their lawn and some people don't even view dandelions as weeds. For them (and me) I found the following on WTOP.com, the website of a radio station in Washington, D.C., in an article published in 2005.

 Since dandelions are timeless and this looked timely, here it is:

 Well, this year's April showers sure brought us a BUMPER crop of May flowers...

...But they're yellow and in your lawn! That's right-those dreaded 'UN dandy lions'! Unfortunately, it's too late to eat THIS batch. Dandelion leaves make tasty-and healthy-salad greens, but only when they're young. Once the flower buds form, the leaves develop a bitter taste. But you'll have a chance to enjoy LOTS of young leaves next season if you don't kill the perennial roots of this year's dandies--AND prevent those big white puffballs from spreading their abundant seeds throughout your lawn.

Job #1: Destroy those puffballs!

Your most important task right now is to not allow any more of those pretty yellow flowers to progress into the round white puffballs you used to blow into your friends faces; those balls contain hundreds of NEW dandelion seeds.

If your dandelion flowers are still yellow, cut them down quickly with a lawnmower or weedwhacker. But don't 'whack' any that have gone ghostly white. Instead, incinerate those seed heads before they can go blowin' in the wind and multiply your dandelion problems like Mickey chopping up the magical broom in the Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence from Fantasia. Use one of those little propane torches designed for sweating pipes.

Or get a real flame weeder like BernzOmatic's "Outdoor torch", which allows you to do the job while standing up nice and straight. Its available at hardware and garden stores or direct from BernzOmatic for about forty bucks; call them toll-free at 1-800-654-9011 and ask for Model JT 850. Sorry, but they don't sell it over the Internet.

Or spread corn gluten meal on your lawn when the first puffballs appear; this all-natural product will feed your turf and prevent new dandelion-and any other weed-seeds from sprouting. Organic weed and feed! The mail-order supplier of natural gardening products Gardens Alive (www.gardensalive.com) was the first company to license the corn gluten technology from Iowa State University; they sell it under the brand names "Wow" (for With Out Weeds) and "Wow Plus" (http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8873).

And I've been seeing corn gluten at more and more local garden centers and nurseries; the "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo" brand sells it in our area as 'Earth Friendly Weed Control' (they've got a 'store finder' at their website: http://www.purebarnyard.com/); the "Concern" line of natural gardening products calls their corn gluten 'Weed Prevention Plus'; and Nick Christian's corn gluten page at Iowa State lists every company that has a license to sell the product.

Job #2: Rout the roots!

Chemical herbicides are dangerous to use (see below), and they're rarely effective in getting rid of deep-rooted weeds like dandelions. But there are a number of cool tools that do the job without any chemicals-and while you stand up-by popping those roots right out of the ground.

The popular "Weed Hound" (http://www.hound-dog.com/weed_hound.htm) mechanically pulls out the roots when you drop it over a weed and push a plunger. It's widely available at garden centers and home stores. A new device called the "Dandelion Terminator" attaches to a cordless drill to do the job. You can order it direct for around thirty bucks at http://www.dlt100.com/

And the Water Powered is a long, thin metal shaft that hooks onto your garden hose and blasts water down into the root zone, allowing you to essentially flood the suckers out; its available from Lee Valley Tools. Direct link.

This Cool Tool Does BOTH!

The "Dandy Destroyer" (http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/Product.asp?PG=526) is a high-tech, Swiss-made, propane-powered device that destroys the entire plant by sending 1800 degrees of radiant heat through a two-inch round spiked head to char the root without harming your lawn. And that same hot head could be used to singe those nasty seedheads into the Great Beyond. It's available for $180 (American) from the Canadian company Rittenhouse; (Toll free #: 1-877-488-1914)

Please DON'T Use Chemical Herbicides!

Yes, dandelions make homeowners crazy, but Please don't turn to harsh chemical herbicides to drive them away. These nasty toxins don't work nearly as well against deep-rooted weeds as their ads would like you to believe. AND, as the old saying goes, they're harmful to children and other living creatures.

One of the most commonly used herbicides in America-2, 4-D-has been linked to increased rates of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in people and their pets. And new research has found that Round-Up can be death on a stick to beneficial amphibians, like frogs and toads. Read more (pdf).

So use one of our non-toxic options above-and be sure to toss the pulled roots into your compost pile; they contain a rich storehouse of beneficial minerals that will feed your plants perfectly when you give them the Black Gold those roots help create.

And Finally, the LONG-TERM Answer to those Dandies

You can pull, poach or poison the dandelions in your turf all you want, but they'll be baaaaccck-unless you change your lawn care habits.

The most important long-term solution to dandelion problems is to stop cutting your lawn too short. Raise the cutting height on your mower to two and a half inches for sun-loving bluegrass (which BREEDS dandelions when it gets the traditional American scalping) and three and a half inches for grasses in shade.

It's also important to feed your lawn correctly, so that it can develop a naturally-thick mat of roots that will deny weeds a place to take hold. Stop using steroid-like chemical fertilizers; the weak growth they cause invites weeds. Instead, spread corn gluten meal-the all-natural weed and feed-in the Spring, and then apply an inch of compost in the Fall.

Well, this year's April showers sure brought us a BUMPER crop of May flowers...

...But they're yellow and in your lawn! That's right-those dreaded 'UN dandy lions'! Unfortunately, it's too late to eat THIS batch. Dandelion leaves make tasty-and healthy-salad greens, but only when they're young. Once the flower buds form, the leaves develop a bitter taste. But you'll have a chance to enjoy LOTS of young leaves next season if you don't kill the perennial roots of this year's dandies--AND prevent those big white puffballs from spreading their abundant seeds throughout your lawn.

Job #1: Destroy those puffballs!

Your most important task right now is to not allow any more of those pretty yellow flowers to progress into the round white puffballs you used to blow into your friends faces; those balls contain hundreds of NEW dandelion seeds.

If your dandelion flowers are still yellow, cut them down quickly with a lawnmower or weedwhacker. But don't 'whack' any that have gone ghostly white. Instead, incinerate those seed heads before they can go blowin' in the wind and multiply your dandelion problems like Mickey chopping up the magical broom in the Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence from Fantasia. Use one of those little propane torches designed for sweating pipes.

Or get a real flame weeder like BernzOmatic's "Outdoor torch", which allows you to do the job while standing up nice and straight. Its available at hardware and garden stores or direct from BernzOmatic for about forty bucks; call them toll-free at 1-800-654-9011 and ask for Model JT 850. Sorry, but they don't sell it over the Internet.

Or spread corn gluten meal on your lawn when the first puffballs appear; this all-natural product will feed your turf and prevent new dandelion-and any other weed-seeds from sprouting. Organic weed and feed! The mail-order supplier of natural gardening products Gardens Alive (www.gardensalive.com) was the first company to license the corn gluten technology from Iowa State University; they sell it under the brand names "Wow" (for With Out Weeds) and "Wow Plus" (http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8873).

And I've been seeing corn gluten at more and more local garden centers and nurseries; the "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo" brand sells it in our area as 'Earth Friendly Weed Control' (they've got a 'store finder' at their website: http://www.purebarnyard.com/); the "Concern" line of natural gardening products calls their corn gluten 'Weed Prevention Plus'; and Nick Christian's corn gluten page at Iowa State lists every company that has a license to sell the product.

Job #2: Rout the roots!

Chemical herbicides are dangerous to use (see below), and they're rarely effective in getting rid of deep-rooted weeds like dandelions. But there are a number of cool tools that do the job without any chemicals-and while you stand up-by popping those roots right out of the ground.

The popular "Weed Hound" (http://www.hound-dog.com/weed_hound.htm) mechanically pulls out the roots when you drop it over a weed and push a plunger. It's widely available at garden centers and home stores. A new device called the "Dandelion Terminator" attaches to a cordless drill to do the job. You can order it direct for around thirty bucks at http://www.dlt100.com/

And the Water Powered is a long, thin metal shaft that hooks onto your garden hose and blasts water down into the root zone, allowing you to essentially flood the suckers out; its available from Lee Valley Tools. Direct link.

This Cool Tool Does BOTH!

The "Dandy Destroyer" (http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/Product.asp?PG=526) is a high-tech, Swiss-made, propane-powered device that destroys the entire plant by sending 1800 degrees of radiant heat through a two-inch round spiked head to char the root without harming your lawn. And that same hot head could be used to singe those nasty seedheads into the Great Beyond. It's available for $180 (American) from the Canadian company Rittenhouse; (Toll free #: 1-877-488-1914)

Please DON'T Use Chemical Herbicides!

Yes, dandelions make homeowners crazy, but Please don't turn to harsh chemical herbicides to drive them away. These nasty toxins don't work nearly as well against deep-rooted weeds as their ads would like you to believe. AND, as the old saying goes, they're harmful to children and other living creatures.

One of the most commonly used herbicides in America-2, 4-D-has been linked to increased rates of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in people and their pets. And new research has found that Round-Up can be death on a stick to beneficial amphibians, like frogs and toads. Read more (pdf).

So use one of our non-toxic options above-and be sure to toss the pulled roots into your compost pile; they contain a rich storehouse of beneficial minerals that will feed your plants perfectly when you give them the Black Gold those roots help create.

And Finally, the LONG-TERM Answer to those Dandies

You can pull, poach or poison the dandelions in your turf all you want, but they'll be baaaaccck-unless you change your lawn care habits.

The most important long-term solution to dandelion problems is to stop cutting your lawn too short. Raise the cutting height on your mower to two and a half inches for sun-loving bluegrass (which BREEDS dandelions when it gets the traditional American scalping) and three and a half inches for grasses in shade.

It's also important to feed your lawn correctly, so that it can develop a naturally-thick mat of roots that will deny weeds a place to take hold. Stop using steroid-like chemical fertilizers; the weak growth they cause invites weeds. Instead, spread corn gluten meal-the all-natural weed and feed-in the Spring, and then apply an inch of compost in the Fall.