Destroying Dandelions

Dandelions are such a common weed in lawns and in parks, it's hard to imagine that they are not native to North America. Dandelions were intentionally introduced to the Americas from Europe, where they were considered a beneficial plant due to their nutritional and medicinal value.

The name of the plant comes not from its golden mane, but rather from the serrated leaves of the weed, which form an outline like lion's teeth (thus the name "dent de lion", or teeth of the lion).

Dandelion seeds can be blown into your yard from miles away, so it is virtually impossible to prevent new plants from popping up periodically, especially if your neighbors are less than diligent in their own lawn maintenance.

If your lawn is mostly weed-free and you see a new dandelion plant sprout up, pull the whole plant, including all the roots, out as soon as possible. Do not let it go to seed.

You'll need to check on the area for the next few weeks to ensure you got all the roots. A new dandelion plant can be regenerated from less than one inch of remaining root, so complete removal and subsequent checking is important.

If your lawn is very large, or contains a very large number of dandelion infestations, you may wish to resort to herbicides. Common herbicides in use in various parts of North America are glyphosate (i.e. Roundup®), triclopyr (i.e. Garlon®), and mecoprop or MCPP (i.e. Trimec®). Be aware, however, that some of these herbicides are deemed to be health hazards, and some municipalities prohibit their use.

Smaller lawns can be maintained quite easily with dandelion knives and other tools designed to remove the weed.

To pull a dandelion plant, first thoroughly water the area around the plant, then use a weed knife or dandelion digger to loosen the soil around the roots. Use the tool to lever the root out of the soil. If the root feels like it will break rather than come out, add more water and reposition the tool.

Some of the new tools created for dandelion removal include a blade that attaches to a drill to extract the root, and a water powered weeder that uses a high-pressure stream of water to create a hole beside the root, making the plant easy to pull out.

Pulled weeds can be composted as long as they have not yet set seed, and they are dead. Let pulled dandelions wither and die in the sun till before adding them to your composter.

And if the dandelions eventually win the war on your lawn, you can at least make use of them. The plants have high vitamin and mineral content, the roots and leaves can be used to make tea, the leaves and flowers can also be used in salad, or to make beer and wine.

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