How can I kill dandelions that have taken over my lawn?
February 15th, 2009
Bay Stater asked:
The previous owners of the house we moved into a couple of years ago hadn’t taken good care of the lawn. It is covered with dandelions that seem inpossible to get rid of. Because there are so many of them, pulling them by hand or spraying with Roundup one by one isn’t an option. In prior years I’ve tried the Scott’s Steps 1-4 products, which haven’t helped.
The previous owners of the house we moved into a couple of years ago hadn’t taken good care of the lawn. It is covered with dandelions that seem inpossible to get rid of. Because there are so many of them, pulling them by hand or spraying with Roundup one by one isn’t an option. In prior years I’ve tried the Scott’s Steps 1-4 products, which haven’t helped.
Ideally, I’d like to find a natural solution rather than a chemical solution to use on the lawn because I have pets and children. Also, please don’t tell me that the only thing to do is tear up the lawn and start from scratch! It’s not in our current budget. Thanks.
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Tags: Dandelions, Natural Solution
6 Comments at "How can I kill dandelions that have taken over my lawn?"
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There is a product that will kill the dandelions without harming pets and children. They sell it at Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Target, Lowes. Its a spray. That’s all I can remember, but if you go to those stores they will help you.
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Broadleaf weed “poison” is actually fertilizer. Spray or spread that. It makes the leaves grow so fast that they can’t get enough nourishment from the roots and they starve to teath. If they aren’t killed by broadleaf poison, you are not applying it right.
After they die, overseed the lawn with grass. Let it grow at least 3″ high before mowing.
Always cut your lawn 3″ to 4″ high. This crowds out new weeds.
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I don’t know of any ‘natural’ weed killers that would target just dandelions.
Weed killers like weed-be-gon does effectively kill weeds in grass. It’s a ’selective’ weed killer, leaving the grass alone and killing broadleaf weeds like dandelions.
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This weekend’s wall street journal has an interesting article on killing dandelions. Who would have thought? Anyway - it’s available at wsj.com. Generally the wsj.com website is fee-based for some articles, but everything is free until May 10.
The following are comments from that article:
Scott Meyer, editor of Organic Gardening magazine states that “Unfortunately, dandelions have long tap roots that have to be plucked out” He goes on to say that “One of the most popular, and cheapest, tools out there is a V-pronged hand weeder that you plunge through the dirt alongside the root and then remove the plant by hand.
The article also meakes mention of an all-natural brand of fertilizer, purchased at Home Depot called “Lawn Restore” made by Ringer.
The article mentions some input from readers as follows: “Fortunately, readers are coming to the rescue with more interesting solutions that I’ll be trying in the next few weeks. There is a water-powered weeder that purports to blast a hole beside the offending root and loosen it so it yanks out easily. And a propane torch that, allegedly, will vaporize the offensive plant. John Laumer of suburban Philadelphia recommends a “Step Weed Digger” so I don’t have to bend over while weeding. He says he can “do maybe 30″ weed removals before feeling it in his hand and needing a break. And I’ve found a few other curious possibilities online, such as the Weed Twister that performs something called the “Twist” dance on the plant, and the Dandelion Terminator, which attaches to my power drill.”
I wish you luck in this never ending pursuit of the American dream for the perfect lawn.
You may wish to move to Arizona where our lawns are rock with agaves, cacti, mesquite trees, and generally, not a blade of grass in sight.
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lawn weeds with rosette-like growth such as dandelions and daisies are easy to kill with a pinch of table salt. which is sodium chloride, NaCL. Better yet, use the chemical ammonium sulfate,(NH4)2SO4, the inorganic fertilizer that contains sulfur.
Use just a pinch of ammonium sulfate on small weeds, slightly more for larger ones. Drop into the center of the rosette.
Apply this chemical salt after a rain or a light overhead sprinkling so the dry salt will dissolve into the center of the weed. The salt kills the growing center of the weed down to the root. The excess is diluted and dispersed into the soil and there is not enough to be toxic to surrounding grass
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taking lawn out is out of budget? then you are back to round-up, but not what you buy at local store. go to a landscape suppler,i.e., a nursery. buy round-up super consentrate. spray entire lawn out! keep kids, an animales off lawn, wait 5 day’s, spray again. wait 14 days, then remove dead grass,an weeds, then reseed with grass.