GREEN TIPS FOR HOMEOWNERS -Eliminate Dandelions The Natural Way
Now that chemical poisons are being outlawed in many parts of North America many homeowners have become involved in the quest for the ultimate "green" dandelion eliminator.
Here are some GREEN TIPS...
1. Mow the plants before they go to seed - If you can cut off the dandelion heads before they go to seed you will have at least eliminated the source of most new dandelion plants. Part of the solution is to mow your grass frequently. Of if you have just a few dandelions showing, cut off those heads before they go to seed.
2. Root them out - If you are going to manually dig out existing plants, be sure to pull out as much of the root as possible. There are inexpensive tools that do a pretty good job. But it is really back-breaking work if you have lots of dandelions in a large lawn.
3. Pick the leaves - Cutting, picking or grinding off (see #4 below) the leaves will eventually starve the roots. But this takes persistence and is only practical in a small lawn.
4. Trample them - Many people claim that trampling dandelions greatly impedes their growth. One person in particular, George Rotramel, states "Trampling this stem crushes it and exposes the plant to infection by plant pathogens. The result is a dead dandelion with no time-consuming digging, no pulling, and no herbicide application". He drew this conclusion by noticing that dandelion growth was much more extensive around the outside of soccer fields than in the playing area.
5. Poach them - Pouring boiling water over dandelion plants will shrivel them up and render them impotent. Or at least that's what we've been told.
6. Pickle them - Use a 5-percent solution of vinegar as a weed killer against perennial weeds such as dandelions, foxtail, velvetleaf, smooth pigweed and thistle. Heating the solution is said to work even better.
7. Burn them out - Some say you can torch dandelions and other perennial weeds with a weed burner torch, but others claim this is a pretty ineffective and inefficient way to get rid of them.
8. Corn Gluten Meal - If you don't have time for any of this manual digging or spraying, then you may want to try corn gluten meal (CGM) applied to your entire lawn. This is called a "pre-emergent" solution that prevents roots from forming during seed germination. It will not kill already existing plants, but it will prevent additional germination from taking place during growing seasons - especially in the spring.
9. Replace grass with Dutch clover - You may want to try replacing at least some of your grass with Dutch clover. This has some advantages. Clover is nice and green and will grow almost anywhere. It requires less water, does not require fertilizer, needs less frequent mowing, chokes out weeds, and grubs and other common lawn pests do not like it.