I have a dandelion infested lawn..any tips?
Published 1 year, 3 months ago in Local services.My front lawn is completely taken over with dandelions..have tried digging them out when we moved in a year ago but they keep coming back with a vengeance! Have enquired with a landscaper about what to do and he said he will dig it out and replace with Buffalo turf..unfor the price quoted is a bit out of my budget (it is a small area)and am afraid that it will die off due to water restrictions if I did go ahead with it ! Any one else had a similiar job done…any recommendations?
16 Responses to “I have a dandelion infested lawn..any tips?”
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Save a couple of buckets of rinsing water from your washing machine, add some weeder and feeder, and use a watering can with sprinkler bars to put it on.
I don’t understand why people don’t like dandelions… they’re pretty yellow flowers, for free, that don’t need any work - they just grow.
But yeah, I agree with grumpyoldman… save buckets of water around the house (e.g. from the kitchen sink, hand washing clothes, etc, and use that. Try shopping around for quotes from different landscapers - chances are someone will do the same job for cheaper. Ask advice from nurseries, too, they can be good.
move house.
Oh where’s your child within……..make necklaces !
Oi!I heard on one of them gardening shows, a couple of years ago, that you can wash the dandelion roots, roast them and crush them then you can make a coffee out of the powder.It’s also sopposed to be good for something but I dont know what. Anyhow after I saw the program, I went out in my garden to try it but I couldn’t find many; only two, that’s not enough ay?
Remember, if you do try it try very small doses first. If ya feel funny see your doctor
If you don’t want coffee then use weed killer when the weather gets better. Good luck.
Yep it’s true you can make coffee out of them, you can also eat the leaves in salads, they’re very good for your liver.
But if you really hate them good ‘ol glysophate wiil do the job there are lots of different brands zero, round up etc, etc they’re basically all the same. Some are a bit more concentrated than others. Mix it up as per directions, spray on the leaves, not on a windy day ‘cos if it drifts onto plants that you want it can kill them too.
The things is there will always be new dandelions popping up as the seed can blow into your garden from elsewhere and arrive through bird droppings, so it’s something that you will have to do a least once a year.
As for buffalo grass you don’t need to cover a whole area with it as it spreads by runners, if you put a few plugs of it around your lawn eventually it will cover the whole area.
Dandenlion wine?
I suggest you get back to basics. Pull them out. Then pull them out again.
Get a weeding tool, dig down deep so that the fork points down to the root 2/3rds of the way down, up up she comes. You’ll get quite good at it.
It may seem like a lot of work but that’s just a modern disease - the wish for instant gratification. Take you time and do a patch at a time and eventually you’ll have got them all out. Getting them out by the roots is important for their not regrowing.
As said above, the seeds of the next lot will already have been sunk so prepare for another round in a month or two. Eventually they’ll get fewer and fewer - if you keep at it - and you’ll just have to keep a maintenance watch.
Revel in your time.
There you are Susie, Nooksters are a wealth of information! Coffee? Wine, Work!
I believe I heard somewhere that sulphate of Iron will kill broadleaf weeds but fertilise the grass
I think nooksters are missing the point.
The problem, i believe, is that dande lions, that is, very smart dapper lions- king of the jungle type lions are inhabiting this garden.
My advice, call Tarzan.
john he he hehehehehehe
Now I have a visual john………….just the thing for a feature on ones Lawn. !!!
What is it they say … get out and smell the roses. Do the same with dandelions. Enjoy! Think yourself lucky you have a patch of lawn and a front yard. And how about the exercise you can have in mowing? So many positives. Such a little thing to worry about in this world of woes.
Not only can they be used for wine but also in salads (with sorrel) and fried with bacon.
If you have a canary, pick the leavea and flowers, mine just loves them!!!!
There is a much more efficient and inexpensive way of dealing with these.
Spray the lawn with MCPA Dicamba in the form of the product “Zero Bindii & Clover” that is available at Bunnings Warehouse.
The herbicides MCPA & Dicamba are broadleaf specific herbicides that will only kill broadleaf weeds, including dandelions, bindii and clover. Most grasses are not harmed by these herbicides or at least not harmed permanently.
It is important to spray at or before flowering from September to November. If you allow the dandelions to set seed then what you kill with the herbicides will be replaced 100 times over by the seeds that are shed into the soil. You will need to repeat this for a few years in order to exhaust the already existing dandelion seed bank in the soil.
Once the dandelion plants are eliminated your existing lawn grass will slowly take over the spaces that are opened up, assuming of course that your existing grass is tough enough to grow despite the drought conditions.
If you would like to investigate some native lawn grasses then please contact me: gregsplants@eftel.net.au
Hi Susie,
Forgot to mention that the very best tool for getting up weeds is a small mini-pick, which is available in Bunnings for under $7! I’ve found all other so-called weeding tools are pretty feeble and often tear off the leaves and don’t get up the roots. It’s very light - try this for getting dandies up! I have used the same one intensively for two years and it’s still going strong.
Weed Angel