Help! My lawn is overrun with dandelions

[Jtrey17]

Friends, my lawn looks terrible. It is being overrun with dandelions and I don't know what to do. I'm a little 'granola' so chemicals are out of the questions. Can anyone help me out? How have you taken care of your dandelions naturally? My neighbors and I thank you!!

[MrsDinero]

I'm not sure what you mean by "a little granola" if you are looking to get rid of them.  Dandelions are not weeds.  I look at dandelions as a beautiful part of nature and leave them alone.  They indicate a fertile soil and are very important to the honey bee, which are currently in decline and need a lot of help.  They also contain medicinal properties and can be dried and used for tea. 

Personally we leave ours alone.

[Kriegsspiel]

Just like everything else on your property, you can eat them.

[Carless]

Learn to appreciate them.  Admire the early yellow blooms, the buzzing bees that visit.  The bunnies that happily eat the tops.  Enjoy the expanse of fluffy white seed heads and imagine them spreading your love all over the neighbourhood.  Especially enjoy that you're not going to waste hours picking one plant out of the rest based on some arbitrary notion of 'weediness'.

My judgment - it it's one of those nasty spiky ones with thorny leaves it comes out.  The other ones can stay.

[letired]

+1 don't worry about it. If you're 'a little granola', then you know that dandelions are great for all the reasons that people above have enumerated. Kick back with your prefered warm-weather beverage of choice secure in the knowledge that you are doing your part to fight the good fight against overuse of herbicides, the elimination of bee habitat, the perpetuation of lawn culture, and the cultivation of an entirely useless crop.

If you are not, in fact, 'a little granola' and like putting a lot of energy into a crop that is literally useless of most levels, get out there with a pair of gloves and start pulling before they go to seed. Hand trowels are helpful for plants that are deeply rooted like dandelions. Insert as deeply as possible near the base of the plant and rock back and forth to loosen. If the soil is dry and hard, water them deeply (very slow trickle for ~20 min) the day beforehand to soften the soil.

If you insist on having a 'nice lawn', check out https://richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp for lazy, easy, and low-impact lawn care.

[wienerdog]

Make wine with them.  If you don't like that idea how high do you mow the lawn?  Set your mower to the highest it will go and that will help.  If that doesn't work you might have your soil tested for pH.  Grass likes lower than 7 and dandelions like higher than 7.  Usually a good pH test will run around $100.  Check with your city they might do it for free.

If you want to get real serious look at aerating and over seeding to choke most every weed out naturally.

[sokoloff]

If you really want them gone, two treatments of 2,4-D ("Weed-B-Gon" is one trade name containing it), spaced a few weeks apart is nearly totally effective. Dandelions are one of the easiest weeds to control with chemicals that don't harm the grass next to it.

If you want a dandelion killer you can feel better about, 20% acetic acid ("vinegar, but 4x as strong") applied as a spot treatment will also kill them. (As will glyphosate, of course, but if you aren't willing to apply 2,4-D, I'm guessing glyphosate is right out... ;) )

If you're over-run, forget any mechanical methods. Too time-consuming, and if you don't get the whole root, they just come back.

Or, as other posters suggest, re-frame your opinion of them as "not weed" (and hope that your neighbors agree, because you'll be dandelion farming seeds that they'll have to deal with...)

[sokoloff]

BTW, 20% acetic acid (and glyphosate) will kill the grass too, so be selective in applying either of those.

[cpa cat]

Friends, my lawn looks terrible. It is being overrun with dandelions and I don't know what to do. I'm a little 'granola' so chemicals are out of the questions. Can anyone help me out? How have you taken care of your dandelions naturally? My neighbors and I thank you!!

You have three options:

1) Pick them by hand with a dandelion tool. Look forward to hours of effort.

2) Leave them alone. Dandelions will basically take over your lawn. Bees will thank you.

3) Chemicals. Quick and effective - a betrayal to your granola hopes and dreams.

From my own granola experience - you will realize about 50% through doing #1 that it's a stupid waste of time. By the way, there will be more dandelions next year, so if you make it through year one, you will realize that it's a stupid waste of time in year two. Also, within a day of doing this, you will look out your window and see all of the dandelions you missed.

I eventually settled on chemicals in the front yard and granola in the back. At some point my back yard hit critical weed mass. Just for fun, I introduced other weeds to my back yard intentionally - like creeping thyme, alpine strawberries, and white clover. Eventually, the dandelions fell into a general balance with everything else in the lawn. Grass still lives there and overall my back yard has a healthy look to it. My front yard requires far more chemical and water interference to remain "healthy looking" - it's an ongoing battle to keep it looking the same as my lawn-obsessed neighbors' lawns.

[Missy B]

I have always used a steak knife to remove dandelions. I cut a small circle close to the plant, grab all the leaves, and pull up. In moist soil, you will remove the plant and a good chunk of taproot. It's physically easier and disturbs the lawn less than using a shovel. I find it meditative, but if you do not, there is probably a child with enterprise in your neighborhood who would be happy to do the work for a piece-rate.

While I, too, appreciate the many fine qualities of the dandelion, it is worth noting that most municipalities have bylaws about weeds and people who do not control them will be fined and charged for treatment. Unless the OP lives in an area where that is not the case, letting the yard go permaculture is not an option.

[powskier]

Pick the greens when young, good for you. If you wait to long they are a little bitter.
Our honey bees love dandelions.

To the folks putting poison in our fragile environment, please don't, we live in a closed loop system, those chemicals end up in your blood stream eventually.

[vittelx]

I have always used a steak knife to remove dandelions. I cut a small circle close to the plant, grab all the leaves, and pull up.

I used to do this as well.

Now that we havde kids the dandelions gets to live :)

[Cranky]

Pretty much you can dig them up, you can use weed killer, or you can live with them. I veer back and forth between these philosophies, I admit. This is a "dig them up" year, and I use one of those long weeding tools with a notch at the end - it lets you get hold of the root.

[Trifle]

Pretty much you can dig them up, you can use weed killer, or you can live with them. I veer back and forth between these philosophies, I admit. This is a "dig them up" year, and I use one of those long weeding tools with a notch at the end - it lets you get hold of the root.

This.  Consider leaving them for the bees.  But if you want them gone without chemicals (yay you!) you have to pull them, and the specialized dandelion digger tool with the notch is ideal.  The good news -- you do NOT have to do this every year forever.  We lived for years in a subdivision where we could not just leave them, so we dug them out in year one.  Then -- we focused on building up the soil by spreading a little compost and added soil.  We set our mower higher to let the grass grow a little longer.  The goal was to develop super healthy soil with all the microorganisms and bugs and worms that soil is supposed to have.  Dandelions are tough, but grass is tougher.  By year two we had almost no dandelions, and by year three we had basically none.  Our lawn was the envy of the neighborhood.  And -- and! -- a healthy natural lawn is much more drought resistant.  When the dry season came our lawn was the only green one in the neighborhood.   

By the way -- there is another recent MMM thread on this exact topic

[MasterStache]

If you choose to treat them chemically I would spot treat. Most folks just broadcast weed killer all over their lawns unnecessarily. You can at least limit the chemical application.

One thing to note for future. If you despise lawn weeds (admittedly I do), the best prevention is a healthy, full lawn. Work on getting rid of as many weeds as you can over the spring/summer. Come fall you can spot seed/overseed your lawn. Work on getting organic matter into your soil for a healthy lawn. Always mulch mow. If you don't have many trees, snag some of your neighbors leaves and mow them into your lawn. It's free fertilizer and the worms love them. Don't use chemical fertilizers. They are mostly garbage. Especially the weed and feed. Let your lawn go dormant over the summer. Don't try to keep it watered and green. It will come back with cooler temps.

Also not sure if you have access to Milorganite. It's a fantastic organic fertilizer. Things like sawdust (horse bedding pellets), alfalfa pellets, and soybean meal are great organic additions to your yard. You can have a fantastic looking lawn using no chemicals. Used coffee grounds are great as well. Starbucks will give you tons of them for free.

Good luck with whatever you chose.

[Rural]

Pluck the flower heads, bread and fry. You'll have a side dish plus fewer seeds to make plants to deal with next year. Or, you know, leave them alone and support the few honeybees we have left.

[Linea_Norway]

For those of you with a dandelion-free lawn, who still want to help the bees, why not planting some other flowers around the garden. Instead of only grass, some patches or pots of flowers. We love our flower garden, it is always a surprise what is growing this time and bees visit all the time.

[sokoloff]

There's an excellent organic lawn care forum here:
https://aroundtheyard.com/forums2/viewforum.php?f=6

We use a mostly organic regimen on our lawn (alfalfa, soybean mean, cracked corn, milorganite equivalent, etc), and the earthworms, bunnies, birds, and squirrels seem to love it. I do use chemicals for initial seeding (corn gluten meal is no substitute for mesotrione and there is no organic substitute for late fall urea applications, for example).

Other than that, once a solid lawn is established, the grass outcompetes the weeds by a pretty wide margin. We do have local wildflowers planted along the road and in the outside planting beds for butterflies and bees (and incidentally, people).

[Goldielocks]

Pulling dandelions by hand seems overwhelming at first if you have a large problem.  We bought a home that had no pulling for many years, and 18" dandelions everywhere.   

But, it really does work, you just need to keep at it for 2-3 years, after which, it drops down enormously.  Many are coming up from the root overwinter / regrowing, so once you get those gone (takes a few cycles), then the newly seeded ones are easier.   

I pull everything in the spring, (<1hr)  then pull anything with yellow blooms before I mow (easy task, only a few at a time), then I need to pull anything again the fall.  We used the shovel method the first spring, there were so many.  Now I use the hand weeder.

The guinea pig LOVES dandelion leaves, so I will pull a few for him too, each week.  I now have the problem of no dandelions for the Guinea pig and I am eyeing my neighbor's lawn.


My current nemesis is creeping buttercup.  That is NOT edible and is toxic and so much more persistant than dandelions, plus harder to pull.

[MasterStache]

For those of you with a dandelion-free lawn, who still want to help the bees, why not planting some other flowers around the garden. Instead of only grass, some patches or pots of flowers. We love our flower garden, it is always a surprise what is growing this time and bees visit all the time.

Yep, that's what I did. Not a garden necessarily but planted bee attracting flowers/plants all through the landscape. Cleared out a bunch of invasive honeysuckle that was choking out all the trees/vegetation in a small patch of woods behind my house. Now there are wild flowers and new plants growing everywhere. Bees galore.  And butterflies. The Monarch population has taken a huge hit as well.

[MasterStache]

There's an excellent organic lawn care forum here:
https://aroundtheyard.com/forums2/viewforum.php?f=6

We use a mostly organic regimen on our lawn (alfalfa, soybean mean, cracked corn, milorganite equivalent, etc), and the earthworms, bunnies, birds, and squirrels seem to love it. I do use chemicals for initial seeding (corn gluten meal is no substitute for mesotrione and there is no organic substitute for late fall urea applications, for example).

Other than that, once a solid lawn is established, the grass outcompetes the weeds by a pretty wide margin. We do have local wildflowers planted along the road and in the outside planting beds for butterflies and bees (and incidentally, people).

Funny I used to be a regular member on that forum. Once we moved though I wanted to cut lawn care cost significantly so I gave up my forum membership. I still retain and use a shit ton of knowledge I obtained from that site. Lot's of knowledgeable folks over there. It's easy to go overboard on your lawn.

[MilesTeg]

Won't help to remove them, but once you have them in check, the best way to mitigate weeds without "chemicals" or manual pulling is to keep your grass healthy and strong. This allows it to out compete the weeds. This means:

* let your grass grow LONG. Set your mower to the highest setting. Long grass is healthier, and will quite literally choke out the competing weeds
* keep your lawn well fertilized and watered.
* keep your soil aerated.
* dethatch your lawn yearly.
* Use something like Revive, which softens your soil and improves water efficiency (also makes pulling weeds easier and more successful).

Hard, dry soil with lots of thatch is a terrible environment for grass, but an environment where most weeds can be at home (weeds typically being much more hardy than ornamental grasses).

For places with weeds that aren't near plants you like, get a 1-2 gallon spray canister, fill it with at least 10% vinegar + a couple drops of dish soap (to help the vinegar cling to the plants), and spray it on the weeds during the hottest part of the day (at least 80F but the hotter the better). Won't kill the roots like roundup or other things, but will keep them in check. If the area you are spraying is an area you never want plants, add a couple cups of salt per gallon and literally salt the earth. That will kill the roots, but will keep anything from growing for many years. I use it in the rock areas of my driveway, the sides of my house and other places that I surely do not want things to grow. However, don't use "upstream" of places you want things to grow.

[MasterStache]

Won't help to remove them, but once you have them in check, the best way to mitigate weeds without "chemicals" or manual pulling is to keep your grass healthy and strong. This allows it to out compete the weeds. This means:

* let your grass grow LONG. Set your mower to the highest setting. Long grass is healthier, and will quite literally choke out the competing weeds
* keep your lawn well fertilized and watered.
* keep your soil aerated.
* dethatch your lawn yearly.
* Use something like Revive, which softens your soil and improves water efficiency (also makes pulling weeds easier and more successful).

Hard, dry soil with lots of thatch is a terrible environment for grass, but an environment where most weeds can be at home (weeds typically being much more hardy than ornamental grasses).

I think a lot of what you say depends. You don't need to necessarily keep it well fertilized. Building up organic matter is what you want. Just dumping fertilizer won't do much. In fact, dumping it in the Spring will likely lead to major issues in the summer/fall. That's why Spring Weed N Feeds are terrible.

Watering, sure if you are planting new grass or keeping it form going dormant. I haven't watered my lawn the past 3 summers. Plenty of rain in the Spring and Fall. I let it go dormant in the summer.

In terms of aeration and dethatching, I would suggest absolutely not disturbing the soil. You'll be battling even more weeds. Thousands of seeds lie dormant in your lawn. Keep them that way. Don't bring them to the surface. You shouldn't have to worry about thatch unless your lawn is in terrible shape. And you can aerate with simple things like spraying kids shampoo through a hose end sprayer (mixed with water). You can even put some kelp in there for some organic nutrients. Horse bedding pellets/sawdust also help to aerate your lawn.

The vast majority of your lawn woes will disappear just by simply building up the organic matter in your soil. Just know that it's a marathon and not a sprint. It takes time.

[zarfus]

+1 to just keeping your grass longer. Cut at the highest, or closer to it, setting. The grass will actually drown out the dandelion. Give it time though

[NV Teacher]

I have always used a steak knife to remove dandelions. I cut a small circle close to the plant, grab all the leaves, and pull up. In moist soil, you will remove the plant and a good chunk of taproot. It's physically easier and disturbs the lawn less than using a shovel. I find it meditative, but if you do not, there is probably a child with enterprise in your neighborhood who would be happy to do the work for a piece-rate.

While I, too, appreciate the many fine qualities of the dandelion, it is worth noting that most municipalities have bylaws about weeds and people who do not control them will be fined and charged for treatment. Unless the OP lives in an area where that is not the case, letting the yard go permaculture is not an option.

I too use a sharp knife.  I bought it at the dollar store and sharpen it a couple of times a month.   Easy to get the dandelions without disturbing too much grass.  I find it oddly satisfying to weed them out of the lawn.

[Retire-Canada]

You can seed your lawn with clover. It's easy to maintain and will out compete the dandelions.

http://cloverlawn.org/2014/03/how-to-overseed-clover-into-a-lawn-2/

[MilesTeg]

+1 to just keeping your grass longer. Cut at the highest, or closer to it, setting. The grass will actually drown out the dandelion. Give it time though

And it makes the lawn significantly more water efficient as well.

[NorthernBlitz]

Friends, my lawn looks terrible. It is being overrun with dandelions and I don't know what to do. I'm a little 'granola' so chemicals are out of the questions. Can anyone help me out? How have you taken care of your dandelions naturally? My neighbors and I thank you!!

You have three options:

1) Pick them by hand with a dandelion tool. Look forward to hours of effort.

2) Leave them alone. Dandelions will basically take over your lawn. Bees will thank you.

3) Chemicals. Quick and effective - a betrayal to your granola hopes and dreams.

I'm OK with a few dandelions, but this year we were also getting overrun.

Every year in early spring, I do #1 (above) with a Garden Weasel, but we have young kids that play on our lawn and aren't comfortable with using pesticide.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Garden-Weasel-Weedpopper-Step-and-Twist-4-in-Steel-Multipurpose-Garden-Hand-Tool/4067482?cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-LawnGarden-_-LawnAndGardenTools-_-4067482:Garden_Weasel&CAWELAID=&kpid=4067482&CAGPSPN=pla&store_code=645&k_clickID=152a895f-3baf-48c1-8cf3-d40e1ed27324&gclid=CjwKEAjwsLTJBRCvibaW9bGLtUESJAC4wKw1s1a6gk8uFwC6qWg12eu4fIRFOfjsnRKrTLzIIHd1VhoCYwHw_wcB

This year it was much more work than "normal". Not sure why we got so many dandelions.

This year (based on a thread here), I also started fertilizing with Milogranite fertilizer. I think it took about $85 of fertilizer to do our lawn (~0.5 acre).

I didn't use fertilizer before, and that may have contributed to the weed growth this year. This product is from dried up organisms, so I'm less worried about it than I would be from a chemical fertilizer. I'm hoping that it leads to a thicker lawn and that the grass crowds out the weeds.

I am also cutting my grass to 4" instead of 3.5" (for the reasons pointed out above).

[MasterStache]

Friends, my lawn looks terrible. It is being overrun with dandelions and I don't know what to do. I'm a little 'granola' so chemicals are out of the questions. Can anyone help me out? How have you taken care of your dandelions naturally? My neighbors and I thank you!!

You have three options:

1) Pick them by hand with a dandelion tool. Look forward to hours of effort.

2) Leave them alone. Dandelions will basically take over your lawn. Bees will thank you.

3) Chemicals. Quick and effective - a betrayal to your granola hopes and dreams.

I'm OK with a few dandelions, but this year we were also getting overrun.

Every year in early spring, I do #1 (above) with a Garden Weasel, but we have young kids that play on our lawn and aren't comfortable with using pesticide.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Garden-Weasel-Weedpopper-Step-and-Twist-4-in-Steel-Multipurpose-Garden-Hand-Tool/4067482?cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-LawnGarden-_-LawnAndGardenTools-_-4067482:Garden_Weasel&CAWELAID=&kpid=4067482&CAGPSPN=pla&store_code=645&k_clickID=152a895f-3baf-48c1-8cf3-d40e1ed27324&gclid=CjwKEAjwsLTJBRCvibaW9bGLtUESJAC4wKw1s1a6gk8uFwC6qWg12eu4fIRFOfjsnRKrTLzIIHd1VhoCYwHw_wcB

This year it was much more work than "normal". Not sure why we got so many dandelions.

This year (based on a thread here), I also started fertilizing with Milogranite fertilizer. I think it took about $85 of fertilizer to do our lawn (~0.5 acre).

I didn't use fertilizer before, and that may have contributed to the weed growth this year. This product is from dried up organisms, so I'm less worried about it than I would be from a chemical fertilizer. I'm hoping that it leads to a thicker lawn and that the grass crowds out the weeds.

I am also cutting my grass to 4" instead of 3.5" (for the reasons pointed out above).

The Milorganite won't kill any weeds. It will add organic nutrients to the soil and help everything grow and prosper including weeds. If you aren't actively killing weeds or removing them, yes they will get "fed" as well.

No sure where you live but Wal-Mart typically has an end of season sale at the end of summer. Milorganite often goes on sale for $5/bag. That's when I stock up for the following year. Just a heads up.

[cdttmm]

Please leave them! Dandelions are a very important source of nectar and pollen for honey bees in the spring. The honey bees and your local beekeepers will thank you!!!

[CheapScholar]

I always dreamed of letting my lawn turn into a dandelion field.  Just bright yellow everywhere.  And I want to put a big sign made out of reclaimed wood that says "Question Everything!"

Alas, my wife is not down with that program.  I put a very light spread of Weed N Feed every other spring.  Beyond that I pick pick pick and stay on top of it.  I use a small knife and take out most of the dandelion from the root.  What also helps is to have a bucket handy of quality soil (compost in my case) and grass seed.  I'm surprised how little work it is once you stay on top of it.  I run almost every evening and try to make a habit to pull a few dandelions after each run and that takes care of it.

Bonus suggestion:  dandelions make an awesome natural dye for coloring Easter eggs.  Boil the flowers for a few minutes and you'll get a beautiful bright yellow reduction.  Soak a hard boiled egg for an hour or two and you'll have a nice yellow egg with a harmless dye.

[JimLahey]

This right here is worth every penny: https://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-Deluxe-Stand-up-Weeder-4-claw/dp/B0030MIHAU

This is my first Spring having a lawn to take care of. I don't believe the previous owners did much as far as weeds go. My yard had a lot of dandelions. I tried spraying them initially. The issue is that the dandelions can go to seed before they die. So I bought that tool and went to town on the yard with it and a five gallon bucket. It will pull out the majority of the dandelion root. I've put a serious dent in my dandelion population with it. That being said, you have go be vigilant because you are bound to miss some. My strategy has been to mow and then pull the dandelions as they flower out. I'm all for helping the bee population but I was overrun. I have a lot of white clover that I will probably leave for the bees.

[Frankies Girl]

Embrace the dandelions.

[NorthernBlitz]

The Milorganite won't kill any weeds. It will add organic nutrients to the soil and help everything grow and prosper including weeds. If you aren't actively killing weeds or removing them, yes they will get "fed" as well.

No sure where you live but Wal-Mart typically has an end of season sale at the end of summer. Milorganite often goes on sale for $5/bag. That's when I stock up for the following year. Just a heads up.

Sorry if I was unclear. I am manually removing weeds to get rid of them. Then trying to create a thicker lawn (using milogranite + overseeding) to try to prevent them from coming back.

Thanks for the tip on the sales. There are definitely a few Walmarts by us (upstate NY). I'll watch for sales. I got them for something like $12 at Lowes + a 5% discount with a store card.

[DK]

If it's truly overrun, use 24D when they popup again in the fall, then after that if you want, handpick them around. Keep the grass cut higher too, > 3in. If you spray when they are already starting to flower, I would cut the lawn to get the flowers off them so bees aren't visiting, wait a couple days, then spray.

[MasterStache]

The Milorganite won't kill any weeds. It will add organic nutrients to the soil and help everything grow and prosper including weeds. If you aren't actively killing weeds or removing them, yes they will get "fed" as well.

No sure where you live but Wal-Mart typically has an end of season sale at the end of summer. Milorganite often goes on sale for $5/bag. That's when I stock up for the following year. Just a heads up.

Sorry if I was unclear. I am manually removing weeds to get rid of them. Then trying to create a thicker lawn (using milogranite + overseeding) to try to prevent them from coming back.

Thanks for the tip on the sales. There are definitely a few Walmarts by us (upstate NY). I'll watch for sales. I got them for something like $12 at Lowes + a 5% discount with a store card.

Look for open bags of Milorganite shoved into a plastic bag. Lowes and HD discount them 50%, usually. Anytime I have to hit up the big box store I always swing by to look for open bags of Milo.

[NorthernBlitz]

The Milorganite won't kill any weeds. It will add organic nutrients to the soil and help everything grow and prosper including weeds. If you aren't actively killing weeds or removing them, yes they will get "fed" as well.

No sure where you live but Wal-Mart typically has an end of season sale at the end of summer. Milorganite often goes on sale for $5/bag. That's when I stock up for the following year. Just a heads up.

Sorry if I was unclear. I am manually removing weeds to get rid of them. Then trying to create a thicker lawn (using milogranite + overseeding) to try to prevent them from coming back.

Thanks for the tip on the sales. There are definitely a few Walmarts by us (upstate NY). I'll watch for sales. I got them for something like $12 at Lowes + a 5% discount with a store card.

Look for open bags of Milorganite shoved into a plastic bag. Lowes and HD discount them 50%, usually. Anytime I have to hit up the big box store I always swing by to look for open bags of Milo.

Great advice! I'll check for those too.

[A Definite Beta Guy]

My thoughts, mostly shared with other posters:
1. Marathon, not sprint.
2. You can totally pull them by hand. I spent a June Saturday Morning last year pulling every single dandelion in my front lawn. Didn't even get the full root in most cases (damn tough to do, those things go extremely deep). I guess I might have to deal with them in future years, but this year we have almost none. I'm sure someone will mention if I am going to see them next year, or the year after!
3. Healthy lawn outcompetes weeds.
4. Someone mentioned dethatching. My POV: dethatching is great, but only if you overseed as well. I've found that overseeding really makes a difference.  Contributes to #3.
5. I would definitely rent a power-rake to dethatch. I will never dethatch by hand again. I didn't mind pulling dandelions by hand, but manually dethatching my front lawn is among the most vividly horrible experiences of my recent life, up there with my hangover after my 30th birthday and the time I got food poisoning at Disney World.

G'Luck. I don't agree with letting Lion's Tooth fester. It looks nasty as all get-out. It looks fine if you have a field of it from far away, but the actual leaves are disgusting, and all those stalks look terrible at night. I don't mind getting rid of the pointless green lawn, but I'd prefer a tasteful displays of other plants, as opposed to Dandelion. One man's opinion, though.


I'd like to go granola, but I'll do that after I kill the massive amount of creeping Charlie in my backyard. We have an unfriendly, 1940s Europe kind of relationship.

[Bird In Hand]

For dandelions, I send the kids out to pick them: 1 point for a open or closed flower head, 5 points for an in-tact head that has gone to seed, and 10 points for the whole plant with taproot.  They exchange the points for minutes of screen-time (e.g., 30 points or more nets them up to 30 minutes of screen time in a day) or dessert after dinner.

I've been following a natural/organic lawn care regimen for years.  FYI, while mowing high helps, it's not necessarily going to magically result in denser grass that will choke out weeds.  Not even with regular overseeding.  Grass seed is pretty expensive, and overseeding is (IMO) a fool's errand if you have insufficient depth/quality of soil, high/low soil pH, lots of grubs, or not enough water during germination and early growth.

[Goldielocks]

+1 to just keeping your grass longer. Cut at the highest, or closer to it, setting. The grass will actually drown out the dandelion. Give it time though

And it makes the lawn significantly more water efficient as well.

If you don't cut clover for a while in early summer, it has millions of flowers that the bees love too.  (then you cut it again).
I replaced half my front lawn with clover as a test, and we really like it, so will do more (as the turf becomes gradually ruined by raccoons looking for chafer beetle grubs)

[accolay]

I'm with you in not using chemical poisons to kill dandelions. I've been pulling my dandelions for about 4 years now, and every year there have been considerably less of them. I have gardening gloves of some sort, a small garden trowel and a 5 gallon bucket. If life gets too busy to pull them, I'll just pluck off the heads so they don't seed. I inevitably always miss some, so having a few isn't bad and the exercise of pulling them and being outdoors is good.

My goal is to have native flowering plants in my yard and eventually nothing to mow. There are many other early spring flowering species that bees can have besides dandelions if you don't like them.

Now if I can just get rid of that creeping charlie....

[Retire-Canada]

When I bought my house the previous owners left one of these weed tools behind. They work well and you don't have to bend over to get the weed out.

[A Definite Beta Guy]

Now if I can just get rid of that creeping charlie....

Supposedly, dethatching does a great job on creeping charlie. It's a runner with shallow roots, so you can yank a lot of it up without killing the grass too much. Overseed and fertilize and the grass will fill in the gaps before the charlie.

Dunno if that will actually work, but figured I'd throw that out....

[BlueHouse]

I have always used a steak knife to remove dandelions. I cut a small circle close to the plant, grab all the leaves, and pull up.

I used to do this as well.

Now that we havde kids the dandelions gets to live :)

Oh, but this was what we were assigned to do anytime my mother heard the words "I'm bored" throughout our childhood summers.  Mom would hand me a brown paper bag and a steak knife and I'd have to do either the front or the back lawn.  You would think once would have been enough to teach us not to EVER use those words, but it used to happen to each of us at least once per summer.  And with five kids, that was enough to keep the lawn somewhat free of dandelions for short periods of time.   

Of course, those were the days before cable TV, internet, and traveling sports clubs.  Those were the days when the lazy days of summer really were lazy.  Only the rich kids went to summer camp.  The rest of us hung around the neighborhood with other kids and tried to find something to do.  I don't know if kids get bored these days ... they have so much to do!

[Jtrey17]

Friends, thank you for all of your ideas, I really appreciate them! I decided on the tool that was pictured earlier and it's working great! I do a little each day and I can see a difference. Here's another stupid question, when I pull the dandelion, it leaves a small amount of dirt and I'm not sure if I need to do something about that? Most are about the size of a golf ball for perspective.

Sincerely,
Recently single, single Mom, lawn slayer

[sokoloff]

It depends on your grass variety/varieties. If you have a creeping grass type based lawn with good growing conditions, it will spread to cover such small holes naturally. If your lawn is ryegrass or other non-creeping varietal based, it won't spread from live plants (and you can't reasonably count on self-seeding for spreading either), so you'll need to overseed if you want to cover in the bare spot.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

Friends, my lawn looks terrible. It is being overrun with dandelions and I don't know what to do. I'm a little 'granola' so chemicals are out of the questions. Can anyone help me out? How have you taken care of your dandelions naturally? My neighbors and I thank you!!

When I was a kid, you got a trowel, got on your hands and knees, and dug them out. In fact, we got a bounty of a dime for every one that we presented with a full root and all to the old lady next door. It was the late 70s so this was very lucrative from my 10 year old point of view.

[RetiredAt63]

Someone mentioned 20% acetic acid.  It kills leaves (any leaves, grass included) but does not kill roots.  I found out the hard way, when I killed off the leaves of the poison ivy in the ditch and new plants popped up nearby from the roots.  Those got carefully applied glyphosate.

Dandelions I pop out.  Easy after a good rain with the stabber tool.