Can Healthy Grass Get-Rid of Dandelions?

[wdoe999]

I want to get-rid of dandelions from a lawn of a couple acres, and I have been doing some reading. There is a basic list of things to do, and one of them is to make a healthy lawn but it is never explained whether this will get rid of dandelions or does it only prevent them. My questions is...can you take you dandelion filled lot and do all of the lawn building activities (aerate, fertilize, over-seed, water, etc) and end up getting rid of the dandelions, or is that impossible? Do you have to go to the chemical warfare?

[Frank]

I'm no expert but nobody's answering you, so I'd say no. Chemical or physical removal IMHO is only thing that works. Look at something like Scott's treatment which requires 4 applications a year and besides fertilizer contains crabgrass premerg, broadleaf killers, and bug killers.

Personally, I do a weed and feed treatment with a product much cheaper than Scotts and then only spot weeding with chemicals or physical removal as necessary.

[Frank]

Looks like I'm recommending Scott's but I'm not - just giving it as an example of what I consider over kill. I believe in minimum use of fertilizer and chemicals but use as necessary.

[zxcvbob]

I spot-treat them and thistles with 2,4-d. "Weed-n-feed" fertilizers just spread too many pounds of herbicide for me (the whole neighborhood reeks when the ChemLawn truck comes around and sprays half the yards) so I always have a *few* dandelions in my yard but I'm OK with that.

I've been doing some research; triclopyr is much less toxic than

2,4-d, and it will kill resistant weeds like creeping charlie and chickweed, so I may switch to that even though it's more expensive to use. (it's the active ingredient in Ortho Brush-B-Gon and Garlon and Crossbow herbicides)

Bob

[zxcvbob]

I just realized I didn't answer your question. I don't think a healthy lawn can crowd-out established dandelions, so you'll have to pull them or poison them. A thick healthy lawn can probably keep new dandelions from taking over again.

Bob

[EVP MAN]

If the neighbors have it and don't treat it, you will always have some. When it goes to seed, it is sure to blow over on your lawn also. .......... Rich

[wdoe999]

Thanks. That's what I was seeking. I've killed them with chemicals in the past, but was just wondering if they can be choked-out (seems like you can't and they are there forever unless you poison them). As for pulling-them, I would be at it for ever.

[Dan L.]

Yes, you can choke them out without chemicals. In the early spring or late fall, over-seed with a fast growing grass seed like a perennial rye. Bag the clippings in the spring and compost the clippings. By bagging the in the spring, will reduce the amount of dandelions reseeding. ========================================================================= The Organic Lawn Care Manual: A Natural, Low-Maintenance System for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn (Paperback).

Paperback: 271 pages Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC; illustrated edition edition (January 30, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 1580176496 ISBN-13: 978-1580176491 ========================================================================= An organic lawn will take several years. I like this book.

[Billy]

Know I'm pissing into the wind here, but just sos ya know. Dandelion is high in potassium, and vitamins A & C, so it is prime salad fixins, and has also been used historically to treat poor digestion, water retention, and diseases of the liver, including hepatitis.

[Bud]

How true. As long as my "lawn" is geen, I don't care what grows in it. I mow once a week, let the clipping fall where they may (that's my fertilizer) and the bare spots soon turn to grass over a few years. Worms help, even if they do make a bumpy lawn.

I think, unless you live in one of those ritzy neighborhoods with covenents that tell you to get rid of those, and that, whatever, you can have a green area. Though it would be smarter to have a natural lawn, whatever grew there before the humans took over.

Stinken pesticides have killed off more natuaral areas where man has decided to take over with his extreme values that all nature has to kowtow to his liking. /rant