Weed of the Month Series: Dandelions

Fun Facts

⦁ Every part of the dandelion is edible! They can be used to make wine, tea, a coffee substitute, or just eat the greens in a salad. ⦁ The dandelion is a member of the Aster family – Asteraceae, which also includes sunflowers. ⦁ Dandelion seeds can travel about 5 miles before touching the ground. ⦁ Dandelions are found practically everywhere across the U.S. and many places around the world. ⦁ The common Dandelion was brought to North America from Europe. European settlers brought them over to use them for food and medicinal purposes. ⦁ Because dandelions do not need to be pollinated to reproduce, they female parts of the plants will develop seeds that are clones of the parent. Each dandelion will produce up to about 300 seeds. That’s a lot of clones!

Ideal Conditions for Weed Growth

Dandelions prefer full sun and moist soils with good drainage, but will grow in just about every light condition. Once established, this plant is so resilient that it can grow in poor soil conditions where other plants especially grass will not grow. The dandelion is an opportunistic weed that will grow in bare areas or areas that have been disturbed. Because the dandelion doesn’t have any real threats, it thrives. Dandelions flower abundantly in the spring, but will flower throughout the growing season.

How to Control Dandelions

Dandelions are a biennial weed. After seed germination, the dandelion will come up for 2 years, sometimes 3, from the same root system. The taproot of this weed can grow up to about 18 inches deep, making it very hard to eradicate. ⦁ If you are hand weeding you need to pull out the whole taproot. If even a small portion is left behind a new plant can grow. Your best bet to not see dandelions show up in your lawn is to have a thick, tall lawn, mowed at least 3 inches tall. Because the weed likes sun, taller grass will help inhibit growth. When the lawn is dense, it won’t leave room for the weeds to grow. You can achieve a lush lawn through proper cultural practices, including proper watering, mowing tall, and feeding the lawn organic matter. You can control this weed both pre-emergently and post-emergently depending on the stage of the plant. ⦁ For pre-emergent weed control, we offer a 100% organic product called Synergy. This will help keep weed seeds from germinating properly. It’s also a great fertilizer. ⦁ For post-emergent weed control we apply a product called One Earth. This is a 100% organic weed control and fertilizer. One Earth will kill dandelions and other broadleaf weeds that have come up, while fertilizing the grass.

Results with Weed Control

For pre-emergent control you can expect the best results with Synergy by using it in spring and fall.

Year 1: 60% control rate on weeds in a lawn
Year 2: 70% control rate on weeds in a lawn
Year 3: 80% control rate on weeds in a lawn
Year 4+: 90%+ control rate on weeds in a lawn

For post-emergent weed control, you can expect about a 90% control rate of dandelions, especially during the spring when the plants are young and actively growing. One Earth works as a nutrient overdose for the weed. Below is a lawn that was treated with One Earth. You can see the dandelion in the second photo has turned black and will break down on its own.

Is this a Dandelion?

Cat’s Ear, also known as false dandelion, looks very similiar to the dandelion but it has hairs on the leaves. This weed is most commonly seen in the fall. Below is the leaf of the cat’s ear; you can see the fine hairs on the leaves. Dandelion leaves will be smooth. This weed can also be controlled with One Earth.