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Destroying Those Annoying Dandelions
By Samuel Murray, Fri Dec 9th
Dandelions are such a common weed in lawns and in parks, it'shard to imagine that they are not native to North America.Dandelions were intentionally introduced to the Americas fromEurope, where they were considered a beneficial plant due totheir nutritional and medicinal value. The name of the plant comes not from its golden mane, but ratherfrom the serrated leaves of the weed, which form an outline likelion's teeth (thus the name "dent de lion", or teeth of thelion). Dandelion seeds can be blown into your yard from miles away, soit is virtually impossible to prevent new plants from popping upperiodically, especially if your neighbors are less thandiligent in their own maintenance.
If your is mostly weed-free and you see a new dandelionplant sprout up, pull the whole plant, including all the roots,out as soon as possible. Do not let it go to seed. You'll need to check on the area for the next few weeks toensure you got all the roots. A new dandelion plant can beregenerated from less than one inch of remaining root, socomplete removal and subsequent checking is important. If your is very large, or contains a very large number ofdandelion infestations, you may wish to resort to herbicides.Common herbicides in use in various parts of North America areglyphosate (i.e. Roundup®), triclopyr (i.e. Garlon®), andmecoprop or MCPP
(i.e. Trimec®). Be aware, however, that some ofthese herbicides are deemed to be health hazards, and somemunicipalities prohibit their use. Smaller lawns can be maintained quite easily with dandelionknives and other tools designed to remove the weed. To pull a dandelion plant, first thoroughly water the areaaround the plant, then use a weed knife or dandelion digger toloosen the soil around the roots. Use the tool to lever the rootout of the soil. If the root feels like it will break ratherthan come out, add more water and reposition the tool. Some of the new tools created for dandelion removal include ablade that attaches to a drill to extract the root, and a waterpowered weeder that uses a high-pressure stream of water tocreate a hole beside the root, making the plant easy to pull out. Pulled weeds can be composted as long as they have not yet setseed, and they are dead. Let pulled dandelions wither and die inthe sun till before adding them to your composter. And if the dandelions eventually win the war on your lawn, youcan at least make use of them. The plants have high vitamin andmineral content, the roots and leaves can be used to make tea,the leaves and flowers can also be used in salad, or to makebeer and wine. About the author:This article provided courtesy of http://www.flowerrs-usa.com
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