How to Destroy Dandelions

Yellow Fluffy Dandelions

Even the most uniform green lawn will be disrupted at least a few times a year by those fluffy yellow invaders known as dandelions. They float in on the breeze, catch on a passing strand of grass, and instantly your lawn has been contaminated—perhaps for years to come. If you are tired of pulling up dandelions and getting that pungent dandelion scent all over your fingers, you can start exterminating them now using the weed control tips below.

It’s Dandelion Season

• Watch for Yellow – Almost mockingly, dandelions will advertise themselves with bright yellow blooms, and before you know it they have turned into seed fluff that is scattering over the rest of your lawn and garden. The moment you notice a yellow dandelion bloom, target it before it can go to seed.
• Cover the Dandelion – Covering the dandelion with a rock or a tile will keep it from getting the sunlight it needs and eventually cause it to die. Be careful to only cover the dandelion, as you don’t want to kill off patches of your lawn along with them.
• Get a Dandelion Puller – There are special tools designed to take out dandelions, but a hand-rake can work just as well. The idea is to insert the tool just below the grouping of leaves at the base of the dandelion and pull out the plant’s entire root system, which can be even longer than the dandelion itself. Watering the spot beforehand will make the soil looser and allow the roots to come out more easily (they can hold on pretty tightly when they want to).
• Keep Dandelion-Munching Pets – Creatures who will happily munch your dandelions into oblivion include rabbits and chickens. Be sure to research chickens before using them as a lawn care solution, however, as they can be quite destructive to the nutrient balance of your lawn when not handled properly.
• Fertilize Your Lawn – Dandelions, like a variety of other weeds, grow best in unhealthy, overly acidic lawns. To rebalance the nutrients in your soil, you can add alkaline fertilizers and leaf mulch to the soil on your lawn. This will improve the quality of your grass at the same time as it diminishes the number of weeds that will try to grow in it.

If you are looking for weed control services and lawn fertilization services to help keep your lawn pristine and weed-free, call Green Lawn today, your local Pennsylvanian source for professional and affordable lawn care.