# Dandelions and lawnmowers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284 "2010-05-13T11:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/21 "2010-05-13T16:36:17Z")
> [@crazyjoe](#): > > While my neighbor’s lawn has a host of dandelions, I find I only get a few every year that need to be spot-treated, because I eliminate them. > > I have gone on a full-on assault of the stupid wild violet, though. I don’t even use that namby-pamby violet killer…it can’t kill the stuff. I just spray roundup on it and deal with a small bare patch of lawn for a month or so while it fills back in with grass. Roundup gets the job done. Jeez, if I had wild violets growing in my yard, I’d forget the grass and encourage the violets. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/22 "2010-05-13T16:56:36Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The flowers are quite nice if picked when wide open and fried in batter with salt and/or sugar. The same could be said of otters noses and rat poo. Anything is edible battered & fried. 🆒 I much prefer watching them shrivel and die under the influence of a massive chemical strike. I’m assuming the OP has been answered by now. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/23 "2010-05-13T17:10:02Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > The same could be said of otters noses and rat poo. Anything is edible battered & fried. 🆒 Note to self - gracefully decline all dinner invitations at the Montoya residence. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/24 "2010-05-13T17:25:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So what do you do if you want to _encourage_ dandelions? Going indoors for about, ooh, 15 minutes ought to do it. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/25 "2010-05-13T17:31:13Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > The same could be said of otters noses and rat poo. Anything is edible battered & fried. 🆒 Well, not entirely true. While tempurafying some dandelion and squash flowers, I got to wondering what else might be good. The squirrels and rabbits love sunflower buds, so I battered and deep fried a few thinking those tender young buds would have some interesting meat to them. Yuck. Taste like deep fried chunks of aspirin. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/26 "2010-05-13T17:41:55Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Jeez, if I had wild violets growing in my yard, I’d forget the grass and encourage the violets. You don’t need to encourage them, they are prolific enough all on their own. And, like the neighbor who feeds raccoons and squirrels, you too would become hated in your neighborhood. My mom thought the wild violets were pretty, too, and planted some in her garden. Her next question to me was "how do you keep that stuff in the garden? It has rhizones that are measured in meters. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/27 "2010-05-13T17:41:56Z")
When did you try deep frying aspirin? Perhaps if you had used a differet sauce on them while eating…? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/28 "2010-05-13T18:07:25Z")
Nuke them from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure. Well, _someone_ had to say it! ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/29 "2010-05-13T18:14:29Z")
I’ve never eaten the blossoms, but my mom always used to make us pick all the dandelion leaves we could find and she’d make a salad out of them. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/30 "2010-05-13T19:48:57Z")
A couple of years ago, I read somewhere you could kill dandelions by simply removing the yellow heads. Trick was, you had to keep doing it relentlessly, never letting it go to seed. It did say something about being prepared to continue it for a month or longer. I have a very small city front yard with not much lawn and decided to give it a try, last summer. It seemed pretty easy, initially, took a little persistence, but I’d just lost my job. It became part of my morning routine, dehead the front yard. But I swear, you cannot imagine how many heads a single dandelion plant can put out. Sometimes, I’d clear the yard in the early morning, spend a few hours working in the backyard, and come around the house to check the mail and there would be more yellow heads! I noticed over a week or ten days, the stalks got a lot shorter, until the flowers were right on the ground and right at the heart of the plant. And still, it continued. It did work - eventually. Does nothing to stop more from cropping up, the next season, however. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/31 "2010-05-14T00:03:29Z")
That’s part of our battleplan - removing all the blooms as soon as we see them in between mass campaigns of weeding. It seems to be working more or less; we’re not aiming for a golf green, just a yard that’s more grass than weeds. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/32 "2010-05-14T02:32:11Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Yes, it’s stopping them growing that’s the problem. As a side question, any estimates for how long it will be before the entire temperate landmass of the planet is covered in dandelions? They seem incredibly prolific - wildflower meadows around here are basically just a mass of dandelions nowadays, and roadside grass verges are mostly a sea of yellow. In places the air is thick with the seeds drifting around. Dandelions only thrive in places that have been disturbed or are in poor soil. The reason they’re so prolific in urban areas is that we insist on clearing land and putting in lawns of non-native species that couldn’t compete on their own. And they do very nicely in pastureland which is equally disturbed compared to wild areas. If you get a thriving lawn or an undisturbed natural environment, you’ll see few dandelions even if no one is actively trying to kill them. It’s sort of like how cockroaches only thrive because we provide warm and humid structures full of crawlspaces and food. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/33 "2010-05-14T03:24:37Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > In the wild, they proudly bear their flowers on long stalks that can be a foot or more tall, amid a lush thicket of leaves. In the lawn, they cunningly avoid the mower by growing as a totally flat rosette, and popping up flowers on almost non-existent stalks. Nitpick: dandelions’ leaves always grow in rosettes. The ones with the thick bundle of leaves on a stalk are wild lettuce, not dandelions. If you examine the underside of the leaf, you’ll notice that there are spikes or fuzz along the big vein down the middle of the leaf. Bingo, wild lettuce. Dandelion leaves are smooth on the back. (However, your basic question is still valid; dandelion flower stalks do grow longer if they’re not behedded. And no, I don’t know why.) > [@Lemur866](#): > > Make sure you pick true dandelions, false dandelions (the ones with hairy leaves) are nasty. Yep, that’d be the wild lettuce. Even more bitter than dandelion, and if you eat enough, they’re a mild psychedelic! (Note: you have to eat a LOT. 'Nother note: you’ll probably puke from the bitter taste before you can eat enough.) > [@crazyjoe](#): > > I have gone on a full-on assault of the stupid wild violet, though. EEEEK! _faints_ _whimper_ I love wild violets. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/34 "2010-05-14T03:40:15Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I’ve never eaten the blossoms, but my mom always used to make us pick all the dandelion leaves we could find and she’d make a salad out of them. My mom (and me,when I’m in traditional cooking mode) always picked them and cooked them down, much like you would turnip greens, seasoned with a bit of smoked pork and once on the table, a bit of pepper vinegar. You only want to do this if you’re sure that they’ve not been sprayed with pesticides, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/35 "2010-05-14T06:34:26Z")
Even better, harvest the greens early in the spring, before the blossoms appear, and serve them with bacon dressing. That’s my family’s most cherished Easter tradition. It’s a royal pain to clean them, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/36 "2010-05-14T11:18:08Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Nitpick: dandelions’ leaves always grow in rosettes. The ones with the thick bundle of leaves on a stalk are wild lettuce, not dandelions. If you examine the underside of the leaf, you’ll notice that there are spikes or fuzz along the big vein down the middle of the leaf. Bingo, wild lettuce. Dandelion leaves are smooth on the back. > > (However, your basic question is still valid; dandelion flower stalks do grow longer if they’re not behedded. And no, I don’t know why.) I think \*\*Colophon \*\*was just talking about rosettes of very prostrate leaves on plants in the lawn vs rosettes of vigorous, erect leaves on plants elsewhere. It’s more than a case of just seeing the surviving leaves after mowing - plants growing unmolested in the vegetable patch may produce no prostrate leaves at all, whereas plants that have been mown seem to produce new leaves that lie flat straight away ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/37 "2010-05-14T11:21:37Z")
(And I think the false dandelion **Colophon** described was probably Hawkweed (_Hieracium spp_), rather than wild lettuce, as the latter is not so common a weed of lawns) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/38 "2010-05-14T16:23:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I do this, only using a forked-head Dandelion Puller specifically made for the task (it’s longer than a screwdriver, too) Very satisfying. It gets the root, and so kills the weed (unlike your lawnmower), and it doesn’t blight your lawn (like weed killer can) I do the same thing. My back lawn has none, and my front lawn has no more than four or five each week. I get them out before I mow, and they are the most under control weed I have. I wish Bermuda Grass was so easy. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/39 "2010-05-14T16:25:49Z")
My lawn maintenance blues: Man with a bad lawn, I mow spring summer and fall, If it weren’t for crabgrass I wouldn’t have no grass at all. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284/40 "2010-05-14T17:27:26Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > EEEEK! _faints_ > > _whimper_ > > I love wild violets. Well, if you have 1, you probably have enough to cover your back lawn. They are incredibly prolific and difficult to keep out of areas where you are trying to grow grass. Or anything else, like vegetables. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandelions-and-lawnmowers/539284.md?page=3)