Hmmm… We live in the mountains and have never worried too much about dandelions. Hey, they grow and stabilize the dirt. We had two dogs until recently and never wanted to put down weed killer on our ‘yard’. So we got a BUNCH of dandelions now. Time to do something.
We started with a broadleaf spray killer, but it never knocked them all the way down. So now we are using Round Up Max Control 365 on them. Direct spray. Many have been sprayed multiple times. This is war.
And.
They.
Will.
Not.
Die.
Sprayed a crop of them (probably 50 or so) in our gravel driveway on Saturday. Today they are FLOWERING.
WTF? Have direct sprayed 3 gallons on them so far. It knocks them back for a day or two, and then they seem right as rain.
Heh. Yeah. Not sure if I’m just bitchin or looking for similar stories.
I think that if I can get a toe-hold on the battle, while I may not win the war, I might have a small island of grass for dogs.
I’m putting up a fence this year so that we can be sure to have a save place for dogs. If I can knock down the army, I may be able to keep them in check.
Dandelions are the Great Scourge of subdivision life. Those who can’t (or don’t) conquer these little beasts in their yards are looked down on with scorn and derision by the rest of us. Yard etiquette and one-up-mans ship is the driving life force in suburban subdivisions. Once you’ve removed yourself from the fast-paced (and ridiculously dangerous!) urban life, landscaping your yard is all you got. Whatever you do, don’t come here. It’s an absolute hell of tedium and small talk, it’s no place for a normal human being. We have priorities in our subdivisions, and having the most awesome fucking yard is all of them! I’m currently trapped until I can sell my house and gtfo. And I am a hated man here in The Villages. Oh yes. Because I let the dandelions win. If they could call the cops on me for having dandelions, my neighbors would have that shit on speed dial.
Think about how much you’re spending on RoundUp (round up is good, but you pay for it) and consider calling in the pros. When I moved into my house I had some Creeping Charlie. Within a few years (and I don’t even know how much I spent trying to get rid of it myself), it was covering probably 70% of my lawn. People would actually stop by my house to complement my yard and ask how I get my grass so green…then I’d point out that it wasn’t grass, it was mostly weeds.
Anyways, I finally called in the pros and for $180/yr, it, and every other weed, was totally gone within 2 years. The only reason I don’t still use them is because the grass was growing so well I got sick of paying $180/yr just to have to mow the lawn 3 times per week, all summer.
The Creeping Charlie is starting to come back and I could call them and have them just do the spring treatment. Just as in your case, you could call and have them do only a treatment for the dandelions. But you might find out that spending a few bucks and letting them do 5 treatments plus overseeding in spring for a year or two will keep the weeds at bay for a while. It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to do it every year, but it’ll knock them back.
Also, when I had a professional service, any time the weeds would pop back up, I’d call and they’d send someone out to do a spot treatment.
One of my dogs does that. I swear she waits until no one is looking and when I glance back over, the top of the dandelion is missing. She thinks she so sneaky.
If you were serious about getting rid of them you would dig up the taproot. Works every time. It’ll kill your back, wear out your knees and take forever. But it works.
If I poisoned the dandelions, I would have nothing to feed out uromastekes.
We’ll live with the vegetation and each uromastyx will grow fat on the produce.
I have my front yard treated, because my neighbors have beautiful front lawns and I don’t want to be responsible for causing them problems with my little weedies blowing into their lawn. If you’re really concerned about it, I agree with calling in the pros.
I let my backyard stay untreated because of the dogs, and for some reason this year the dandelions were sparse and only lasted like 3 weeks. I dunno if it’s a weather thing or if my lawn in the back is just getting healthier and taking over the dandelions more each year.
But three gallons of roundup? I think it’s time to say roundup isn’t working for you
As long as you get the ‘mother root’, they are easy to get rid of. The root location varies with geography, in your case I believe it is somewhere in Queens
If it helps, you can think about how dandelions are actually an army of sexless clones relentlessly spreading their way across the world, invasion after invasion.
(Okay, maybe that doesn’t help.)
Yes, morning glories are bad–honey suckle is possibly worse. (I hear that Kids These Days make drugs from morning glory seeds.)
and never wanted to put down weed killer on our ‘yard’. So we got a BUNCH of dandelions now. Time to do something.
