It’s that time of year again for weed growth in your yard, and it’s time for us to try to find natural resources to kill the unwanted weed. One perennial weed that comes back year after year, is the dandelion.
As a child, we lived across the street from a field covered with what I considered, precious dandelion yellow flowers that would bloom every Spring. Seeing them meant it was time to go outside and play-no more snow. My siblings and I used to go out and pick the stemmed flowers to make Mom a huge bouquet, and she was always so thankful for such a gesture. Today, because having my own yard, I see dandelions in a different way: As noxious weeds!
Although some folks desire this plant’s leaves for making a great nutritional salad, not to mention the flower can be used to make wine and tea. (Yes, I said wine!)
Conversely, these deep taproot plants can become a nuisance and take control of your lawn.
Dandelions are perennial weeds, meaning they come back every year via seeds. This means one plant can exist for many years. The new seedlings germinate in the fall and turn into full flowering plants around April and May.
A sharp knife might work well to put the entire plant out of the ground, but that can be hard on your back with lots of bending and stooping down.
Here are a couple of easier, all-nature, tried and true methods to get rid of dandelions.
Boiling Water
If you boil water, you can kill a dandelion plant. All you need is a stove-top tea kettle and water.
After bringing the water to a boil, immediately pour it directly onto the leaves of the dandelions, making sure you have covered the entire plant-leaves and the root. Within two or four hours, you’ll notice the leaves have turned brown. You can then pull out the dandelion, root and all with less effort.
Rubbing Alcohol
Isopropyl alcohol, alias rubbing alcohol, is readily available in any pharmacy or Walmart. Mix two tablespoons of the alcohol with one-quart of water. Pour the mixtures into a spray bottle and spritz your dandelions being certain to wet all the leaves once again. The alcohol sucks the moisture from the leaves and kills the plant. This mixture is east applied on a sunny day when there is little or no wind. If the leaves haven’t withered after a couple of hours, spray the plant again.
Pure Vinegar
You can use the natural acidity of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar to destroy your dandelions also. Simply pour pure vinegar into a spray bottle and spray the unwanted plant until it is covered with their liquid. Within a few hours, the leaves will wither and turn brown. Apply the vinegar on a hot, sunny day as this will promise speedy results. After the plant dies back, pull it out and rinse the area with some water.
Vinegar Mixture
If you only have enough time to attack your dandelions on a cool or cloudy day; adding some lemon juice to the vinegar will bring great results. Adding some dish soap will help the mixture to stick to the leaves better, giving the vinegar and lemon juice more time to work against the weed. When using this recipe, try to find some all-natural dish biodegradable dish soap. Mix one tablespoon of liquid dish soap, 1/4-cup of lemon juice and 1-quart of vinegar. Pour this into a spray bottle and spray enough to thoroughly coat all parts of the dandelion. If the dandelion hasn’t completely withered within three hours, spray the plant again.
Isn’t it worth the effort to help keep Mother Nature away from harmful pesticides that can harm our waterways, people, pets, and wildlife?
Quote for the day-
Leave a Reply