Question

It's our first Spring in our home and dandelions are sprouting everywhere. How do people usually handle this? Do people manually dig them out one by one? Or is there a tried and tested and safe weed killer people are using?  

Answer 1

I let them be, they’re good for the bees

Answer 2

Emerald lawn care will fertilize and add weed control

Answer 3

Pull or leave them bee!  

Answer 4

Dont use pesticides especially if you have dogs or cats that spend time in your yard.  

Answer 5

I use a tool that I bought at Home Depot it digs the right out. ill send you a pic when I get home.  

Answer 6

Dandelions are bees first food resource until flowers bloom.  

Answer 7

Actually they are a food sources for butterflies and bees until the rest of the spring blooms come about. ☺️If you need to get rid of them I would probable suggest just pulling them instead of using pesticides.  

Answer 8

It's probably a tad too late now but I put down pre emergent to keep them from popping up in the spring. In the fall, I over seed grass in bare patches. In general, I use a two prong hand weed tool to get the root of any that get missed. I have plenty of pollinator friendly areas in my yard to make up for the lack of diversity in the lawn

Answer 9

Make a salad and wine

Answer 10

Thanks for the replies. I'll probably not worry too much about them for now and try to dig them out little by little over time.  

Comments

As weird as this sounds, a tire iron works best. It doesn't damage grass and is similar to aerator. It good because it goes deep enough to get root. Just place next to center and go down about 3" with iron and should pull right out. Easiest to do after rain, but my parents used this method to clear their yard in one go, with only a few stragglers the next year.  

Answer 11

Adore them for the beautiful flowers they are. They will be gone in the summer.  

Answer 12

I let them be. They are only weeds if you define them that way.  

Comments

@yowl344 we love our dandies and so do the bees! A weed is just a flower that is the victim of prejudice.  

Answer 13

I bought one of these dandelion removers last year. It works, but is fairly exhausting if you have more than about 100 dandelions or so. I’m 34 and in decent shape and this thing took a lot out of me, which I did not expect. It works muscles which you don’t usually use. The first 50 or so are easy, but eventually it wears you down. I was looking at like 1000 or more dandelions, and it’s just not worth the time and energy. This year I’m not going to worry about them. I just wanted to say that if you have less than 100 or so, then get one of these tools. Any more than that and it’s not worth the $33. You need to go with some sort of weed killer chemical but those obviously have their disadvantages too. I’ve accepted that I can’t stop the spread easily and it’s a lost cause to fight the battle. No one in Des Plaines really cares if your yard is totally green or has dandelions anyway. If you want to worry about that kind of stuff, move northeast about 10 miles.  

Comments

Good to know. I was worried that some neighbors would not want my yard to "infect" theirs with weeds

Answer 14

Just spray with dandelion killer they are annoying and spread everywhere I think vinegar and water helps to look on YouTube

Answer 15

Vinegar works