I'm declaring jihad...

[Balog]

On the infidel dandelions in my yard.

My wife and I just bought a house, and the yard is a good %95 dandelion, with %3 bare spots and %2 actual grass. I just want to dust off and nuke it from orbit the start over. I considered just tilling it all then reseeding, but the dirty infidel weeds would just come back right? I assume the tilling would preserve their seed. My current plan involves a botanical Armageddon courtesy of a roofing tar torch, then till in the cinders and reseed.

Any thoughts, advice, words of warning?

[Declaration Day]

It all depends on how quickly you want to accomplish your goal and how much you want to spend.  My advice?  get a cheap pressurized sprayer from Home Depot and spray the entire lawn with undiluted chlorine bleach.  Everything should be dead within two days.  Till it up.  Let a good rainstorm pass through then seed it.

[PTK]

Yup. That's SOP for new homes with bad lawns, in my book. :)

[lee n. field]

Any thoughts, advice, words of warning?

You're declaring war against the pretty little yellow flowers God has given us in such great abundance?

[Hawkmoon]

Any thoughts, advice, words of warning?

Yep ... come up with Plan B.

The weeds and such recover much faster after a fire than the good stuff. Burning will NOT destroy the dandelions.

[Jim147]

Don't get rid of all of them. Them's survival rations.

jim

[Mabs2]

Burning will NOT destroy the dandelions.

What about radiation?

Wait wait, I know!
Detcord.

[vaskidmark]

Salt.  Fine-grained table salt.  Applied about 1/4 inch deep.  Allow to sit on the top until you can no longer see any traces.

Then get concrete forms and pave over the area.  The additional charge to color your new patio should not be that much more than base concrete.

In 2 years you will need to start alll over due to the dandilions and crabgrass that has broken through the surface.

Using macadam is less expensive than concrete, and you can use the torch to fix cracks as they appear.

If you really want to destroy the dandilions you will probably need deep-penetrating ionization.  Your neighbors will probably object to the constant glow and insidious allegations of genetic damage to their children, but you can ignore that stuff.  Do keep the pets off the area for the first 100,000 years or so.

Or you could get a few recipies for dandilion wine and enjoy the yard's bumper crop.

stay safe.

[RoadKingLarry]

Take off and nuke the site from high orbit. It's the only way to be sure.


Otherwise, 2-4-D or other broadleaf weed killer. Or, if you want to just kill it all and start over 41% Glyphosate concentrate will kill everything and you can replant/reseed in a week.

[taurusowner]

vaskidmark, hittin the pipe a bit much today?

[sanman]

Hit it all with roundup. Once dead, till, rake out and seed. You'll still need to use certain products to keep dandelions away, but that's normal. If you burn it, the weeds will come back with a vengeance. That's nature's way of starting over every once in a while.

[Brad Johnson]

Cut them, bundle them, and sell them to the French.

Brad

[Declaration Day]

Hit it all with roundup. Once dead, till, rake out and seed. You'll still need to use certain products to keep dandelions away, but that's normal. If you burn it, the weeds will come back with a vengeance. That's nature's way of starting over every once in a while.

Pretty much what I said, but bleach does the same job at much lower cost.

[Tuco]

I'll take it one further, since it's not my yard or in my neighborhood -

Spray it and kill it good.
Let it regenerate and grow for a couple of weeks heck, even throw down some 12-12-12 and water it.
Watch them buggers grow back - Don't let them go to seed.

Spray it and kill it good again.

Repeat througout growing season.

About 2 months before your first frost (or a month before the fall rains are scheduled)  get the best seed you can buy and apply at the recommended rate.

Enjoy your efforts in 21-28 days (for Poa trivalis ie Bluegrass)

[Tallpine]

Get a pony!

Equine critters love dandylions 

[Harold Tuttle]

2-4-D has made my lawn much more under my dominion than earlier this year

it takes a couple of weeks but the grasses keep on growing
while the broadleaved weeds wither

[RevDisk]

If you really want to destroy the dandilions you will probably need deep-penetrating ionization.  Your neighbors will probably object to the constant glow and insidious allegations of genetic damage to their children, but you can ignore that stuff.  Do keep the pets off the area for the first 100,000 years or so.

(taking notes)

Any particular ionizing radiation or does it have to be a specific kind? 

[AJ Dual]

Bare spots might be fungus or grubs. So a fungicide and Diazinon product there might not hurt.

IMO, spread with 2-4-D/fertilizer mixture. For even application, set the spreader to 1/2 the recommended setting, then roll the lawn twice in two different directions.

Then I'd go on walkabout every few days with 2-4-D spray spot treating. 2-4-D would work well with fertilizer, as it's a synthetic plant growth hormone analogue which makes them out-pace themselves. The fertilizer only makes it worse.

I'm lazy, and unless the lawn patch is the size of a postage stamp, I'd just keep seeding, 2-4-D'ing and watering, maybe thatching a bit. Get a guy out to roll plug/aerate the turf. The whole kill-em-all. Till. Reseed, cover with hay etc. is just too much work. Can't walk on it. All soft and muddy, big rainstorms washing away the grade.

There's probably more grass there than you could grow to your satisfaction even when you remove all the weeds.

[Jimmy Dean]

dead spots could also be from what I did to my parent's yard.

My mom asked me to come over and spread weed and feed.  I did as directed.   A week later, she said that one of her contractors (a carpenter..not a yard guy) told her that the yard needed wee dand feed, and obviously, I did not put enough down.   (I did the recommended amount the first time)  So, I did it again, and doubled the dose.  two weeks later...same thing....

Go back and weed and feed it with doubling the dose AGAIN.  (4 times the original dose this time)   There are now about a dozen bare spots from fertilizer burn.....my dad was none to happy, I told him to talk to his wife who wouldn't listen to me about giving it more than a week.

[sanglant]

option 2, why fight nature?

[230RN]

Astroturf.  (I was going to say "Detcord, then Astroturf," but Mabs beat me on the Detcord.) :raspberry:

I went to "natural prairie" once.  Saved a lot on mower gas and water.  I was tired of the "water it so it grows, then mow it because it grew" cycle.

Nowadays they call it "Xeriscaping."  Or something like that.

I called it "Natural Prairie."  They hadn't "invented" the word "sustainable" yet, or I would have used it.

But, then again, I once spray-painted a dead ornamental bush green with Krylon so I wouldn't have to dig it up and replace it.

A man's gotta be practical.

All true.

Terry, 230RN

[Iain]

Get a pony!

Equine critters love dandylions 

Slightly more urban friendly possibility - tortoises. No-one will notice the dandelions they don't devour because they'll be too busy admiring your tortoises.

[Scout26]

Concrete trucks and green paint.  Make it a tennis court.

[sanglant]

Make it a tennis court? it already is.

[Bigjake]

Selective herbicide.   

I recommend this stuff called Triplet.  If you want, I can get you the exact name and manufacture.   It kills anything not grass in the yard, and it's victims STAY DEAD until next year.

Then just seed it with contractor's mix, and in a few weeks you'll have a nice yard full of grass, not weeds.


*  Have a dog?  Triplet and dog urine don't mix,  our front yard his little 12" diameter dead spots all over the place from the dog.  I think we may have gotten the mix wrong, as it's never done that before.