The dandelion, taraxacum officinale, by any other name is still readily recognized by children and adult alike. Their yellow heads have been popping up in lawns in the area over the last week. If you’re taking an all natural organic approach to your lawn it is important to look at weeds for what they are telling you about the soil conditions rather than the more common approach as something that needs to be nuked.
Dandelions are generally an indicator of low calcium availability in the soil. Through my efforts to correct the calcium imbalance in my own lawn over the last six years I have seen number and health of my dandelions go down significantly. No longer am I able to grow those truly honker specimens. You know the ones I mean with their strong broad rosettes and multiple flowers. Now I get small weak rosettes with a single spindly flower.
But please keep in mind that this is after several years of treating my lawn with high calcium lime as indicated by soil tests. Unless you are willing to rototil your lawn it is going to take several years for the calcium levels to increase at levels 6 – 7 inches deep. We have also employed a low/no phosphorous approach to fertilization, thus discouraging dandelions from germinating from seed.
Pulling dandelions with one of the myriad of tools that are available in the marketplace that get the tap root is an effective way to remove the flowering plant from the lawn. Just pulling off the top will allow it to come back within the season.
While you are working to eliminate dandelions from your lawn by changing the underlying soil conditions it may be helpful to realize that dandelions do provide a number of benefits. The dandelion will transport calcium and other minerals to the surface through its deep tap root, which can reach depths of several feet, though six to eighteen inches is more common. Dandelions also provide early season pollen for bees and other beneficial insects.