The dandelion is seemingly the World's fastest growing, most widespread and, to many lawn aficionados, the biggest pain in the aesthetic ever unleashed upon turf. It's a plant that causes much fear and loathing amongst denizens of neighborhoods almost everywhere. Friends of mine have even received letters of concern or heard sidewalk comments about their "problem."
This adaptable and harmless harbinger of spring, demonized since the commercialization of herbicides after WWII, is arguably one of the top three revenue producing weeds for the pesticide industry. In some well coiffed neighborhoods, the dandelion has literally become a symbol of lackadaisical lawn care. Chemical products with benign sounding names like "Weed n' Feed" take care of the little yellow rascals quickly and effectively.
I believe there's a public perception that weeds are aliens to this planet and they have nothing in common with us. Therefore, it's OK to dump chemicals on them and the chemicals must be safe...... Well, here's the skinny on the weed killers (herbicides) we use today. One of the most commonly applied is 2, 4 -D. The "D" stands for "Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid," just in case you were wondering. It's found in many retail lawn products merchandised in large stacks at box stores, hardware stores and garden centers. Rachel Carson wrote extensively about 2, 4 - D in Silent Spring (1962) - "(2, 4 -D) has been shown experimentally to disturb the basic physiological process of respiration in the cell, and to imitate X-rays in damaging the chromosomes." Page 76 First Sentry Editon. Dicamba and Mecoprop are two other herbicides you may find in "Weed 'n Feed" formulations, which were not known to Carson, but have both been linked to Non -Hodgkin's lymphoma.
2,4 - D was one of the ingredients in the "Agent Orange" defoliant, which was sprayed extensively during the Viet Nam war. As we know, the hapless soldiers exposed to the spraying are still getting sick from dioxin poisoning. 2,4 - D is touted to be realtively safe because it degrades rapidly in the environment (just don't track it into your house where it will not break down), but it's the degradation compounds, including dioxin, that continue to threaten us after the 2, 4 - D is "gone." They are stable in the environment and can contaminate ground water, move around and cause physiological havoc now or much later. Children and pets are most susceptible to the endocrine disruptors in 2, 4 -D and the transformational dioxins.
What can we do without using chemicals? Once we understand the dandelion, it becomes much less of a threat to our landscape. Dandelions are often prevalent in soil where calcium is unavailable. This unbalance can be fixed with an all-natural approach and a little bit of patience. Here are the top two ways to make your lawn less susceptible to dandelions:
1) Obtain a soil test to determine if the pH (acidity) is low. Sweetening the soil can release existing calcium and deter new dandelions from moving in.
2) Maintain your lawn as high as you can stand it, which is at least three inches. A tall and full turf stand can outcompete most other plants.
Dandelions are highly nutritious and offer more vitamins and minerals than any leafy green you can buy at the grocery store. So, spread the story about dandelions. Tell your neighbors to embrace the yellow for all of our sakes. Tell them Rachel Carson warned us in 1962 and we should have listened.
