Wars We Will Not Win
Since World War II, we have gotten our asses handed to us every time we have decided to declare war on something. Vietnam, Drugs, Terror, etc. The War on Dandelions is no different. For as long as I have been alive, and granted that’s only three decades, I have grown up in the Great Dandelion Offensive. Every spring, we rally the troops, fill the spray tanks, and absolutely bombard the HECK out of those sunshine thugs with a cocktail of toxins. We mow short to knock their heads off, trying to stop them from going to seed, sometimes even resorting to hand-to-hand combat via plucking individual flowers.
This War on Dandelions is not going well for the aggressors. In decades of an all-out Dandelion killing rampage that costs the US tens of billions of dollars annually, it would seem that the Dandelions are doing just fine, and all the casualties are on our side. Child and pet cancers traced back to dandelion-killing poisons are a new and rising phenomenon. These innocent bystanders are casualties of a war we can’t possibly win.
So what can we do?
It would seem changing the hearts and minds of our people would be a logical first step. There are a whole host of reasons Dandelions might not be as evil as the barrage of misinformed propaganda might suggest: they are a highly nutritious food source, they break up hardpan, relieve compaction, increase water infiltration, improve water holding capacity, and bring nutrients to the surface, increasing soil health. They are a great early food source for pollinators, and kids - at least those who haven’t been brainwashed yet -- love to play with them.
If you can’t change your mind - or your HOA’s mind -- and learn to love them, that is okay. I hold no judgment for people having the aesthetics preferences they have. If you’re fixated on eradicating them, I would suggest this: don’t make it easy for the Dandelions to take over in the first place. You can easily do this by being a better land steward.
The bottom line is to manage for what you want, and what you want is a healthy, robust turf system. Forget about the Dandelions. Here are the major dos and don'ts for managing a healthy system:
DON’T:
Mow short. This is a prime example of misguided advice that far too many people in Bozeman fall victim to; they mow shorter and shorter in an effort to kill the dandelions and stop them from going to seed. Dandelions have deep taproots and are incredibly adaptable. They will eventually flower and go to seed directly on the ground and spread their leaves flat to avoid your mower’s blades. Your turf is not that tough or adaptive. All that short mowing is going to kill off your grass by weakening its root system and using up all its energy. The result? You guessed it: a LOT more Dandelions. The better approach is to mow tall - allow your grass to grow to 5” and cut it no shorter than 3”. If you’re on a regular mowing schedule, you will still chop off the fast-growing dandelion heads without stressing your grass roots.
Pick without a plan. Hand-picking Dandelions can be effective if you only have a few and are very careful about taking out most of the root without disturbing your turf. Too often, we see folks dig up patches of Dandelions, leaving bare and disturbed dirt in their wake. Those disturbed patches immediately get reinhabited with new Dandelion seeds. It’s a vicious cycle. If you’re going to hand-pick, make sure you have new grass seed on hand to plant its place and are diligent about watering it properly to ensure it germinates.
DO:
Water deeply and infrequently. An often-watered lawn is a weak lawn. When your grass roots don’t need to grow deep to find moisture, they stay short and vulnerable - and highly susceptible to being overtaken by Dandelions. Get on a deep and infrequent watering schedule (guidance here!) for tougher turf and deeper roots.
Use soil food web-based fertility products to help strengthen your turf. The sensitive fungal life in your soil is key to a whole host of ecosystem processes: they break down nutrients, make them available to your grass, improve water-holding capacity, and aggregate soil organic matter. High traffic, chemical applications, and synthetic fertilizers destroy the fungal life in your soil. Opt instead for fertility products that inoculate and feed your soil’s fungi. You can also fertilize in a way to discourage broadleaf plants while not hurting well managed turf grasses. Our full-season program is all about creating healthy soil ecosystems for perennial grasses.
Plan for annual aerations. Dandelions’ deep tap roots love compacted soils where your grass can’t survive. Annual aerations are key for alleviating soil compaction and allowing water, nutrients, and air to flow more freely through your soil.
Consider planting hardier species. Lawns are unnatural monocultures that, frankly, make no sense. Nature is all about diversity, so you might as well stop fighting it. Instead, introduce the kind of diversity you’d like to see in your yard. Micro clover can be a great option as it’s soft (hello bare feet!) and pretty. Plus it grows thick and dense, pushing out less desirable “weeds.”
Good land stewardship requires understanding the basics of soil health and turf health. It is not easy and will require some bandwidth. That said, it’s also not rocket science. If you don’t have the time or energy to properly take care of your land, aka your lawn, then don’t have one. You could sell your home and buy a condo downtown, re-landscape to something that doesn’t require so much maintenance, or, god forbid, tell your HOA to leave you alone and focus their efforts on all the numpties that are watering too lightly/frequently and mowing too short. Those are the real delinquents who are degrading our beautiful valley's soil and foolishly squandering our limited water resources.
The War on Dandelions will never be won with our knee-jerk, chemical-first, battle-ready mentality. Like all those other wars, there is a holistic, bigger picture approach that could actually make the world a better place. It’s time we brought our troops home, changed our perspectives, and got back to enjoying our short warm season rather than squandering it on a losing proposition of trying to maintain control of unnatural monocultures.