HELP!! I need to know what 'natural, acceptable' products to use in order to get rid of dandelions (they are beautiful flowers ~ however . . . ) and the thistles. I have heard of vinegar and boiling water, but on an acre or more, I can't see the boiling water being practical or safe. See Deb run!! Need help immediately as the dandelions have profusely appeared in the last 48 hours!!

Thanks

-- Deborah (djdangel@mb.sympatico.ca), May 12, 2001

Answers

I would consider harvesting the dandelions for salads and wine and turn some goats loose on the rest if possible. Also roasted dandelion root makes a tasty substitute coffee type beverage.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL. (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 12, 2001.

Use a hoe on them. Walk a straight line hoeing everything within reach, then move over two yards and hoe your way back, then repeat. Pretty soon you've covered the acre, and if you have to take a break you can come back to it and know where you were. An acre or so is a good size for this - much more and it gets pretty darned tedious.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 12, 2001.

If you just let'em be they'll leave on their own :)

cheers,

-- Max (Maxel@inwindsor.com), May 12, 2001.

You can make wine,drink it and you wouldn't care about your lawn daisies anymore!!!!They make a good salve and wil remove warts.

-- teri (mrs_smurf2000@yahoo.ca), May 13, 2001.

Thanks to everyone for the creative responses! However, as I am not a wine drinker . . . still hopeful someone out there has the same solution as I do - get rid of them in an envirofriendly manner.

-- Deborah (djdangel@mb.sympatico.ca), May 13, 2001.

Deborah,

I was thinking on this more and recalled being told once that there was a type of grass or plant that acted as a natural herbacide against them. Maybe ATTRA or some of the other organic ag sites have something on it.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL. (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 13, 2001.

Goats will get rid of thistles very effectively, and they don't take long to do it, either. I've yet to figure out why, but they seem to find them tasty. They don't seem to do anything for the dandelions, though.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), May 14, 2001.

If you have grazing animals, this is some of their favorite food.

If you are trying to have over an acre of lawn, read www.richsoil.com/lawn

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), May 14, 2001.

My wife just recieved a garden secrets book by Jerry Baker, master gardener. A couple things from his book are peanut shells , crushed and scattered in the lawn as weed control and 1 ounce vinegar, 1 ounce gin and 8 ounces of water mixed together for an "on the spot" weed killer.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL. (jayblair678@yahoo.com), May 14, 2001.

I'm not sure how many you have but I've been inundated in the past and over the course of several days, I went through with a dandelion trowel and dug them up by the roots. You have to remove the long tap root to rid of them. I then dry the roots and use them for medicine. You have to get them before they go to seed, too. Once they seed they will be around forever. If you can find a market for the roots you may even be able to sell them. You can also use the leaves in salad as a bitter. They taste better in the spring. But, once can only eat so many dandelion leaves--again maybe you can sell them?

What kind of thistles do you have?

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), May 14, 2001.

I don't know what to do for a whole ACRE of the blasted little things, but make sure before they go to seed to cut them down! Then at least you will have a day or so to figure it out. Don't have them grazed out, though - the seeds will survive and spread even worse.

Got kids??? I don't mean to make light of the problem, but dandelions make some excellent food products (salad greens, teas, muffins), and are good for cleansing the blood and urinary tracts. Just not so many perhaps.... Also - MEN had a great wine recipe.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), May 14, 2001.

Deborah, We eat out dandilion leaves in salads. The yellow flowers can be breaded and served fried for breakfast. I say breakfast because the flowers will close up in the evening making it impossible to bread them for dinner. You have to extract the whole plant root and all if you want to get rid of them without chemicals. There is a tool in some of the online garden catalogs for extracting the whole plant without damage to your lawn. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), May 14, 2001.

I would never do about 90% of the stuff Jerry Baker advocates. Sure, he uses household stuff, but it is typically more expensive than organic solutions and it isn't organic!

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), May 15, 2001.

Interesting question. We have sheep, goats, horses and thistles and dandelions and rag weed. We have several types of thistles. We hesitate using poison but wow we've tried cutting them several times a season(thistles). But the ground must be loaded with viable seed!!!!!!! I tried smothering them with saw dust-a thick layer over a thick layer of newsprint......didn't even slow them down. Now I'm trying to fertilze them to death. I'm going to build a compost pile over the worst section and see if I can give them a huge burst that will give them rampent growth and no seed heads. I am probably way off base. Just in case though-we bought a Johnsered weed machine with an extra head that we can cut brushy plants. We'll use that incase the burst of manure doesn't do the trick. Our acerage is a former corn/bean rotation field. We've worked 8 years building fertility-we have a great crop of night crawlers....but hordes of weeds. (Did you know that the best place to find night crawlers is in the thick of the thistle patch? Never fails. Kathy G.

-- Kathy Giddings (ckgidd@netins.net), May 15, 2001.

We eliminated thistles from our yard. Lots of pulling. Whenever the kids got in trouble, they needed to go out and fill a bucket with thistles and throw the bucket into the compost pile.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), May 16, 2001.

Mornin' everyone! Thanks for the overwhelming response to my original question. I have tried spraying with vinegar with initial signs of success!!!!! Yes folks the leaves had turned brown and shrivelled within 8 hours. I tried two methods. 1) spraying over the surface of the leaves and flowers - result: brown shrivelled leaves. 2) squirting vinegar at the base of the stems right on top of the root - result: haven't checked yet this morning. No visible signs when I noticed that leaves on other plants were dying.

I will keep this site posted. Incidentally, I found the thread in here where someone else had used vinegar on thistles. Can't find it since I first saw it. Gotta use those bookmarks I guess.

Have a great day!

-- Deborah (djdangel@mb.sympatico.ca), May 17, 2001.

Perserverance!! I found the thread I was referring to earlier ~ go to "Pasture" then click on "vinegar kills thistles". Gotta go spray!

-- Deborah (djdangel@mb.sympatico.ca), May 17, 2001.