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🛑 The Roundup Debate vs. Boiling Water
Nata N. said on Jan 30, 2021:
Tanyusha, I want to compare different tools this spring… The thin dandelion knives slip past the thick roots between the pavers. I’m really hoping the forged DeWit tool works better.
Why not just spray that dandelion with Roundup and forget about it forever? You seem to have an addiction to buying gardening tools.
Lyubash@ said on Feb 2, 2021:
Why not just spray that dandelion with Roundup and forget about it forever?
We are all different. I will never spray Roundup under any circumstances. There have been successful lawsuits against the manufacturer in the US because it was proven in court to cause cancer. But folks here don’t seem to fear anything. I mean, I understand not fearing for yourself, but people rarely live entirely alone. And then they feed these homegrown veggies and berries to their loved ones. I’d rather dig the dandelions out by hand, I have little grandkids running around.
You can pour boiling water or salt water on the ones growing between the pavers.
Lana_s_Kavkaza said on Feb 2, 2021:
You can pour boiling water between the pavers.
I pour boiling water on the most arrogant, thickest dandelions. But only as a spot treatment. Where am I supposed to get enough boiling water to cover an entire pathway? It takes way too much.
SvetaR said on Feb 2, 2021:
I pour boiling water on the most arrogant, thickest dandelions. But only as a spot treatment.
Sveta, do they die forever, or do they eventually grow back from the root?
Also, regarding salt water—I highly doubt that’s a good idea to pour on your soil. When I was a kid, they taught us in school about the dangers of soil salinization. Maybe opinions on that have changed, but I don’t want to test it out on my land, just like with Roundup.
🐉 The Dandelion “Hydra” Root
Nata N. said on Feb 2, 2021:
Sveta, do they die forever, or do they eventually grow back from the root?
Natasha, they grow back, of course. But not as fast as they do when you just rip them off at the surface. And if you happen to chop the root up and leave the pieces under the paver, an entire colony will grow.
I’ve shown this photo before. I purposely tried to dig this one out as deep as possible.
Eight new heads grew from a piece of root left deep in the soil! If I were to just rip those heads off now, I can’t even imagine what kind of monster would grow back next.
Holy cow! For some reason, I’ve never actually seen one look like that. I’ve seen them grow back in a zig-zag shape when they have to push up from deep underground, but this literally looks like a multi-headed Hydra! I used to dig up dandelion taproots in the fall, store them vertically in a box, and feed the fresh winter leaves to my mom’s parrots. None of them ever grew back this aggressively. It looks like you spilled fertilizer on it and it happily exploded!
My neighbor tried spot-treating these giant “burdocks” (not just dandelions) with a diluted vinegar spray. The leaves died temporarily. But they grew right back from the taproot almost instantly.
And looking at that root photo – -what a nightmare!
Today I was trying to dig up some horseradish, and it turned out to have the exact same massive taproot with several heads on top. A true dragon! I snapped the heads off, but couldn’t get the main root out. At least horseradish is useful, but this dandelion… 😁
olyamit said on Feb 2, 2021:
Today I was trying to dig up some horseradish…
Wait, are you living in the South? *Cries* I am so openly jealous of you right now! We are buried in snow, the ground is frozen solid, you couldn’t dig up anything here if you tried! Horseradish is absolutely necessary in the garden though—you can’t pickle cucumbers without it! 👍
I’m jealous of myself! )) Everything would be great, except we are getting flooded right now. I’m so tired of having gloomy, rainy autumn weather in the middle of winter. They are forecasting another 2 weeks of rain. And then spring will just hit in a single day. We’ll be running around the garden in a panic, trying to figure out whether to prune the fruit trees and roses, weed, or start sowing seeds. That’s why, when it’s not pouring, I try to get at least something done outside.
By the way, that horseradish grew all on its own in the exact spot where I tried to plant a cranberry bush. The horseradish won.
SvetaR said on Feb 2, 2021:
I’ve shown this photo before. I purposely tried to dig this one out as deep as possible.
Sveta, that root means your soil is 100% neutral and likely very fertile. Out here in the steppe (Kazakhstan), dandelions practically don’t grow anymore; it’s too dry for them and the soil is too sandy. So they only survive out at the dachas as “cultivated” weeds… 😁
*(To Nata about seed starting):* Mine sprout perfectly fine when sown one per cup!
It varies from year to year for me. But I’ve tested it, and seeds definitely sprout more actively when sown together in a communal container rather than individually.
☠️ The Danger of Herbicide Carryover in Mulch
Nata N. said on Feb 2, 2021:
I will never spray Roundup under any circumstances… I’d rather dig the dandelions out by hand; I have little grandkids running around.
When we first started gardening at our dacha, my husband tried using herbicides to kill the dandelions on the lawn. Later, I mowed that lawn and used the grass clippings as mulch in the garden. And that was it… The tomatoes got incredibly sick. Since that day, herbicides have been strictly banned on our property.
Katrinka said on Feb 3, 2021:
Later, I mowed that lawn and used the grass clippings as mulch in the garden. And that was it… The tomatoes got incredibly sick.
Last year, a forum member showed photos of his greenhouse tomatoes, and they were clearly damaged by herbicide. He insisted he had only used the weed killer outside in the open garden and had never sprayed it inside the greenhouse. He couldn’t figure out how it got in there.
But there are so many ways; he could have used the same bucket to mix fertilizers, or tracked it in on his shoes… Or maybe a family member “helped” without him knowing. In my opinion, it’s better not to tempt fate.
