The Dandelion plant is a familiar ‘weed’ that most people recognize, but you may not know about it’s incredible features that make it an invaluable plant.
Like most children playing on grass in the spring and summer months, you may fondly remember pulling up Dandelion Plants, blowing on their spindly, cotton-like seeds away from the flower, watching them scatter in the wind, or making necklaces and bracelets from their stems.
Although most people consider it a nuisance, dandelions play an important role in the health of the planet.
The Dandelion Plant is a nutrient-rich and edible wild plant as well as a bioindicator plant that can help you to improve your soil quality, and an all-around soil improving plant. But, it’s also an excellent pollen and nectar source for bees and insects which help other plants in the area.
In this comprehensive guide on the Dandelion Plant, you will learn everything you need to know about it, how it can benefit you, and how it can benefit the environment.
You will even learn tested methods on how to permanently eradicate the Dandelion Plant from your life. However, just because you eradicate Dandelions from your garden will not prevent the neighbor’s kid down the block from blowing on those silvery tufts on the Dandelion head, which are seeds that blow everywhere and constantly propagate the Dandelion Plant’s existence.
When it comes to the Dandelion Plant, it may be easier to join them on your own explicit terms instead of trying to beat them.
But you may also find it to be a futile endeavor, so this guide also provides so many ways to benefit from the Dandelion Plant.
To fully understand why the Dandelion Plant is such a persistent weed, you need to learn some basic facts about it. But firstly, are Dandelions weeds?
Are Dandelions Weeds?
Yes, and no. A weed is a stigmatized term that can refer to any undesirable plant.1
A weed is any plant that stymies and frustrates the needs, goals, and preferred harvests of a gardener, farmer, or any homeowner who does not want to see weeds on their landscapes.
A weed is an invader plant species that is almost impossible to eradicate. But that term objectively refers to any unwanted and undesirable plant, not just one.
The problem when it comes to the Dandelion is that it has become a synonymous byword for a weed. If someone utters the word ‘weed’ most people automatically think of the word ‘Dandelion.’
The Dandelion Plant can be categorized as a weed because it is an invasive species of plant because of its unparalleled ability to propagate its existence via seed air dispersal and vegetative regeneration. When the wind blows the seed off of a Dandelion head, or when a person blows the seeds away with their mouth, those seeds fly in every direction and cause the new and random growth of Dandelions elsewhere.
Dandelions also have incredible vegetative regeneration abilities. The Dandelion Plant has deep roots, so if you pull up the plant but leave even a tiny portion of the root intact underground, it will grow again.
If you leave Dandelion leaves or plant organs that you just pulled up on the ground, it will grow again.
If you spill any seeds while pulling up the Dandelion Plant, then it will grow again. Multiple Dandelion Plants may grow back in the place of the one you pulled up due to uncontrollable seed dispersal.
Dandelion Plants can grow in heatwaves and winter storms. They are drought tolerant, almost impossible to overwater, and can thrive in crowded gardens.
Dandelions can grow out of the cracks in concrete sidewalks.
A weed is any plant, not just the Dandelion Plant, that persistently and aggressively propagates its own existence Weeds can disperse seeds or reproduce at will and grow rather quickly relative to other plants no matter what agricultural or or manual eradication technique is used against it.
But it is important to remember that this definition of a weed can be applied to any undesirable plant that aggressively grows alongside subjectively desirable vegetation.
As previously mentioned, the Dandelion Plant is 100% edible. The leaves, stalk, head, and even the spindly, cotton-tufty seed are edible.
You must take care not to eat Dandelions in areas where herbicides or pesticides have been dispersed.
Still, foodies all over the internet testify about how to cook and eat Dandelions, their nutritional value, and how to make them palatable.2
Sounds unappetizing? Humans have been eating Dandelions for centuries if not thousands of years.
Do you like rhubarbs and rhubarb pie? Did you know that rhubarb is considered to be an invasive and aggressive weed?3
It is a vegetable that is often mistakenly considered a fruit.
(Image: planet_fox30)
Rhubarb is an invasive weed with the scientific name Wild Burdock.4 You can find Rhubarb growing out of gardens, vacant lots, sidewalk cracks, and in the wild – Rhubarb, just like Dandelions, is an invasive plant species that strives to propagate itself at any cost.
The green leaves of the rhubarb stalk are toxic. The rhubarb stalk itself, which aesthetically resembles a pinkish-red colored celery stalk, is edible.
While pie is not a healthy food choice by any means, rhubarb pie was ranked sixth on a list by nutritional experts as a relatively better alternative to apple, cherry, blueberry, and even peach pie.5
When was the last time you recoiled in horror from a rhubarb pie because of the fact that it is a weed that can be found almost anywhere?
The point is that the Dandelion Plant should get the same benefit of the doubt as a food source even if it is a weed.
Consider viewing the Dandelion Plant as wild vegetation instead of as a weed and you may develop better methods to eradicate it or use it for your own benefit.
The Dandelion Plant is used as a component in some medicines and is used in many scientific research studies as a potential ingredient component for future treatments.6 In the 1800s, Dandelions were widely used in England as a substitute for lettuce and other green vegetables during shortages of the era.7
Dandelion Plants prepared as culinary vegetable greens actually have more nutritional value than broccoli and spinach. The Dandelion Plant is very nutrient-rich and contains vitamins A, B, C, and D as well as vital minerals like potassium, zinc, and iron.
Dandelion roots were once dried and used as coffee alternatives. Some people still use Dandelions to make wine and other Dandelion-derived artisanal products.
Dandelions are also used for making latex and rubber since the plant is full of a white, natural latex when mature.
If you can get past seeing the Dandelion Plant as a Terminator-like weed or worrying about what others think of your property values because they see Dandelions on your property, you may be able to reap vast and multi-faceted benefits from growing Dandelions.
Some people see Dandelion Plant growth in their gardens and on their residential or commercial property landscapes and automatically become angry. The Dandelion Plant is heavily stigmatized as a Terminator-like weed that is unstoppable and almost impossible to eradicate.
The Dandelion Plant also creates the stigma for the owner that they are neglectful of their gardening and landscaping duties. When one sees Dandelion growth on someone’s property, it is obvious that the property owner is slovenly and doesn’t care about their home or the health of their landscape.
Since the Dandelion Plant is so difficult to remove and fully eradicate from gardens and lots, people go to great lengths to remove them. It can cost you anywhere between $50 to $800 or more to eradicate Dandelions from your property.8
Still, you have no guarantee that Dandelion seeds from a neighbor’s yard won’t blow into your garden and start the problem anew.
Dandelion Plant Facts: Taraxacum officinale
Dandelion plant facts reveal that this flora is ubiquitously known for its leafless crown of yellow flowers that fall off and give way to growths of cotton-like tufts of seed fruit that precariously cling to the flower head.
The vibrantly yellow flower head opens at sunrise and closes at night.
Dandelion Plant
(Taraxacum officinale)
- Family: Asteraceae
- Genus: Taraxacum
- Leaf: Oblong shaped with toothy and serrated ridges and green-colored.
- Seed: Dandelion plant seeds are also a one-seeded fruit that develops a cotton-thread-like and tufty parachute mechanism that catches in the wind. The seeds randomly dispersing in the wind is how the dandelion reproduces.
- Blossoms: The dandelion plant usually blossoms between May and October but can aggressively grow at any time of the year depending on the region.
- Native Habitat: Asia and Europe
- Height: 2 inches to 28 inches
- Canopy: 1 to 2 inches
- Type: Perennial
- Native Growing Zone: The dandelion plant probably originated on the Eurasian continent 30 million years ago.
Image Credit: Andi (aranha)45
The Dandelion Plant does not have a stem or wood-like pulp, the green root it grows from is mistakenly referred to as a stem and grows from a deeper underground root. The green leaves grow at the base and up the sides of the plant, but not on a stem near the flowers.
The leaves are serrated alongside the edges, almost tooth-shaped, and the leaf is spatula-shaped overall. The green Dandelion stalk/root is filled with a natural white-colored latex which is bitter to the taste.
Dandelion Plant Symbolism and Origins
The Dandelion, which is also called the Common Dandelion, is listed under the scientific classification name Taraxacum officinale.9 This plant is also sometimes called the Wandering Dandelion.
It is also known as the ‘Lion Tooth’ because its signature tooth-like serrated leaf edges are similar in shape to a lion’s tooth. This nickname is derived from an old French term ‘Dent de Lion’ or Lion Tooth.
It is an ancient plant that has been used by human beings for tens of thousands of years. Dandelion remnants and fossil records suggest that the plant species existed as far back as 15,000 years ago.
However, since the Common Dandelion is a subspecies of the genus Taraxacum, it probably originated over 30 million years ago somewhere on the Eurasian continent of the era.10 The human race has probably been using the Dandelion Plant for food, folk medicine, and other uses since the dawn of humanity.
Ancient Chinese, Greek, Roman, Russian, and Egyptian people have used the Dandelion Plant for food and herbal medicines for thousands of years. The same can be said for Indigenous Americans – the Pilgrims might have even brought another species of Dandelion when they arrived in the Americas.
(Image: Nowaja31)
Ancient people ate the Dandelion and used it in medicines to treat digestive problems and serious medical ailments. Ancient people used the Dandelion Plant in medicines to treat boils, upset stomach, diarrhea, appendicitis, inflammation, diabetes, fever, heartburn, kidney disease, gallbladder, eyesight issues, skin irritation liver problems, and even as a lactation stimulant for new mothers struggling with breastfeeding.11
Even though the Dandelion is not considered a wonder medicine for multiple ailments today, it is being heavily studied in scientific research trials as a potential curative for many medical issues. Currently, Dandelion Plant roots are still used by scientists and doctors to treat gallbladder and liver-based medical problems and as an appetite stimulant.
Dandelion Plant leaves are currently used in diuretic medicines. The fact that the Dandelion Plant has been prized as a topic in scientific research for so long presupposes that the plant has also been cultivated and grown purposely, or at least opportunistically harvested when beneficial to do so for millennia.
It has only been in modern times that the Dandelion Plant has become synonymous with a useless, relentless, and invasive weed, and not much else.
Dandelion Plant Symbolism
When it comes to Dandelion Plant symbolism, this ancient plant may be older than the human race and is the source of many symbolic attachments.
For example, you are supposed to make a wish before you put a common white Dandelion head, ripe with seeds and pappus, the cotton-like thread offshoots, to your lips and then blow them away with a breath. Your wish, after blowing away in the wind, is supposed to come back to you one day.
Greek folklore and mythic storytelling recount King Theseus dining on Dandelions for a month before fighting the Minotaur because the Dandelion Plant was a universal symbol of power, strength, and the positive power of the mind.
Dandelions were once given as coveted gifts to betrothed or married couples. The vibrantly yellow floral head of the Dandelion was a symbol of growth, happiness, and positivity.
The white-colored and wispy seed fruit head that replaced the flowers was a symbol of hard times and adversity that could give way to rebirth and prosperity anew if one patiently perseveres through bad times.
(Image: KRiemer32)
Dandelions were also given to people as a greeting or to cheer up sick people in the same way ornamental flowers are given today.
After all, Dandelions always find a way to survive and never give up. But the symbolic connection of power that was formerly attached to the Dandelion Plant has been lost to the fog of history as it is now just a pesky and common weed to many.
How To Identify Dandelion Plant (Lion’s Tooth)
When exploring how to identify Dandelion Plant, note that it is a herbaceous perennial that lives for at least 24 months. It is also considered herbaceous because it is a plant that does not contain any woody or wood-pulp matter.
The ubiquitous Dandelion Plant is easily identifiable by its yellow flower petal crown. When in full bloom, the yellow flower petals on the head of the green Dandelion stalk will curl inwards aesthetically like a blooming onion dish.
Although the stalk is sometimes referred to as a stem, it is really a basal offshoot of the root. Rosettes of tooth-like serrated and spatula-shaped green leaves grow from the root base as the central green stalk grows up from it
As the yellow flower petals die off, the Dandelion flower is then populated with seed fruits that are connected to white, spindly, and fuzzy thread structures called pappus. If you have ever blown on a white Dandelion, then you blew the seed-connected pappus into the weed to land elsewhere and grow a new Dandelion.
You can identify a Dandelion by the lion tooth green leaves, green stalk, vibrantly yellow flower head, bare flower head bed, and the wispy, white thread-like pappus flying through the wind.
(Image: neelam27933)
Understanding how to identify the Dandelion Plant can help you eradicate it more effectively or learn how to optimize benefits from it.
Some species of Dandelion reproduce sexually through pollination like most plant life.12 However, almost all Dandelion Plant species reproduce asexually via a process called apomixis.13
That is just a fancy term that means the Dandelion Plant reproduces without fertilization of plant sex organs via pollination.
The Dandelion Plant can reproduce via two methods due to apomixis. As previously mentioned, Dandelion Plants reproduce whenever seed-attached pappus float in the wind toward vacant lots, gardens, or even a crack in the sidewalk and then grow anew.
The Dandelion Plant also has extraordinary regenerative powers when it comes to its vegetative biomass. If you tear it out of the ground and dig out as much of the weed as you can but leave one thread-like fragment of Dandelion root in the ground, then a new Dandelion will grow in its place.
If you rip apart a Dandelion Plant and leave fragments of it as little as one inch in diameter on the ground, or even plant small Dandelion fragments purposefully, then it will grow back again.14
If you think about it, the Dandelion Plant reproduces itself via cloning more than through botanical fertilization and pollination.
Dandelion Plant Leaves (Dandelion Leaf)
Dandelion leaves are green in color, are usually hairless, and can be 3 to 6 inches long and 1 to 3 inches wide.
(Image: jankarres34)
Dandelion leaves are oblong or spatula-shaped and grow in rosette formation. The edges of a Dandelion leaf is deeply serrated, almost like the fangs of a lion or wild cat animal, hence its lion tooth nickname.
Dandelion Plant Flower
The Dandelion head blooms vibrantly yellow or golden-yellow colored flowers with thin petals. The Dandelion Plant flower head closes at nighttime and opens in the daytime.
Dandelion Plant Seeds
Dandelion Plant seeds appear on the Dandelion Plant head after the yellow flower petals fall off. The Dandelion Plant seed is both seed and fruit and is edible.
The seed fruit is connected to a wispy and tufty appendage called a pappus that works like a hang glider or long-range parachute delivery system.
The Dandelion seeds in the flower bed can be a range of colors including gray, light-olive, brown, or even yellow.
When you blow the white hair-like structure off a Dandelion head, which is the pappus, you are blowing the seeds of the plant away in the wind.
Dandelion Root
The Dandelion taproot can burrow down to a depth of a few inches and even 36 inches or more into the soil. It has a deep root for a plant.
So when it is pulled away from the ground, usually the plant and some part of the root is removed but not the entire root itself.
If even one minuscule portion of the root is left behind, then it will grow back again.
Believe it or not, special proprietary and customized tools called Dandelion spades and pullers had to be invented to offer gardeners enhanced assurance that they were fully removing the plant and the entire root.15 (More on that later)
Dandelion Season
During the Dandelion season, these plants usually bloom from May to October.
However, they are known to reproduce asexually and bloom exponentially in spring and early summer.
Dandelions Types (Pictures of Dandelions)
When it comes to the taxonomy or official classification and naming of plant species, experts believe that there may be about 60 to 250 official species of Dandelion. Given the diversity of Dandelion varieties, some are confused with others, or misclassified, or experts can’t decide which Dandelion Plant counts as a species and which doesn’t.
However, when it comes to how many subspecies and micro species of the Dandelion Plant exist, experts believe that over 2,800 such subspecies and microspecies exist. While the Common Dandelion is ubiquitous in American culture, many other Dandelions types exist throughout the world.
You may walk past Dandelions all the time and not realize them. But with the ability to identify weeds by photo, you can recognize the Common Dandelion from different angles.
Here are a few to consider including some pictures of Dandelions:
(Image: Dalgial29)
1. Southern Japan Dandelion
(Taraxacum albidum)
Taraxacum albidum is a Japanese Dandelion species that is notable for the white-colored flower petals that feature yellow and greenish pistil-like bracts, at the center of it.16
2. Uyghur Dandelion
(Taraxacum centrasiaticum)
Taraxacum centrasiaticum is a very rare Dandelion species that is endemic to the Central Asia region called the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China.20 They can reportedly only be found on mountain meadows in this region about 11,500 feet above sea level.
(Image: dimitrisvetsikas196935)
3. Cyprus Dandelion
(Taraxacum aphrogenes)
Also known as the Paphos Dandelion, Taraxacum aphrogenes is a Dandelion species that is endemic to the island state of Cyprus – in other words, this species can only be found in Cyprus.17
The petals are a lot wider on this species of Dandelion and are aesthetically similar to the flower petal width on a sunflower.
4. Azerbaijan Dandelion
(Taraxacum desertorum)
Taraxacum desertorum is a Dandelion species that is endemic to the country of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus Mountain range.21
(Image: Ralphs_Fotos36)
5. Common Dandelion
(Taraxacum brachyceras)
Taraxacum brachyceras is a Dandelion species native to the Arctic and North America.18
It is a notable variant species because the flower head and petals are much smaller than the Common Dandelion and the Lion Tooth leaves are relatively larger and more aesthetically pronounced in comparison.
6. Turkiye Dandelion
(Taraxacum farinosum)
Taraxacum farinosum is a species of Dandelion that can be found in Turkiye and some regions of Iran.23
(Image: WikimediaImages37)
7. California Dandelion
(Taraxacum californicum)
Taraxacum californicum is the scientific classification for the so-called California Dandelion.19
The California Dandelion is actually an extremely dangerous species
It is endemic to and can only be found in the San Bernardino Mountain range of California.
Unless more examples of the California Dandelion are found, conservation experts believe that less than 24 of these plants exist in California and by extension, the world.
8. Kazakh Dandelion
(Taraxacum kok-saghyz)
Taraxacum kok-saghyz is also known as the Kazakh Dandelion or the Russian Dandelion.24 This Dandelion species can be found in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
Although this Dandelion species was discovered in Russia in 1932, that region of initial discovery now resides in modern-day Kazakhstan. The Kazakh Dandelion contains over 10% natural rubber within its natural latex and is an excellent source of natural rubber to commoditize.
Many auto industry experts think that Kazakh Dandelions and similar plants containing natural latex will be the ultimate sources of rubber in the future. To cut down on the cost of buying vehicle tire materials made from rubber trees, the Goodyear company made concrete plans to start industrially planting seeds of Kazakh Dandelions and cultivating, and harvesting its own Taraxacum kok-saghyz crops to produce their own domestic supplies of rubber.25
The announcement was made in April 2022. Think about that – while you brainstorm how to pay herbicide, pesticide or weed eradicator specialists to rid your landscape of Dandelions, a multi billion-dollar company wants to invest millions of dollars to farm and crop the same weed to make even more billions.
(Image: RitaE38)
9. Red Seeded Dandelion
(Taraxacum erythrospermum)
Taraxacum erythrospermum is probably an entirely different and non-subspecies of Taraxacum officinale, or the Common Dandelion.22
The only aesthetic difference between the similar-looking Dandelion species is the fact that Taraxacum erythrospermum’s seed fruit is red-colored.
10. St. Kilda or Scottish Dandelion
(Taraxacum pankhurstianum)
The St. Kilda Dandelion is a new species of Dandelion that was discovered in 2012 on a remote isle off the western coast of Scotland.26 St. Kilda is an isle in an archipelago chain near Western Scotland.
Most species of Dandelion are hairless – the presence of plant hairs on the leaves of this species makes scientists believe it is a brand new species.
The point of this species list is to help you understand that you are not the only homeowner, property owner, or gardener in the world dealing with the scourge or opportunistic benefit of Dandelions. How you deal with them, positively or negatively is up to you.
The False Dandelion (Another Similar Flower That You Blow Like a Dandelion)
Hypochoeris radicata is the scientific classification for the False Dandelion, a type of flower that you blow, which is aesthetically similar to the Common Dandelion in numerous ways.27 It is an invasive weed, you can blow on its seeds and blow them away just like the Common Dandelion, and they even have similar leaf structures.
The False Dandelion is also edible.
(Image: jhenning39)
This species of Dandelion is also known as Catsear, Cat’s Ear, and Flatweed.
The major difference between the Catsear Dandelion and the Common Dandelion is that the Catsear Dandelion’s leaves are shaped like the earlobe of a cat. The Common Dandelion’s leaves are serrated and shaped like a lion’s tooth.
Additionally, the central stalk of the Common Dandelion is hollow and full of white-colored natural latex. The central Catsear stalk is solid.
Catsear Dandelions are toxic to horses if ingested and are known to cause uncontrollable spastic muscle flexing and jerking.
How To Remove Dandelion Plant Overgrowth
There are many ways to benefit from the Dandelion Plant if you think opportunistically. You will learn more about the benefits of the Dandelion Plant later on in this comprehensive guide.
But if you view Dandelions as a pesky and invasive weed, then it’s your choice to try to remove them if you want. However, the problem is that if there are known Dandelion overgrowths in your area, then you may never be able to be totally rid of them.
Additionally, you may have to dig up your entire garden, lawn, or landscape to be assured that you removed them all. You should consult the advice of a licensed and professional arborist before attempting a large-scale removal and eradication of a Dandelion infestation.
(Image: MabelAmber40)
Otherwise, you may find yourself continually trying to remove Dandelions from your property as if you’re in a nightmarish Groundhog Day-style feedback loop.
Here are a few Dandelion eradication methods you can try:
Blanket Mulching
Mulching is your best option as a preventive measure to stop Dandelion growth or as an extra suppression measure after removal. When you lay mulch on a lawn or garden bed, it suppresses weed growth.
Strategic mulch blanketing on a lawn, garden, or landscape will strangle weeds. A layer of mulch will keep Dandelion seeds from accessing sunlight and germinating.
Do those two things and you will stop Dandelions from growing.
A partial Dandelion root may be suppressed from growing if a mulch layer prevents sunlight from reaching it.
Again, blanket mulching works best as a preventative measure to suppress weed growth. Since Dandelions grow out of sidewalks without issue, laying down mulch after a Dandelion matures in growth won’t help much.
Additionally, mulch adds additional nutrients to the soil as it slowly decomposes and helps the soil retain moisture between watering,
Manually Remove Dandelion Plants and Apply Herbicide
You need a weed removal expert to come in with Dandelion spades, pullers, and specialized equipment to extract every Dandelion Plant that is pestering you. Mass Dandelion removal could result in your garden or lawn being completely torn up to ensure that the Dandelion roots are also completely removed.
The weed removal specialist may advise you to spray herbicide to ensure that any missed Dandelion seeds, fragments, or taproots are killed. However, herbicides are non-selective eradication tools, meaning there are no plant species-specific herbicides.
Any plant that comes in contact with herbicide dies. While such treatments might work, they might also compromise your ability to grow other plants.
Additionally, you may be more successful pulling young Dandelions from the soil than older, matured, and weathered-looking Dandelions that have had time to grow longer taproots.
That is what you need to know if you plan to kill and eradicate the Dandelions on your property. It is important to be proactive, and use preventative measures before they grow, like mulching, or pull them when they are young to ensure they don’t grow back.
Still, there is no guarantee that the process won’t start again when a kid down the street blows the seed off a Dandelion flower head into the wind and in the direction of your property.
Dandelion Plant Research
In this guide, Dandelion Plant research explores the intriguing facets of this common weed, from its potential toxicity and disease resistance to its role in carbon sequestration.
By learning to tolerate, control, and take extreme advantage of the Dandelion Plant you could make your garden and property landscapes botanically healthier, help make the environment healthier, discover a new and free food source, and eradicate the stress and anger that comes with trying to eradicate a weed that only proliferates stronger than before the more you try to eradicate it.
Are Dandelions Poisonous?
Are Dandelions poisonous? No, unless you have a latex-based allergy since Common Dandelions produce a natural latex in their hollow central stalks, then you should have no problem handling them.
Dandelion Plant Disease Prevention
When it comes to Dandelion Plant disease prevention, these are essentially un-killable plants that reproduce out of control and have incredible regenerative abilities, so you don’t have to worry much about diseases that can kill them.
The Dandelion Plant can sometimes get powdery mildew fungus, which is a plant disease that can cause weakness and whitish spotting on Dandelion leaves. Still, the existence of this and similar plant diseases has not done much to stop the rapid exponential reproduction of Dandelion Plants for hundreds of millions of years.
How Much Carbon Does Dandelion Plant Sequester?
When discussing how much carbon does Dandelion Plant sequester, it’s important to recognize that weeds, like any other plant, need carbon dioxide to breathe as it expels oxygen. However recent scientific research has shown that notoriously invasive weeds like Dandelions are also intense carbon sequestration engines.
(Image: shogun41)
Some scientists call weeds like Dandelions carbon sinks, meaning they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, like water down a sinkhole, and store them for long periods of time.28
The climate change crisis afflicting the planet is caused by an excess buildup of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, in the environment and atmosphere. Rampant and unchecked climate change is causing record-breaking heat waves, the polar ice caps to melt, the regular occurrence of catastrophic weather events, and the destruction of the environment.
Climate change is solely caused by human beings and global corporations introducing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the global environment can handle.
Carbon sequestration is the process by which the oceans, soil, plants, trees, and fauna of the world absorb carbon dioxide from the environment and store it to be slowly released over years, decades, or even centuries.
However, human-incited climate change is dumping more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than can be naturally recycled by the carbon sequestration engines of the environment.
Recent scientific research suggests that the collective carbon sequestration efforts of Dandelions, along with all other plants, trees, ocean, and soil, can absorb twice the carbon dioxide levels currently found in the atmosphere.
How To Grow Dandelions
There are a lot of plants that require exacting instructions, strategies, and methods to achieve optimal growth, like months of preparatory seed germination for example, before planting.
However, you won’t have this problem if you want to plant Common Dandelions – or any species or variety of Dandelions. Getting Dandelions to grow in your garden will be uncontrollably easy.
(Image: balouriarajesh42)
Your problem, which is also the bane of many homeowners and property owners, is preventing Dandelions from growing in places where you don’t want them to grow.
If you want to know how to grow Dandelions for food harvesting purposes, just be sure to not plant them anywhere where herbicides or pesticides have been sprayed.
Are There Companion Plants for Growing Dandelion Plant?
The tomato, clover, and apple plants are great companion plants for growing Dandelion Plant. Dandelions are great pollen facilitators and nectar sources for bees and other insects which can help companion plants grow strong.
Keep in mind that your Dandelions can potentially grow out of control and siphon water and nutrients from their companion plants.
What Is the Best Method for Growing a Dandelion Plant From a Seed?
When growing a Dandelion Plant from a seed, it’s advisable to space the seeds about a foot away from each other so that they have room to grow and spread as they blossom.
However, after the flower blossoms, dies, and the seeds appear and blow in the wind, you won’t be able to control where they land and grow from afterward.
What Is the Most Optimal Method of Growing a Dandelion Plant From a Cutting?
When it comes to growing a Dandelion Plant from a cutting, the simple answer is that there isn’t one.
You could drop small, shredded, and torn pieces of Dandelion Plant remnants onto the ground or in a hole in the soil and it will regrow.
Is Growing a Dandelion Plant From a Seedling an Optimal Way To Grow It?
When considering growing a Dandelion Plant from a seedling, it’s not deemed the optimal method. Growing Dandelion is obscenely easy.
You could get a Dandelion head studded with pappus attached seeds, blow it near your garden, and Dandelions will probably grow soon afterward.
What Are the Watering Needs for Dandelion Plants?
Regarding the watering needs for Dandelion Plants, they are extremely drought tolerant – you can literally plant them and forget them.
Otherwise, you should water them every three days.
(Image: choijinhee43)
The soil should be moist if you poke a finger in it, but not sopping wet between waterings.
Planting Tips for Dandelion Plant
When it comes to planting tips for Dandelion Plant, you don’t really need to bother with fertilizing it.
If you do choose to fertilize your common fertilizer crop, don’t overdo it and only use organic fertilizer.
How Much Sunlight Does Dandelion Plant Need Each Day?
When wondering how much sunlight does Dandelion Plant need each day, the answer is that they ideally need anywhere between 8 to 10 hours of direct sunlight exposure to grow optimally. However, Dandelion Plants will also grow in indirect sunlight as well.
Common Pests of the Dandelion Plant
Among the common pests of the Dandelion Plant are aphids that feed on its leaves. Some species of birds tear off Dandelion flowers and leaves to build their nests.
However, the Common Dandelion does not have natural and reoccurring pests that can catastrophically reduce their reproduction numbers like other plants.
How To Stop Dandelion Plant Disease
When considering how to stop Dandelion Plant disease, it’s worth noting that Common Dandelion does not have any natural plant diseases that it is prone to contracting that could suppress its exponential growth.
You don’t need to do much to stop any Dandelion Plant disease or infections you come across.
The Common Dandelion is a perennial that lives for 24 months and will be rapidly and exponentially replaced by other Dandelion Plants before it dies.
Dandelion Plant Benefits
The dandelion, frequently underestimated, boasts numerous health and environmental advantages.
Here are some of the notable Dandelion Plant benefits:
Natural Bioindicators
The presence of Dandelions can indicate that soil has low levels of calcium and higher levels of potassium.
Dandelions can act as fertilizer facilitators too. Deep-rooted taproots ferry nutrients to the soil surface that also feed nearby plants as well.
Deep-rooted Dandelions keep soil from being too compacted and allow nutrients and water to travel more freely underground.
Nutritional Benefits
The Common Dandelion is entirely edible and has a slightly bitter taste akin to a leafy mustard green vegetable. Dandelions were used as a leafy green vegetable alternative to lettuce in 19th-century England when there was a dearth of traditional leafy green vegetables.
Dandelions also have immense nutritional benefits and are more nutrient-rich than broccoli and spinach. The Common Dandelion is nutrient-rich in vitamins A, B, C, D, and E.
The plant is also a good source of iron, potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, and zinc. The Common Dandelion is also a great source of antioxidants, which are natural compounds that are scientifically proven to incrementally slow down aging.
Dandelions, especially the root, are fiber-rich and can enhance food digestion and potentially relieve constipation.
Potential Medical Uses
Modern medical research and testing suggest that new drugs and treatments could be derived from Dandelions to treat heart disease, cancer, liver disease, lower blood pressure, and inflammation.
Dandelion Root Benefits
The Dandelion root benefits are evident when dried and used as a tea, which can serve as an effective diuretic. Such potential curative miracles derived from Dandelion are not currently feasible but may be possible in the future after the implementation of human trials.
Dandelion Plant Seeds
Dandelion seeds are edible and can be eaten raw. Dandelion seeds can also be processed into a type of seed milk as well.
Food
Dandelion root can be baked until dehydrated, ground into a fine powder, and then brewed as a coffee substitute.
Dandelion leaves and stalks can be used as leafy green vegetables in salads and other meals in lieu of lettuce, kale, and other green leafy veggies. You could grow your own inexhaustible source of leafy green vegetables for as long as you want.
The only limitation to the kinds of foods that can be made from the Common Dandelion is the imagination.
Dandelion Benefits as a Commodity
Dandelion latex can be used to make rubber. As previously mentioned, a multi billion-dollar tire company is investing in planting and farming Kazakh Dandelions domestically in Ohio to save money on manufacturing its tires.
(Image: FlenderFunways44)
If a multi-billion corporation can look at the Common Dandelion benefits and strategize ways to make even more billions, could you brainstorm ways to use the latex in Dandelions to build your own organic rubber small business initiative?
Dandelion Plant Alternatives
The Corn plant, Dracaena fragrans, is a shrub that is native to Africa. It grows to about 12 to 50 feet tall and has long rabbit-ear-shaped green leaves with corn-yellow stripes in the middle.
Its central stem has a palm-tree-like woody aesthetic – this plant also grows a small pineapple-like fruit that is not toxic but shouldn’t be eaten. The fruit from the corn plant contains saponin, a natural compound that can be used to make detergents and soaps.
The corn plant is very easy to grow and care for. It is best to grow them in a pot, the plant is prized as an indoor plant because it is very efficient at purifying the ambient air in your home.
If you have no interest in growing Dandelions, this a great low-maintenance plant alternative.
Most people see a Dandelion and see a noxious weed, however, it’s benefits to the natural environment are plentiful.
The Dandelion Plant could be a leafy green vegetable alternative, an ingredient in many types of food, a powerful carbon sequestration engine, and even a natural rubber commodity.
Frequently Asked Questions About Dandelion Plant
Is a Dandelion a Weed?
The answer to question “is a Dandelion a weed?” depends on personal perspective. Any unwanted plant is a weed and most people consider the Common Dandelion a weed in modern times, but in the past, the Dandelion was a food source and a component in folklore medicine.
How Long It Takes To Grow Dandelion Plant?
In terms of how long it takes to grow Dandelion Plant, it can take less than 8 weeks for a Dandelion to grow from a seed into a mature plant.
What Are the Optimum Planting Zones for Dandelions?
The Dandelion can thrive in various planting zones, growing almost anywhere.
Are There Any Other Good Dandelion Eradication Methods?
Don’t mow your grass too short. If your grass is too short, young dandelions will have better access to unobstructed sunlight.
How Many Dandelion Seeds Can Be Produced Per Plant?
One dandelion plant can produce up to 15,000 seeds during its perennial lifetime.
What Is the Dandelion Plant Growing Zone?
The growing zones for Dandelion Plant (where to grow) includes USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
What Is the Dandelion Plant Growth Rate?
In terms of how fast do Dandelions grow, the Common Dandelion can rapidly grow from a seed to a blossoming weed in less than 60 days or as long as 100 days.
Where Do Dandelions Grow?
When discussing where do Dandelions grow, note that Common Dandelions are considered to be noxious and invasive weeds that can grow in any soil conditions and in any locale. Dandelions can grow out of sidewalk cracks or in the middle of a street.
When To Plant Dandelion Plant for the Best Yield?
Plant Dandelions in early spring or summer to optimize your chances of having a large harvest yield.
Best Growing Conditions for Dandelion Plant?
In terms of the best growing conditions for Dandelion Plant, this adaptable plant will grow under almost any growing conditions.
How Far Apart To Plant Dandelion Plant?
When considering how far apart to plant Dandelion Plant, it’s advisable to space your Dandelion seeds or cuttings about 8 inches to a foot apart from each other to ensure optimum space between them as they grow.
What Is the Natural Pest Control for Dandelion Plant?
When discussing natural pest control for Dandelion Plant, it’s worth noting that the Common Dandelion is so well known for its explosive reproduction rates that you won’t have to worry about natural pest control methods – especially since the plant does not have natural pests that could seriously impede its growth.
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