A transplanted Southern Californian living in North Dakota Idaho, with some insights on life with deaf dogs, a gluten free spouse, and the occasional mischievous garden gnome. Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy.





Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Iron X Dandelion Killer - Follow Up

Alycia originally wrote about Iron X Dandelion Killer back in 2012 and we're overdue for some follow up.  As previously mentioned, I don't care how my "lawn" looks and we're one of the only (if not THE only) houses in the neighborhood that doesn't have a commercial lawn service slather our yard with weed-killer/fertilizer chemical cocktails every month throughout the growing season. But in Late Spring/Early Summer it really is apparent by all the dandelions that we have that we're different. 

To that end we found a product called Iron X (chelated iron) that kills dandelions, makes our yard look normal-ish and doesn't invoke the wrath of the neighborhood for having all these dandelions that are seeding weeds throughout the area.   We generally apply the Iron X once a year in late-Spring or early summer and while it doesn't keep all the dandelions away, it gets rid of most of them and keeps a damper on them reappearing for the rest of the year, which is my goal.  I actually think the field of bright yellow dandelions is quite pretty, but that sentiment gets shouted down by my urge to not invoke the ire of the neighbors. 
For whatever reason, Alycia carries a burning hatred for the dandelions.  I can't emphasize this point enough.  Other weeds she dislikes, dandelions she abhors.  She does the spraying of the Iron X and verily delights in the death and destruction that it brings to the hated dandelions. 
This is a before and after of the berm at the south-west corner of our yard.  The second picture was taken a week after application of Iron X, and right before I mowed it.  There were only one or two rogue dandelions in that section of grass.

Got more than just dandelions? You could try this propane weed torch or the weed dragon and kill those weeds with fire!!!  I've always thought these were pretty cool.  I'll never get one, but the idea of killing weeds with fire makes me pretty happy.

2 comments:

Jason said...

And this stuff doesn't kill other plants? For me dandelions are annoying but I don't hate them. Worse in my mind are creeping charlie and plantain. And crabgrass. Also one of our neighbors' yard is also full of dandelions.

El Gaucho said...

Jason - It might kill other stuff, but we just use it on the lawn areas and are very diligent about not spraying it on other stuff. I agree that there are much nastier weeds than dandelions, but I'd rather embrace the Mrs.' passion for killing them - every bit of weed control helps.