Dandelions In Your Lawn Can Plague Your Entire Neighborhood, Professor Says

DETROIT (WWJ) -- Don't look now, but dandelion growth is in full swing across your lawn. What should you do to get rid of them?

Dr. Tom Raffel, assistant professor of biological sciences at Oakland University, said you might want to get rid of the weeds before they spread throughout your and your neighbors' lawns.

"They produce hundreds of seeds per flower," Raffel said. "The seeds regularly can fly more than 100 meters. With an updraft they can go even further."

Raffel said if you want to avoid using a herbicide, digging out young dandelion weeds and pull out the entire taproot will work.  If the dandelions are young, they'll have a small taproot and will be easy to pull out of the ground.

For older dandelions, however, herbicides are the best choice, Raffel says.

"The best thing I think is to use a broad leaf-specific herbicide," Raffel said. "So something like 2,4-D -- which is found in products like Weed B Gon -- can be pretty effective."

However, not everyone hates the weeds.

"A lot of my friends really like dandelions. A lot of people generally like them," Raffel said. "They've been used for thousands of years for food and medicinal purposes."

People use the flowers for things like dandelion wine and the greens for salads.