Dandelion - Dynamic Accumulator?

It has been a strange time rewiring my brain from viewing dandelions as a nuisance to viewing them with a small level of respect.

I have read that dandelions have an affinity for capturing phosphorus and sodium from the earth. (Source) I've also taken a gander at a USDA analysis that shows that the dandelion plant seemed to hold higher levels of calcium. Dandelions are opportunistic and are quick to establish in bare or recently disturbed spots. They really are a pioneer plant. I can acknowledge their small size might limit their usefulness to influencing surrounding soil much.

Some bonus functions outside of being a dynamic accumulator includes being a source of nectar for insects (especially in early spring). Dandelion is considered to have medicinal value, digestive health and liver function to name a couple uses. All parts of dandelion are considered edible. The leaves however can get really bitter so I personally steer towards the freshest I can find.

(source)

Dandelion Diagram

The large and deep tap root is supposed to aid in loosening hard compacted soil and also bringing up deep nutrients. I don't know of any research that has tried to quantify that.
I do let them grow between the rows of my corn. I chop the tops regularly and use them as green mulch.

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=4ba83c5d9546f929904beff1bcdd775a16a7597b

Suggests using dandelion as a fall-winter cover crop to improve corn yield and soil quality.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01448765.2006.9755335

Dandelion as a cover crop is a strong competitor for nitrogen.

If the leaves are too bitter for you, consider putting them in a salad with a slightly sweet dressing to counteract, my best friend and I made a dandylion leaf salad once and the enjoyment of it was worth the slight bitterness.

Another bonus is that both chickens and rabbits enjoy eating dandelion leaves! Early in the spring, when I can't let the chickens out unsupervised (sowing and planting time), I pick weeds to throw in their run, and dandelion is one of their favorites. It starts growing early too, and quite fast.

It is also a bio-dynamic prep plant.  I only eat the leaves in the very early spring.  It is a little too strong for me later.  Also the root may be dried and used in place of coffee, to be honest I don't much care for it!!

I love having a big jar of dandelion capers in the fridge all winter: https://practicalselfreliance.com/dandelion-capers/

I also eat the very smallest leaves in salads, particularly in the spring when I'm jonesing for fresh weeds to eat, but if they're big enough to drip latex, they're too bitter for me.

Also, I just adore dandelions for their bright and cheerful presence in the yard! I don't really understand the aversion that many Americans have for them.

I've got 4 bottles of dandelion wine ageing in the basement, from last spring. I know dandelion wine is supposed to be good, and I followed a proven recipe, but it was pretty nasty right after fermentation. Supposedly dandelion wine needs time to age, though, so i;; crack open a bottle this spring, once new dandelions start coming up, and see if it's transformed into something good.

In recovering from Hepatitis I used roasted dandelion root "coffee" (No caffeine, but it's dark brown, eh?) It still tastes great to me, and I occasionally brew it up to accompany desert. The crux of the matter: a stiff brushing in water to get the dirt gone, then a sharp knife to get even-width slices, then chop into coase bits that can be browned in a medium oven in a baking pan until your nose "Knows", don't burn it black! Brew with a short boil, then pour thru a fine tea strainer: very good with desert if you are wanting to sleep sooner rather than later. Seems to help digestion & liver happiness. I learned from Euell Gibbons' book,  and years of practice.
Other uses: unopened dandelion flower buds in a mixed fresh veggie dish sliced to similar dimensions and steamed/boiled just enough.   Another:
The  "pointing up" younger leaves cut to bite-size bits served in mixed salad right on top so they for sure get some dressing to contrast with the bitterness. In pidgeon English: "Good Chop"

I firmly straddle the fence on this topic.  I have a very large boulevard with 42 different flowering weeds growing along with grass.  (I have larger wheels and lowered wheel mounts to get a 1 foot high cut to showcase the flowers.)  The dandelions are awesome - beautiful yellow flowers, dynamic accumulators, shelter for little grass seedlings under their leaves,  dew collectors, survive the summer drought, etc.  They help other plants right up to the time when THEY KILL THEM DEAD and take over the kingdom!

So I compromise and let them live 1 full year.  Each spring before the flowers turn to seed, I dig up ALL dandelions, getting the whole root, and chopping the plants fine for fertilizer.  At the same time I plant a spring bulb into the hole left by the tap root and pay attention to everything else growing in my wildflower lawn.  I have thousands and thousands of scilla, siberian squill, snow drops, grape hyacinths, crocus, star of bethlehem, etc. etc. finished blooming and some needing to be transplanted, having roamed too far from home.   The other plants blooming along with the dandelions are thousands and thousands of violets, and dandelions are one of only a few seeds that can successfully take root among the violets.  I have other plants among the violets but they need my assistance to grow there.  Did I mention dandelions are low maintenance?  They need no help arriving; only help to keep moving along and leave....

This might seem like a lot of work but there is a surprising thing about dandelion seeds.  Unlike other nasties that can survive 50 years to plague future owners, dandelion seeds last only a year or two.  So keeping a sort of dandelion-free lawn is pretty easy.  

I'll give you another bit of information you will never see anywhere else.  It would be nice to have a plant which is allopathic to dandelions, meaning it will kill them or at least not allow new seedlings to sprout.  There is one! - autumn hawkbit.  O.K. it looks like a dandelion so average observers might think I actually do have dandelions.  But the hawkbits are a kinder, gentler version.  The flowers are smaller, with many on one stalk.  They prevent even their own seed from sprouting so they spread out nicely rather than hogging all the space in one spot.  And they bloom in the heat of late summer when not much else is trying very hard.  If there is one drawback its that the flower stalks are pretty tall and leggy.  Now that my wanted weeds are well established, it is time to shorten the lawn height and with that I will encourage my hawkbits to evolve locally to bloom on shorter stalks.

I'm slowly building a database on weeds: for each one...why you want it, what good it does, how it gets along with others, what is its superpower, and most importantly, what is its kryptonite in case you want to get rid of it....

Ray Sauder

This southern hemisphere spring, I've sown red dandelion for use in  https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/horta-recipe-greek-wild-greens/ with added chard, broad bean tops and spinach. Absolutely magnificent.

I know some Aussies but never heard mention of red dandelion. When I had a bamboo nursery I was often accused of spreading "invasive species" and my reply "look in the mirror honky" was never taken well, or not understood. So many of the complaints in the thread are about "Invading LAWNS" Maybe I can find some red dandelion seed. Then we can have "Rasta Lawns"  GREEN GOLD AND ITES is the rainbow, Yes Mon! I have always liked accumulating dynamically, fa true. The weeds that have assisted me in converting my former "Big Daddy Ed's Good Used Cars" back yard are Chicory, Salsify and Parsnip, and It Is Working.

Actually a cultivar of chicory.
https://www.herbcottage.com.au/products/chicory-red-dandelion?srsltid=AfmBOoqkrDo2uJFM_tMrk6AIHkYpxdJ4cwXynPAjTe2n7q26vBatNIPM

Ray Sauder wrote:I firmly straddle the fence on this topic.  I have a very large boulevard with 42 different flowering weeds growing along with grass.  (I have larger wheels and lowered wheel mounts to get a 1 foot high cut to showcase the flowers.)  The dandelions are awesome - beautiful yellow flowers, dynamic accumulators, shelter for little grass seedlings under their leaves,  dew collectors, survive the summer drought, etc.  They help other plants right up to the time when THEY KILL THEM DEAD and take over the kingdom!

So I compromise and let them live 1 full year.  Each spring before the flowers turn to seed, I dig up ALL dandelions, getting the whole root, and chopping the plants fine for fertilizer.  At the same time I plant a spring bulb into the hole left by the tap root and pay attention to everything else growing in my wildflower lawn.  I have thousands and thousands of scilla, siberian squill, snow drops, grape hyacinths, crocus, star of bethlehem, etc. etc. finished blooming and some needing to be transplanted, having roamed too far from home.   The other plants blooming along with the dandelions are thousands and thousands of violets, and dandelions are one of only a few seeds that can successfully take root among the violets.  I have other plants among the violets but they need my assistance to grow there.  Did I mention dandelions are low maintenance?  They need no help arriving; only help to keep moving along and leave....

This might seem like a lot of work but there is a surprising thing about dandelion seeds.  Unlike other nasties that can survive 50 years to plague future owners, dandelion seeds last only a year or two.  So keeping a sort of dandelion-free lawn is pretty easy.  

I'll give you another bit of information you will never see anywhere else.  It would be nice to have a plant which is allopathic to dandelions, meaning it will kill them or at least not allow new seedlings to sprout.  There is one! - autumn hawkbit.  O.K. it looks like a dandelion so average observers might think I actually do have dandelions.  But the hawkbits are a kinder, gentler version.  The flowers are smaller, with many on one stalk.  They prevent even their own seed from sprouting so they spread out nicely rather than hogging all the space in one spot.  And they bloom in the heat of late summer when not much else is trying very hard.  If there is one drawback its that the flower stalks are pretty tall and leggy.  Now that my wanted weeds are well established, it is time to shorten the lawn height and with that I will encourage my hawkbits to evolve locally to bloom on shorter stalks.

Ray Sauder

First: on fence straddling, I used to do that, but I've recently been told by my doctor that it's a bad idea and now I need an ultrasound.

Second:  The big disadvantage of dandelions is their simple pollen - not nutritious for bees, though many will assume that 'the big field of dandelions has got to be great for them'.  Like many plants, it thrives in destroyed ecosystems, and urban and rural areas alike are likely to be destroyed ecosystems at present (and I think that while this comment can be read, it will likely continue to be the case, so... great?)  "Naturally" they should have a place - in terms of natural cycles, they make sure fall rains don't destroy soil nutrition, like every pioneer.  The issue is that you mentioned 'dandelion free lawns' really.

The reason they'd be so good at transporting seeds is largely that - they have a niche, but are probably very 'confused' as to why their niche seems to be 'everywhere'.  There's no need for them to actually be so good at seeding when we wreck everything that might compete with them.

Hawkbits, Cat's Ear, Chicory - they all have the same qualities as dandelions do, breaking up soil and reducing the impact of rain.  I think that ultimately the should coexist quite well with grasses geometrically.  If they take over though, I think that's a sign the ecosystem needs to move on, or that the ecosystem is too much under stress.  Everything you mentioned was a small, short flowering plant - that's pretty one dimensional to me.  The dandelions are likely going to thrive mainly because they are needed to keep the place from loosing too much soil nutrition, as nothing else is likely to hold much in.

Ultimately I think that unless the soil depth is naturally very shallow then it's simply a matter that only the dandelions have any significant root depth.  In a lawn they can certainly help the natural cycle progress, as can any kind of long root (Fukuoka recommended planting daikon and then just letting it rot in the ground to create better soil.)  That does beggar the question though - does the soil really benefit from it?

One last thing - dandelion roots for roasting apparently taste better in year 2.  Also I have seen mention of 'dandelion crowns barbequed', though it does require very clean crowns.  They would blanch themselves naturally, so I imagine after a quick parboil they'd be excellent.  Upright specimens would work well - something that had to compete, but had decent soil nutrition in the first place I imagine.

The other reason for spreading well is that if there aren't enough pollinators, they actually clone themselves.  It does mean that they will act oddly, adapting inconsistently to their surroundings.

James Bridger wrote:I've got 4 bottles of dandelion wine ageing in the basement, from last spring. I know dandelion wine is supposed to be good, and I followed a proven recipe, but it was pretty nasty right after fermentation. Supposedly dandelion wine needs time to age, though, so i;; crack open a bottle this spring, once new dandelions start coming up, and see if it's transformed into something good.

99% of the time that means you let some of the green base of the flower petals get in the mix, or god help you, part of the stem.  Dandelion wine should be very light in flavour.

Scissors or a knife are useful for separating petals from their base, but ultimately, if your fingers are dextrose enough (wine making pun!... oh... now I hate myself...) you can just develop a very quick "grab and twist" method that will separate the petals without losing much of the pollen.

I've only made a single 1-gallon carboy of dandelion wine, but it tastes an awful lot like a sort of generic white wine. It aged in glass for three years just because it got lost in the basement and the waterlock was dry when I found it, it's in the fridge now, but tastes sort of fine -- maybe not worth the work but certainly not bad.