Found out dandelions can grow 10 inches of root in just 3 days

Read that in a weed science journal last night while looking up why my yard looks worse every year, has anyone else seen that number before?

3 comments

3 Comments

mila_flores823d ago

Heard somewhere dandelion roots can snap clean off and regrow, @evaallen, which explains the fast top growth misleading people.

evaallen23d ago

Read that same thing in a few gardening forums and it sounds a bit off to me. Most dandelions I've dug up have roots maybe 6 inches deep after a couple weeks, not 10 inches in 3 days. Soil type makes a huge difference too. My heavy clay ground slows down any root growth compared to loose sandy soil. Maybe that number works in perfect lab conditions but out in a real yard it's probably much slower.

blairtaylor17d ago

Wait, isn't that 10 inch figure actually for the total root system spread (you know, all the little branching roots) rather than just the main taproot going straight down? I've seen some studies where dandelions in loose soil can send out that much total root length in a few days, but it's not a single deep root. The taproot itself usually only gets a couple inches down in that timeframe, regardless of what the fancy journal says.