We use a product called Defendor in our program. Defendor specialty herbicide is a post-emergence product effective at pre-emergence timing. Designed to perform in cold weather, Defendor prevents dandelion bloom and controls other spring weeds before they're ever seen.
Key benefits of Defendor:
- Extremely effective control of dandelion, clover, and other broadleaf weeds
- Can be applied in late fall or early spring when temperatures are still cool — a time when other postemergence herbicides aren't effective
Defendor is designed to not let dandelions bloom. This is huge. If we can spray this on early and keep the dandelions from blooming, then we can come back on the next application and kill the dandelion before it can spread any seed.
It's important to note that Defendor will not kill the plant outright — it keeps it from blooming. The follow-up application handles the kill. The goal is that you wouldn't see any dandelions at all. That might be too unrealistic to hope for, but it helps tremendously.
Defendor is also a very good option for killing clover. Weather conditions in Kansas have been favorable for clover in recent years, and it has popped up in a lot of yards that haven't had it for quite a while.