Do They Die?

[l4dyamethyst2011]

I'm confused now because nearly everyone has said main diet thing is dandelion now you say it blocks absorption of calcium.....help

 

[AnthonyC]

I think it's like the old saying goes "Everything in moderation". Plus I'm pretty sure that a varied diet is best!

I'm confused now because nearly everyone has said main diet thing is dandelion now you say it blocks absorption of calcium.....help

 

[babylove6635]

so as much as i protest dandilions in my yard i picked some that had seeded out and am trying to grow them in the house. we will see if they will grow

 

[AnthonyC]

Yes, get them now. I was looking up their life-cycle (yup that is as nerdy as it sounds ) and they die when the 1st frost arrives.

 

[tinkerbell1189]

Hey, you can actually buy dandelion seeds for really cheap. I have just ordered a load, and when its winter am just going to grow them inside. Plus I got red clover seeds, I think you can get pretty much any weed.

 

[Tom]

I've got the opposite problem. They don't even START to grow until winter here. That's when the rains come. They can't survive the hot dry summers here very well. It takes a ton of water on a lawn to get little tiny anemic dandelions to grow here in summer.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Wonder if I could dry them. I know freezing them won't work---just makes them gross!

Yea they die off in the fall of the year and come back in spring where I live.

Both freezing and drying are good options (yeah, frozen weeds look grossly like frozen spinach, but my torts love eating it).

Also, I mix dried leafy green vegetables (kale, collards, turnip greens, etc.) and weeds into soaked tortoise kibble (I use Marion Red Sticks, but Mazuri can be used in the same way), about a 50/50 mixture.

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Do you think this would be okay?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003I4F7AS/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

That looks like the one I use, and it's excellent.

 

[AnthonyC]

Thanks, Terry. I just saw your response now.

Wonder if I could dry them. I know freezing them won't work---just makes them gross!

Yea they die off in the fall of the year and come back in spring where I live.

Both freezing and drying are good options (yeah, frozen weeds look grossly like frozen spinach, but my torts love eating it).

Also, I mix dried leafy green vegetables (kale, collards, turnip greens, etc.) and weeds into soaked tortoise kibble (I use Marion Red Sticks, but Mazuri can be used in the same way), about a 50/50 mixture.

---

Do you think this would be okay?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003I4F7AS/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

That looks like the one I use, and it's excellent.

---

 

[Samparker]

I hope not! I will have a rabbit and a tortoise to cater for, I need more!!

 

[dmmj]

I grow my own because whenever they pop up in my yard they are quickly eaten, but they don'y die off in my area. That s is one of the few things I like about california, everything grows much much later into the season. there are not any flowers during the winter (california winter) but the plants grow just fine, in colder weather they do die off, but they usually come back with a vengeance in the spring.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Thanks, Terry. I just saw your response now.

No prob!

 

[FranklinTturtle]

I don't think they die in my part of South Carolina. I use to hate to see them in the yard now I look at them like pay dirt.

 

[terryo]

Anthony, here in NY everything dies in the Winter...As for the plantain ....right about now they will throw off a long skinny stalk with a bunch of little seed stuck on the stalk. I take in those stalks, and dry them, and then plant them in a sunny window, and some I sprinkle in my torts vivarium. They love the little shoots that come up.

 

[AnthonyC]

Yup! I've noticed those shoots over the past few days + I've noticed that the their leaves have become enormous! Last cycle of life for them before winter I suppose... thanks Terry!

Anthony, here in NY everything dies in the Winter...As for the plantain ....right about now they will throw off a long skinny stalk with a bunch of little seed stuck on the stalk. I take in those stalks, and dry them, and then plant them in a sunny window, and some I sprinkle in my torts vivarium. They love the little shoots that come up.

 

[Floof]

I remember, in coastal Washington, I was able to find dandelion all winter long... They usually got pretty small and wimpy around the middle of winter, when it would actually start dipping really close to and sometimes even a little below freezing, but they'd hang around... But up there, we're talking relatively mild--freezing rain, but little to know real freezes/snow/ice.

Here in Utah, which I imagine NY has harsher winters than here, anything green is pretty well dead through the winter. It'll pop back up in no time come spring, but there's nothing there during the winter. I'm actually stocking up on pansies/violas and probably going to order some seed mix from Carolina Pet Supply to start growing some of the "good stuff" indoors. (Just have to figure out where to do it.. Hmmm, maybe that's what I'll do with that spare aquarium? ) I'm even considering getting a food processor to blend the crap out of dandelions, so they aren't quite so nasty when they come out of the freezer (tried freezing collards once--YUCK!). The only problem there would be convincing the animals it's actually food... The tortoise is already skeptical of, well, everything, and the last time I tried to give my big beardie boy blended food, he just gave me a nasty look and ignored it.

 

[AnthonyC]

Yeah winters are pretty harsh here. Usually the only thing that stays green are the cedar trees & the evergreens.

I remember, in coastal Washington, I was able to find dandelion all winter long... They usually got pretty small and wimpy around the middle of winter, when it would actually start dipping really close to and sometimes even a little below freezing, but they'd hang around... But up there, we're talking relatively mild--freezing rain, but little to know real freezes/snow/ice.

Here in Utah, which I imagine NY has harsher winters than here, anything green is pretty well dead through the winter. It'll pop back up in no time come spring, but there's nothing there during the winter. I'm actually stocking up on pansies/violas and probably going to order some seed mix from Carolina Pet Supply to start growing some of the "good stuff" indoors. (Just have to figure out where to do it.. Hmmm, maybe that's what I'll do with that spare aquarium? ) I'm even considering getting a food processor to blend the crap out of dandelions, so they aren't quite so nasty when they come out of the freezer (tried freezing collards once--YUCK!). The only problem there would be convincing the animals it's actually food... The tortoise is already skeptical of, well, everything, and the last time I tried to give my big beardie boy blended food, he just gave me a nasty look and ignored it.

 

[terryo]

Here's something I do for the Winter. I put in a food processor, carrots, plantain, dandelion, grape leaves, Rose of Sharon leaves, and escarole, and a sweet potato, dry reptomin, dry mazuri and 1 raw egg, with the shell. I make balls, like small meat balls, and put them on a tray, and freeze them. When they are frozen, I take the balls and put them in a zip lock bag and put them in the freezer. In the morning I'll take out a ball and defrost it. When it's defrosted I add some ground venison. I will be doing this in a few weeks, while I still have some of these greens. My box turtles go crazy over this and I even give it to Pio and Solo, (my Cherry Head's) I do this in the Summer too, I just don't freeze it.

 

[AnthonyC]

Of course you make meat balls out of it... You're from Staten Island!!! I have relatives in S.I. & I think they put meat balls in their cereal in the morning!!!

Here's something I do for the Winter. I put in a food processor, carrots, plantain, dandelion, grape leaves, Rose of Sharon leaves, and escarole, and a sweet potato, dry reptomin, dry mazuri and 1 raw egg, with the shell. I make balls, like small meat balls, and put them on a tray, and freeze them. When they are frozen, I take the balls and put them in a zip lock bag and put them in the freezer. In the morning I'll take out a ball and defrost it. When it's defrosted I add some ground venison. I will be doing this in a few weeks, while I still have some of these greens. My box turtles go crazy over this and I even give it to Pio and Solo, (my Cherry Head's) I do this in the Summer too, I just don't freeze it.

 

[Angi]

LOL! In San Diego the dandilions grow better in the winter.

 

[terryo]

Of course you make meat balls out of it... You're from Staten Island!!! I have relatives in S.I. & I think they put meat balls in their cereal in the morning!!!

Here's something I do for the Winter. I put in a food processor, carrots, plantain, dandelion, grape leaves, Rose of Sharon leaves, and escarole, and a sweet potato, dry reptomin, dry mazuri and 1 raw egg, with the shell. I make balls, like small meat balls, and put them on a tray, and freeze them. When they are frozen, I take the balls and put them in a zip lock bag and put them in the freezer. In the morning I'll take out a ball and defrost it. When it's defrosted I add some ground venison. I will be doing this in a few weeks, while I still have some of these greens. My box turtles go crazy over this and I even give it to Pio and Solo, (my Cherry Head's) I do this in the Summer too, I just don't freeze it.

Italian style, of course!!