solar-recharged hollow lawn gnome: when it spots a dandelion (by the wavelength of the colour of the flower), it sidles up and sits on top of it; assorted internal paraphernalia pulls the weed and drops a bit of grass seed down the hole, tamped on top with fresh dirt from a reservoir. When the gnome's full it goes and dumps the weeds in the corner.

Act now and get a bonus chemical sensor that can spot (or "deSpot" as the case may be) our furry friends' presents and the gnome will add it to the future-compost heap (and kill the dandelions).
-- FlyingToaster, May 05 2008

Reminds me of a FarmerJohn classic Teenager_20Muting_20Ninja_20Gnomes
sigh... [RayfordSteele, May 05 2008]

Electro Weeder http://www.rittenho...Product.asp?PG=2197
For Maxwell Buchanan. [DrCurry, May 05 2008]

Having pondered the existence of consistent coloring schemes in various natural and man made environments, and how to use these consistencies as leverage to perform specific AI moderated robotic tasks, I like this.

New age vandals will paint your lawn with this color and watch, patiently, the insanity ensue.
-- daseva, May 05 2008


I LOVE this idea(+). The pulling up part is the problem due to the weak stem and deep roots, but assuming you can feel your way to the root cluster and pull out a hunk of it, I love it.
-- MisterQED, May 05 2008


//new age vandals will paint your lawn//... thwarted by a careless drop of paint on their clothing... slowly the evil lawn gnomes follow their prey, red eyes twinkling in the twilight... snip snip... snip snip...
-- FlyingToaster, May 05 2008


this might be better if the (magical) gnome blew the seedheads (clocks) as they appeared into a disposable bag - the flower itself is quite pretty.
-- po, May 05 2008


Instead of a complex pulling mechanism, have an army of dumb gnomes that just sit on the dandelions for a few weeks, depriving them of light.
-- wagster, May 05 2008


Dandelions - really high in provitamin A and potassium, complex carbohydrates, free green veg throughout the winter and free root veg all year round, excellent diuretic, liver tonic, actually difficult not to grow. Why would anyone _not_ want them in their garden?
-- nineteenthly, May 05 2008


I have a bumper crop coming in this year, I'll share with you.
-- FlyingToaster, May 05 2008


I really like [wags]'s version.

And you can make wine from the stuff. Put a little fermenter inside their bellies and have them run off ethanol. Mucho green!
-- daseva, May 05 2008


Something more like a solar powered turtle that crawls around, snippin off the leaves and stalks with its mandibles and then spraying the remainder with a selective defiliant ......
-- 8th of 7, May 05 2008


Pulling dandelions could be good training for the Ninja gnomes.
-- RayfordSteele, May 05 2008


Just out of evil curiosity, what would happen if you stuck a copper rod into the ground a few inches away, grasped the stem in a pair of conductive jaws, and applied a brief 10kV pulse between the two?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 05 2008


No need for the copper rod - the root is already grounded. I doubt a short sharp shock will do much to it (trees keep right on growing after lightning strikes, if they aren't burnt through). What you want is for the heat of the shock to burn the plant (and, more importantly, its roots). See link.
-- DrCurry, May 05 2008


I suppose i could look at this as a harvesting tool, and it could be fuelled off the inulin. From the viewpoint of it being a weeding device, i see a problem. If it just pulls up the root by clamping itself round the top and yanking, it will very probably leave bits of root behind in the hole, each of which will then regenerate as a whole dandelion. I think that would be good, but only because you'd end up with more of them.
-- nineteenthly, May 05 2008


//No need for the copper rod - the root is already grounded.// No, the copper rod is to ground the other side of the circuit!!
-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 05 2008


//selective defiliant//
Something that kills offspring?
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, May 05 2008


I just spray the yard with seed retarder. No Dandelions! Repeat every 90 days. Defeats crabgrass, too.
-- Blisterbob, May 05 2008


Again, not crabgrass, but couch grass, to quote Culpeper, "although a gardener be of another opinion, yet a physician holds half an acre of them to be worth five acres of Carrots twice told over.". Still, why not microwave them and eat the result?
-- nineteenthly, May 05 2008


Dad! Dad! The gnomes are out mating with the double yellow lines again!
-- james_what, May 07 2008



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