Manually launched attacks

Some plants with manually shot projectiles need to be tapped by the player in order to fire very powerful projectiles which usually deal destruction within a large area. These plants charge or otherwise tend to have a factor that prevents overuse, so it is wise to choose when is the right time to trigger such plants to attack.

Corn cob
Main article: Corn cob

Corn Cobs are the very first heavy-duty attack in the series. They are very powerful ballistic missiles that can be fired onto anywhere on the lawn. All the player really has to do is to click (or tap, depending on the game version) on the Cob Cannon, then onto the desired spot, and, in a second or so, after the Cob Cannon fires it sky-high offscreen, the Cob Cannon will crash down onto the targeted tile, obliterating anything (except Gargantuars and other plant within the area) in a 3x3 area; in essence, they are nothing more than Cherry Bombs repeatedly produced by Cob Cannons every 36.41 seconds. Take note that, since the firing of the missile is delayed by a second, the player should shoot at the area in front of the planned landing spot, since any potential targets might be able to move out of range within the second's delay.

Given that Cob Cannons recharge their cobs every 36.41 seconds, it is best to have at least four of them on the lawn for rotational use. It is still best to not use them until a high value target (e.g. a Yeti Zombie or a Giga Gargantuar) or a huge cluster of zombies appear.

Coconut
Coconuts are fired by Coconut Cannons, which, unlike Cob Cannons from the preceding game, shoot their deadly ammunition straight.

Unlike Cob Cannon, the coconut does not have any advantage in targeting what the player wants to target; it can only fly straight and blow up the first target with 45 normal damage shots (half the power of corn cobs), along with everything with a 3x2 explosion dealing 15 normal damage shots. It will then take 16 seconds for the Coconut Cannon to wake up and shoot again.

It is susceptible to deflection by Jester Zombie, which means the plants, not the zombies, will receive mass destruction.

Grand coconut
When fed with Plant Food, Coconut Cannon will awaken (if it is still in cooldown) then expel a giant coconut (having fired, it will have to sleep for 16 seconds before it can fire again) which will slowly travel to the east, pushing all the zombies in its row back to the righmost side of the screen, then blowing up in a 3x3 explosion dealing 60 normal damage shots. It is recommended to have it fire first in order to deal damage and not waste a shot. The main disadvantage of this grand projectile is that it can be halted and detonated prematurely by tombstones blocking its way.

There is no way a Jester Zombie can deflect this, since it is far too big and powerful.

Sun bolt
Unlike most of the projectiles on this page, which are controlled by the cooldown rate of their shooters, sun bolts, powerful rainbow bullets, can be fired indefinitely and consecutively by a Magnifying Grass, as long as the player has enough sun, since, when tapped, Magnifying Grass will take 50 sun from the player's bank and release it as a colorful punch of death to the first zombie it strikes, provided it's health is less than or equal to the 27.5 normal damage shots the bolt packs in it.

Banana
The banana, ballistic missiles shot by none other than Banana Launchers, are nothing more than clones of the corn cobs from the first game, even acting the exact same way, enjoying the same degree of targeting freedom. The only difference is that the bananas only deal 60 normal damage shots (two-thirds the power of corn cobs) within three tiles in a single row. When boosted, Banana Launcher will immediately recharge itself, crazily launch four bananas at random targets on the lawn, then return to its 20 second cooldown (it is recommended to blow something up with its banana if its ripe to ensure the ammo doesn't go to waste). Whether fired normally or fed with plant food, Banana Launcher will remain vulnerable, turning an unripe, melancholy shade of green for 20 seconds until it regenerates another banana.

Strawburst
The strawburst is technically not a projectile, since Strawburst launches itself into battle. Like the rest of the plants responsible for dispelling the projectiles in this page, it is a tap-to-fire plant. It is the first manually activated plant to come in multiple stages with differently charged attacks per phase, the second being Jack O' Lantern. The Strawburst goes in three stages: one, where it starts off as a small green berry, which deals 10 normal damage shots. It has to recharge for some time before growing to the next stage. In the second stage, it turns into a medium orange berry which deals 20 normal damage shots along with splash damage. In the third stage, it fully ripens into a large red berry which deals 45 normal damage shots along with splash damage.

Big berry
When fed Plant Food, Strawburst grows to full size and laughs as a giant berry lands (always) right in the middle of the lawn and explodes, dealing 20 normal damage shots (oddly, it is 25 normal damage shots weaker than the large berry lobbed by a fully grown Strawburst and 5 less than a medium grown Strawburst) with a range that hits the entire lawn.

Stream of flames
Technically, Jack O' Lantern's flamethrowing attack is by no means a projectile. However, this attack is activated manually like the rest of the projectiles in this page. It is the second manually activated plant to have different charging phases with different attack strengths per phase, the first being Strawburst.

For every second Jack O' Lantern is held, the duration of the flames it spews will increase, and with each second the flames remain, 18 more damage shots will be dealt to all the zombies within the 1x3 range of the flames. After 5 seconds of being continuously held down (which means a damage output of 90 normal damage shots), Jack O' Lantern will recharge in five phases within 21 seconds, with each phase meaning an added second to how long the player can hold the plant down again.