April
2007
Time to pull the Garlic Mustard
It’s an invasive plant and it’s difficult to get rid of.
I’m talking about garlic mustard. One plant can throw off a thousand seeds and it spreads like wildfire. It’s usually one of the first plants to green up in the spring and it’s one of the last to die off in the fall. It chokes out other plant life and species that are native to Wisconsin are having a tough time competing.
The best time to pull it is in the spring before its tell-tale stalks (which contain the seed pods) come up. You have to pull it up by the roots. Put it in a black bag and seal it up tight before putting it in your trash.
The leafs are easily identifiable but some may confuse the leaf for that of a strawberry. The leaf is acorn shaped with points on the edges (see picture). In a few weeks, the plants will get little flowers which will develop into seed pods.
I was hoping that I’d won the battle against garlic mustard in my lawn this year. Unfortunately my hopes have been dashed and I have at least one, if not two more years of pulling ahead of me. In the area I’ve been pulling garlic mustard for three years I’ve almost erradicated it but it has popped up in yet another spot in the yard. If you have any hope of keeping your yard full of primarily native plant life, you’ll want to pull out your garlic mustard by the roots this weekend or at least soon.
Jim McGuigan
Jim McGuigan, Watchdogging the Environment
Jim:
I had no idea. I just looked that up at Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin [ http://www.ipaw.org/invaders/garlic_mustard/gm.htm ].
It’s all over my backyard (in MASS) – I thought it was kinda pretty when it bloomed. DOH.
Wouldn’t it be easier to nuke the stuff while it’s actively growing – with let’s say – a 6% solution of glyphosate?
I’ve been putting some serious hurt on reed canary grass for the last few years and I’m actually gaining the upper hand.
The herbicide treatment is less labor-intensive (allowing for much more coverage) and depletes the seed bank just as effectively.
Either way, the garlic mustard scum must die.
Just be careful you don’t rip out the beautiful and perfectly native Rocket Lulgaria…the spring leaves of the rocket plant look almost identical to that disgusting garlic mustard…Good Luck–I nuked the patch in my yard two years ago and so far it hasn’t come back!!!!!
I blame George W. Bush for the spread of Garlic Mustard. It must be his fault and a direct result of global warming and big oil.
We bought our 3 Acre lot in Brookfield (mostly woods) when we saw it covered with Spring Beauty, violets, Bloodroot, anemone, hepatica, trillium, soooo beautiful in spring, but when I learned about the invasive Garlic Mustard coming very strongly into the area, I had to do what I needed to do to protect the flowers. One of the first years I pulled out 92 garbage bags of it out of the woods & clearing, & have finally given up on the back acre or so. Every plant you miss has a potential of 150 or so more plants, and the seeds are viable for 15 years or so—NOT GOOD!! Start early, pull them at the bottom of the stem, where you find a node, and force it out with your finger to be sure to get the root. I go out every 2 weeks or so to check for new growth. I’ve been doing this for maybe 10 years, but its become rampant in Brookfield.