Warning! Garlic Mustard Crisis!

[Revoltingest]

Greetings fellow gardeners/landscapers! I urge all throughout the US & Canada to google "garlic mustard" to learn about this invasive scurge, & the damage it is doing to native flora & fauna. At my place here in Revoltistan (currently in hostile occupation of SE Michigan), this pungent weed is one of the first to emerge when the snow clears. It out-competes the native plants, reducing food for bugs, birds & other critters. It has the potential to greatly reduce both plant & animal diversity, & it is taking over with alarming speed.

Research is being done to find a natural enemy of garlic mustard, & some foes have been found, but they want to test some more before implementing a solution. Until then, there are some steps you can take to kill it, but I'll leave that to the websites devoted to the topic. My approach is to use a 1% glyphosphate solution on the rosettes just after the snow melts, which kills the garlic mustard, but leaves the other dormant desirable plants safe. Then throughout the year, I'll use a stronger solution on survivors, or cut'm off at the ground. Caution! Cut/pulled plants should be burned instead of composted, since the seeds can last up to 10 years.

One last tip: For fans of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror series, it helps to chant "Die! Die! Everybody die!" while you work.

 

[Willamena]

We hve dandelions, first to appear in the Spring, but they don't sound like quite as much problem as your weed.

I was kind of hoping this would be a discussion about a condiment.

 

[Revoltingest]

We hve dandelions, first to appear in the Spring, but they don't sound like quite as much problem as your weed.

I was kind of hoping this would be a discussion about a condiment.

Garlic mustard does smell pretty good. There are uses for it, but I've no hope that over-harvesting will cure the problem. I wonder if it could do something for bacon?

 

[enchanted_one1975]

Garlic mustard sounds like it might taste good. I am going to have to hope this plant thrives so that we may one day see a spice made from it at our local dollar store.

 

[Revoltingest]

Garlic mustard sounds like it might taste good. I am going to have to hope this plant thrives so that we may one day see a spice made from it at our local dollar store.

It's doing far better than just thriving....it's killing off phlox, may apples, trilliums, & a bunch of other native flora, including some trees (as seedlings). That signals doom for the critters who depend upon those plants too. I'd hate to see our forests become a lot less interesting.

 

[Autodidact]

 

[enchanted_one1975]

This looks like it would probably taste better than the bugs that are being endangered.

 

[Herr Heinrich]

That doesn't sound very good at all. I will have to keep an eye out around here.

 

[xkatz]

I think I may have some in my backyard

 

[Revoltingest]

I think I may have some in my backyard

It's a losing battle until an effective predator is introduced. Still, I kill it where practical.

 

[Revoltingest]

Time again to resurrect this thread.....
[youtube]XyrU-ekt2po[/youtube]
YouTube - Controlling the Spread of Garlic Mustard