Garlic Mustard
Garlic Mustard
A prolific herbaceous biennial that is colonizing woodland edges and the woodland under-story.
Its first year growth as seen at the top of the image presents itself in the early spring as most natives are still waking up. During its second season of life it starts to prolifically flower and produce thousands of seeds.
Being a biennial with a 2 season life cycle, it is imperative to interrupt its growth before producing seed. Priority should be given to managing plants in their flowering cycle.
Garlic mustard is one of the few invasive plants where mechanical pulling is an effective method of control as its persistence in the landscape comes from its self seeding. If the plant starts to flower, hand pulling and removal from the landscape is best way to control seed production and persistence in the landscape.
For larger infestations we recommend an early April foliar herbicide application. This allows for first and second year growth management before flowering and still during a time frame when most native herbaceous plants have yet to emerge for the season. Foliar methods also allow for no disruption of the soil seed bank and thus reducing the chances of more seed being brought to the soil surface during mechanical pulling efforts.
