Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Garlic Mustard!


Garlic Mustard Identification and Control from Barbara Lucas on Vimeo.

Take a second to check out this video about Garlic Mustard, a nasty invasive plant here in eastern and midwest woodlands. Our natural resource managers spend time and money managing invasive plants- I think some tend to discount the threat of invasives, but this video by Wisconsin Family Forests puts it all out there. It humanizes invasives a little too much for my taste, but overall, it is very well done.

Tom

8 comments:

  1. Very interesting and the plant looks familiar to me, so I will have the check the woods that I visit this spring looking for it. It is attractive, so it is a shame it is also invasive. With all the deer in this area, I'm sure it would spread like wild fire. I don't know how some of these invasive plants can be stopped. Even when you know about it, what can you do?

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  2. I have been pulling this plant up and tossing it on the ground when it starts to bloom but didn't know it could still produce seed. So, that's why I haven't eradicated it from our woods (although I definitely have decreased its spread). From now on, I will put the plants in plastic bag or bucket--then put the plants in my firepit when I make a fire. That should do it! Great video.

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  3. Thanks for the info. I'll have to see if that grows in our zone, too.

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  4. Mary- I bet you have GM in Evansville. You can do what they show in the video- Pick it, bag it, and get rid of it.

    Appalachian Lady- Glad you enjoyed the video. The plants can go to seed, so they definitely have to be destroyed.

    Lana- Good question- Not sure if GM is naturalized in your area or not.

    It is the norm for me to see garlic mustard when I got out and naturalize in Ohio.

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  5. I'm glad it's here. I like to eat it!

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  6. Don't you think that is just a wee bit selfish of a perspective? On the whole, Garlic mustard is one of the largest threats to eastern North American forests. Hopefully you'll learn to both love and hate garlic mustard. Perhaps you can harvest it commercially, sell it, and make a few bucks while helping the forests too?

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  7. My back door neighbors have an infestation of garlic mustard. It is everywhere in their yard. I spend pretty much every week-end pulling garlic mustard from my yard and so do my next door neighbors. (our yards are quite large). I have offered the back door neighbors to pull the garlic mustard from their lot but they will not allow it. They do nothing about it either. Do I have any recourse? Who should I go to to get them to do something about it?

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  8. If you are in Ohio, there are no state laws that would require someone to remove garlic mustard from their property. Again, this advice is if you live in Ohio, but you do not have any options beyond working with them.

    -Tom

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