Controlling Invasive Garlic Mustard

People in Franklin are noticing an invasive species of lawn and garden weed called "Garlic Mustard". It is a biannual plant from Europe and was imported as a culinary herb. It is taking over wetlands and out competing native plants. Once it flowers it produces hundreds of seeds that are dispersed by wind and rain. Garlic mustard also changes the soil conditions so that no other plant can grow there!

You can manually pull out weeds in spring, and cut the weeds low while they are flowering so the seeds don't form. It may take a few years to get rid of this invasive because of all the seeds.

Burnout has come in. It is a citric acid and clove oil based all natural spray that will kill most plants. We have lawn fertilizer that has corn gluten in it that will prevent the seeds from sprouting. A glyphosphate herbicide will do the trick, but be very careful where you spray it as it will kill your grass. We carry Bonide's Kleen up that leaves no soil residue. Garlic Mustard seeds persist in the soil for years so you will need to treat for a few years.

Here are some resource links:

http://www.massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/invasive-plants/garlic-mustard

http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/invasiveplants/factsheets/pdf/garlic-mustard.pdf

http://www.massaudubon.org/content/download/7042/129673/file/strategic_plan_042005.pdf

http://www.massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/invasive-plants/herbicides