Timely Tips from Over the Garden Fence
You can catch George Wedel on Over the Garden Fence, 9:05 am Saturdays on AM 590 WKZO.
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OVER THE GARDEN FENCE MAY 4, 2002 Every out-of-door enthusiast, whether passive, sports-minded, hunters, or gardeners, should take note of an insidious invader of Southwest Michigan’s roadsides, woods, parklands, and even gardens. The culprit is the garlic mustard plant. Garlic mustard poses a severe threat to native plants and animals in forest communities in much of the Eastern and Midwestern United States. Many native wildflowers that complete their life cycles in the springtime such as spring beauty, wild ginger, bloodroot, Dutchman’s breeches, hepatica, toothworts, and trilliums, occur in the same habitat as garlic mustard. Once introduced to an area, garlic mustard outcompetes native plants by aggressively monopolizing light, moisture, nutrients, soil, and space. Wildlife species that depend on these early plants for their foliage, pollen, nectar, fruits, seeds, and roots, are deprived of these essential food sources when garlic mustard replaces them. Humans are also deprived of the vibrant display of beautiful spring wildflowers. Garlic mustard is a cool season biennial in the mustard family with heart-shaped toothed leaves that give off an odor of garlic when crushed. First year plants appear as a rosette of green leaves close to the ground. Rosettes remain green through the winter and develop into mature flowering plants the following spring. Flowering plants of garlic mustard reach from 2 to 3 ½ feet in height and produce button-like clusters of small white flowers. Garlic mustard frequently occurs in moist, shaded soil in areas that are most susceptible to rapid invasion and dominance. After spending the first half of its two-year life cycle as a rosette of leaves, garlic mustard plants develop rapidly the following spring into mature plants that flower, produce seed and die by late June. A single plant can produce thousands of seeds, which scatter as much as several feet from the parent plant. Additionally, because white-tailed deer prefer native plants to garlic mustard, large deer populations may help to expand it by removing competing native plants and exposing the soil and seedbed through trampling. Due to the long life of its seeds in the soil, which may be five years or more, effective management of garlic mustard requires a long term commitment. The goal is to prevent seed production until the stored seed is exhausted. Hand removal of plants is possible for light infestations and when desirable native species co-occur. Care must be taken to remove the plant with its entire root system because new plants can sprout from root fragments. This is best achieved while plants are small and the soil is moist, by grasping the base of the plant firmly and tugging slowly and gently until the main root loosens from the soil and the entire plant pulls out. Pulled plants can be left onsite or removed. For heavy infestations, application of the systemic herbicide Roundup is also effective. Herbicide may be applied at any time of year as long as the temperature is above 50 degrees. Care must be taken not to get Roundup on desirable plants as the product is non-selective. It is very important for everyone to become familiar with garlic mustard and destroy all visible plants. We all need to work together to help protect our Michigan landscape from this pest. George Wedel <--Back. |
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09/21/02 |