Spring is a great time to start identifying and pulling garlic mustard before it flowers and goes to seed. Garlic mustard is one of the first invasives to start growing in the spring, so it is easy identify as one of the few plants that begins to grow on the forest floor. During the spring when the ground is soft makes it an easy time for hand-pulling as well.
Garlic mustard is an early season biennial herb that forms a rosette in the first year, and a seed head in the second year, growing up to four feet tall. It gets its name from a strong garlic odor when the plant is crushed. Garlic mustard has toothed alternate leaves and small, white clusters of four-petaled flowers that form at the top of its stem. Garlic mustard is one of the first herbaceous plants to emerge in the spring, and blooms May through June.
Garlic mustard reproduces by producing a large number of seeds. It has spread throughout Minnesota and is prevalent in woodland habitats, outcompeting other native ground cover species.
Control methods for Garlic Mustard:
- Garlic mustard can be easily hand-pulled when the ground is moist.
- Removal should focus on plants that have not yet flowered.
- Pulled plants that have already flowered should be bagged to prevent spread.
More info on Garlic Mustard from the MN DNR.