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GARLIC MUSTARD - This is the time to get rid of it in your yards!

It’s highly invasive, but very easy to eradicate now.
Posted on: May 2, 2024 - 5:35am
garlic mustard plant

The highly invasive Garlic Mustard plant is quickly gaining a foothold in Lynnfield, and this is the time to take it out! Despite its name, it won’t help you in the kitchen and it’s certainly bad for your yard, particularly so because it releases a substance into the ground that kills other species by preventing them from germinating.

Garlic Mustard spreads in your yards, on trails, roadsides, and other areas where trees have been removed or the ground has been disturbed. By the time native species are ready to grow, garlic mustard has invaded.

Right now, it’s easy to identify because it opens its leaves and flowers before almost all other plant species.

Garlic mustard has a 2-year life cycle. In the first year, it forms “rosettes” of green leaves that lie low to the ground. This is a good time to pull them. If left in place, in the second year, the leaves grow up a flowering stem and become more triangular and heart-shaped with toothed edges. They typically grow 22-36” tall and produce highly recognizable little 4-petal white flowers. The goal is to prevent it from producing seed and continuing to spread. Amazingly, a single plant can produce up to 7,000 tiny seeds!

rosettes

 

garlic mustard 2 years growth
Garlic Mustard in year 1 - as a "rosette"Garlic Mustard in year 2 -  a 24-36" tall flowering plant
  

 HERE IS THE BEST WAY TO GET RID OF GARLIC MUSTARD:

  • Pull the plant straight up to release the tap root. The plant is fairly loose in the soil, so It’s easy to pull by hand, and even easier after it rains and the ground is softer.
  • Pull in April through early June when it is in flower (but seeds are not yet set)
  • Bag the plants and throw away in the garbage – DO NOT COMPOST!

If you have any questions at all, call Planning & Conservation at (781) 334-9495. Thank you!