[Maipc] Garlic Mustard Blooming Alert!

[John Ambler]

Near the Susquehanna River the garlic mustard was in good bloom last week.

I pulled some garlic mustard earlier when it was in the rosette stage, before it started shooting up.  But on March 25 the plants in bloom had very tender and stems would break if I did not pull at the base and even then sometimes.

I imagine that unless we have very dry weather in June or the site is prone to drought, the plants will still dry out and the seeds start to shatter at the normal time, which here in Lancaster, PA (SE PA) is the last week in June.  The plants probably will just grow larger and produce more seeds.  So there still should be almost 3 months during which it can be pulled.  

Of course once it flowers, it has to be bagged and removed from the site.  I like to use the heavy-duty 45 gallon Contractor's Choice bags from Lowes.  They do not tear easily and so seeds in the soil around the roots does not get spread around as easily.

John Ambler
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Steve Young 
  To: maipc at lists.maipc.org ; RiP_Arlington at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2012 8:45 PM
  Subject: [Maipc] Garlic Mustard Blooming Alert!


  With the unseasonably warm weather we've been having in the mid-Atlantic, this probably shouldn't come as a big surprise -- this weekend I found Garlic Mustard already in bloom at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington, VA. Some of us may need to modify our plans to anticipate that the plants are close to 4 weeks ahead of schedule and will be setting seeds fast. Cheers,

  Steve Young



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