Garlic mustard, or Alliaria Petiolata, was first discovered in the US in 1868 in Long Island, New York. It was brought over from Europe to be used in a couple different foods. However the plant has only been on Sanctuary grounds for about 15 years now. 
The impact up here at Hawk Mountain is mainly along the roadside. This invasive can take over undisturbed areas of forest relatively easily. It competes with native plants for light and space. The seeds germinate in early spring, so garlic mustard is the first invasive we managed. Since it is an annual, once the plant dies that season it does not re-sprout. The aggressive nature of this plant is in the amount of seeds (thousands) each individual can produce which can germinate the following spring. The best approach for us at this time was to hand pull and weed whack prior to the plant producing seeds.
- Lucas
No comments:
Post a Comment