Garlic Mustard Galore

Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge staff and a group of committed volunteers staged a well fought battle against invading garlic mustard in and around a rare plant area in Kittery on Tuesday, May 11th.

The volunteers included botanists, high school students, and me, a Vital Signs crew member curious to learn the process of garlic mustard removal. The group was split in three at the beginning of the day, with two high school groups tackling dense areas of garlic mustard growth in a neighborhood adjacent to the Rachel Carson Refuge land and the botanists and me navigating the less dense populations in a rare plant area.

Garlic mustard flowers and seed pods

As you might know, garlic mustard is a particularly nasty invader because it releases chemicals into the soil that are harmful to mycorrhizal fungi living there. Many native plants depend on these fungi to grow at a healthy rate. Without the fungi they can’t absorb water or nutrients as well. It’s like garlic mustard is waging chemical warfare against the native plants! With rare plants in the area the presence of garlic mustard is taken seriously by the Rachel Carson staffers and volunteers. They seem committed to the long effort ahead of them to halt the campaign of the garlic mustard.

My collection of garlic mustard

I learned quite a bit on my adventure. For one, when you pull garlic mustard you need to pull from the very bottom of the plant where the root and stem meet, otherwise you might leave viable roots behind. For two, high school students can pull a lot more garlic mustard than I can, even through briar bush! Lastly, a pickup bed full of bags of garlic mustard has a pungent aroma. No worries about vampire attacks when riding in that vehicle.