Absolutely gorgeous spring day on Sat – perfect for a massacre. Garlic mustard is the latest invasive exotic threatening the woodlands in Floyd (and throughout half the US). I’ve seen pictures where the entire forest floor has been taken over by it. Right now it’s blooming and easy to see – I pulled up thousands of them yesterday. The Ailanthus is also starting to leaf out, identifying those that I haven’t killed in the past two years. The good news is that every single one of them larger than a pinky are now dead. The bad news is that they are now already falling over everywhere – into pastures and paths which will require serious work to clean up. And there are still thousands of sprouts smaller than a pinky. Did the “hack and squirt” on hundreds of them on Sat. It was a good day.
Below an aggravating sight – garlic mustard, ailanthus, and multiflora rose all in a 2 square ft area. Sometimes the task seems overwhelming….
Unholy Trinity
Crooked River Farm 
4 comments
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May 1, 2011 at 12:07 pm
merle thompson
Is this in the area that you cleared of the rose last year? Very discouraging.
June 10, 2011 at 7:23 am
Jeff
Hi Chris, thought this might interest you and other readers; biological warfare against multiflora rose. We’ve spoken of the witches broom affecting the roses. But I didn’t know of the link between elm galls and a mite which spreads Rose Rosette Disease. http://www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/nature/of-all-the-gall-part-three/
Ain’t nature wonderful?
Jeff
December 16, 2011 at 10:21 am
Bill
The secret to killing Ailanthus is to do it slowly- at least to the larger specimens. This way the tree does not have a root suckering surge and you end up with a bigger problem than the one large tree. I have successfully used a broad leaf herbicide 50% with basal oil or 100% Glyphosate- but applied it to indentations I made around the trunk. This way the trees roots die before the top eliminating the root suckers. The worst thing to do with Ailanthus is total girdling or cutting it off at the ground even with squirting the cut.
Hope this helps eliminate all the smaller than a pinky sprouts.
Your property looks amazing!
Bill in Nevis
December 16, 2011 at 10:37 am
Bill
Sorry, just realized you have this info. in another part of your blog!
Great work and wonderful info.