Thanks for the website countrygardener. Based on this I will continue to hand pull within my gardens. In the areas beyond I think I'll pull but with lest precision to cover a bigger area then keep pulling as they reshoot. I find when I pull about 2/3 come out root & all so this may help. I was interested to read that they develop the seeds even after cutting! I guess that means I should not be putting them on my compost pile if they have flowered.

Sharon

In our yard (one acre) we pull everything, both first and second year, except tiny seedlings (which I stomp somtimes). Beyond, we try to pull up tall plants in flower about this time of year. (Nature Conservancy used to say cut within an inch of ground, but I think they grow back, weaker, but back.) Sometimes I blast particularly thick flowering bunches with glyphosate (Roundup), which kills them nicely when they're putting their energy into flowering.

It's been about 8 years now -- our yard quite free except the occasional strays. A band around our yard about 50 feet wide, not bad. Awful outside that.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info. It's good to hear that although you have lots of stuff surrounding your yard, you have little strays inside your yard. At least I know once I get ahead of it I may have less to deal with as time goes on. I do notice less this spring than last.

Round-up for us is not an option since Ontario banned all chemicals for cosmetic use this spring. So hand pulling it is. At least that I can pull. My worse nightmare will be if the grapevine starts to come back. In some spots we had to use round-up in the past to kill it. If it comes back not sure what I will do now.

You can nearly wipe out garlic mustard without chemicals if you don't have too much land. I think animals will always drag in some seeds that will sprout (my guess is that animals and people are how they mostly spread), so you have to keep your eyes out for them.

For some things -- oriental bittersweet, for example -- chemicals are essential. We're trying to rid a piece of former farmland, recently turned to park, from invasives, but using chemicals on public lands is not permitted unless you have a license which is extremely onerous to get. So some of the stuff just stays.

Garlic Mustard is difficult. If you have a lot of land you will probably need to start small and keep working your way through ever larger areas over the years. You can also try going after it with glyophosphate when it is still in the rosette stage during a time when your natives are dormant.