Environmental

Garlic Mustard Pullers & Potential Pullers

Garlic mustard
garlic mustard

It is garlic mustard pulling season… again! The plants look green and healthy. They are beginning to bolt tall and will be blooming soon. Obviously they have thrived during our extremely wet spring. This is the perfect and best time to pull – the ground is moist, so plants pull fairly easily and they are big enough to easily spot and are not hidden by blackberries, bedstraw, and reed canarygrass yet.

This is the 5th spring SRN, FPNA, and Skyline Grange have joined forces to control garlic mustard in our neighborhoods. Again Metro has provided vouchers for us to dispose of the plants. West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, Multnomah County, and City of Portland again will be spraying along the roadside and/or may be able to assist landowners with their garlic mustard. Portland Parks & Recreation and Forest Park Conservancy will be working in Forest Park.

You are an essential part of controlling garlic mustard – your eyes for finding plants, your bodies for pulling, your mouths for educating neighbors. Though this year’s “crop” appears robust, several people have said where the plants have been pulled/sprayed for several years, the infestation seems less this year. Please pull now until mid-end June before their seed pods burst. The sooner, the better, and the easier.

We have three boxes at the Disposal Site at the Grange (11275 NW Skyline Blvd):
1. Container 1 contains equipment you might need:
· Heavy-duty plastic bags
· Duct tape to tape closed any puncture holes and to secure opening tightly shut.
2. Container 2 contains:
· Data Form
Please fill out this form. It is vital for mapping infestations, knowing where work has been done, and for reporting about our efforts.
· Hand Pulling Protocol (please review and follow)
· About Garlic Mustard information sheet
· Permission for Entry
There are two forms, one for landowners within City of Portland & another for landowners in northwest unincorporated Multnomah County. These are for landowners who desire assistance from agencies to help with their infestations of garlic mustard.
3. Container 3 (new this year) contains:
· Shoe brush
· Box to scrub shoes into. This will lessen your chance of tracking garlic mustard seeds to other sites and back to your own property. Please make sure scrubbed debris goes into the box so not to contaminate the Grange’s land.

• We are targeting garlic mustard growing along roadways, beyond public rights-of-way, on our own properties, and that of our neighbors.

Video
Watch the excellent garlic mustard video on your computer at http://www.in-sitevideo.com/wff/garlicmustard.html.

Coordinators & Questions:
• For Forest Park Neighborhood Association:
Leslie Hildula (503-283-8626 or )
• For Skyline Ridge Neighbors:
Sen Speroff (503-621-3331 or )

Thanks for your commitment to the health and diversity of our local woodlands. Our fringecups, wild ginger, and yellow violets thank you too.