This plant is an diabolical horror, and will essentially run my life for the next ~5 years as I try to eradicate it from my property. I see little hope for our forest lands and its native plant life unless large scale biological control is implemented. Ditto on Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), which might even be worse than garlic mustard, if possible.

I'm not familiar with Japanese stiltgrass.

I found the information in the link below from Michigan State on biological control.

Just thought I'd pop my head in for a second and say hi.. My wife and I are fighting the GM as well here in CT. Unfortunately, I guess we're not alone.. After 1/2 a day of pulling and bagging the stuff this past weekend I felt like I needed a support group.

I thought we made pretty good progress last year- we pulled most of the bittersweet and multiflora, and started on the GM. We're beginning to see a lot more native woodland plants in our wooded areas. This year there's been an explosion of Jack in the Pulpits, trout lily, and Trillium as compared to last year. This year the GM has come back with a vengeance, in different areas. In some of the areas it's infested it's the only thing growing on ground level.

Speaking of biological controls- do deer eat GM? One difference between this year and last is the complete absence of deer. The past few years we've had a herd of 5-10 that always walk through the yard, devouring almost everything in their path. This year, the deer have mysteriously disappeared, but the GM has gone wild. I'm not suggesting deer are a good control, don't get me wrong :) I'm just wondering if they eat GM.

Also, in response to nywoodsman's post, I've seen somethign similar on our GM. Maybe 1 or 2% of the plants I pull look sickly, the leaves are blackened and withered, and the flowers failed to bloom properly. Maybe this is similar to what you are seeing. I should snap a few photos so we can compare notes.

Good luck everyone, keep up the fight.

-Josh-

(preparing to tackle the knotweed this weekend before it destroys our driveway)

The Conservation District are releasing a bug that eats only GM in Glacial Park.

I visited a friend last week that lives in a beautiful older neighborhood with large manicured lots. Growing right by the entryway was a stand of GM. I asked her if she knew what it was and she said no but she found it growing in her back yard and re-planted it there. Even after I told her what it was she still wanted to keep it. Thankfully her husband reached over and yanked it. She's not the only person I've met who "loves the way it looks" and has planted it on purpose. Unfortunately deer will not eat GM.

April, a bug that eats GM? That's exciting news!!

If you have this again this year, and it seems to impede the growth of the plant, you should let the people working on it know. My wife inquired of Virginia Nuzzo (think you can find her on Google) about an odd leaf pattern we were seeing, but that did not seem to affect growth. But Ms. Nuzzo made a very nice reply, offered to look at it if we sent a sample, and said she'd really be interested in checking out anything that was really having an effect on the plants. If you see it again and get a sample, you should report it.