What do wild garlic and the Super Bowl share? (1-19-09)

What do wild garlic and the Super Bowl share?

Probably not a whole lot! However, they both occur and may catch our attention every year in early February. The sports announcers are quite good at keeping the hype up for getting us to pay attention to the teams, individual players, advertisements, before and after game parties, etc. for the Super Bowl, but does anyone ever mention wild garlic? Never! If your lawn has a history of wild garlic (or onions), then it is time to pay as much attention to it as the Super Bowl.

Wild garlic and wild onions are difficult to control due to their cylinder shaped waxy leaves and large storage bulbs below ground. Therefore, to get the best bang from a post-emerge herbicide application it needs to be applied while the wild garlic is actively growing and has tender tall leaves that have not been cut off with the lawn mower. February (Super Bowl weekend) will be the best opportunity for controlling this troublesome weed while your lawn is dormant. Particularly for centipede and St. Augustine lawns that are more sensitive to many post-emerge herbicides.

Recommended herbicides that have good to excellent activity on wild garlic include imazaquin, the hormonal herbicides such as 2,4-D; MCPP; dicamba; fluroxypyr; etc. and the sulfonyl-urea herbicides such as metsulfuron, and sulfosulfuron,. Always read product labels carefully for safety to turf species and use rates.

Published January 19, 2009

Dr. Wayne Wells is an Extension Professor and Turfgrass Specialist. His mailing address is Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, Mail Stop 9555, Mississippi State, MS 39762. wwells@ext.msstate.edu