Wild garlic take over!

[tracy]

I have had the following question sent to me, that I hope someone on the forum can help with. I think it is a great question, and brings into debate again how much involvement woodland owners could have with plants... Now, I know that this will bring lots of debate and look forward to hearing the arguments!

"Do you know of anyone who can advise us on any problem that we might

encounter with wild garlic? Our 2-acre wood has a thriving bluebell

population, but two years ago we noticed for the first time a small patch of

wild garlic, and this year this had increased its area ten-fold. Next year,

who knows? We are concerned that the wild garlic will compete with the

bluebells. If they can co-exist, that would be fine, but if not we shall

have to consider trying to get rid of the wild garlic. If anyone can offer

us advice on this, we would be really grateful."

Any thoughts?

Tracy

[tracy]

One helpful reply so far:

"Wild Garlic- Allium ursinum thrives where it is damp and shady in our wood along the stream banks. In 5 years it hasn't spread up the slope where the Bluebells are abundant. At the boundary between the two species they grow happily intermingled along with Dog's Mercury.

As all parts of the Wild Garlic are edible if you are that way inclined and I think the flowers are equally as beautiful as Bluebells and many insects love them, I have never had any inclination to interfere with their growth. However if they are spreading too rampantly I believe the only successful method of keeping them under control is persistent cutting to weaken the plants."

[carlight]

hi , under mature beech ,at mine , the garlic has become a little bit dominant at the blue bells' expense .

as mentioned above , one still gets a magnificent floral and foliar display .even if the latter is a bit smelly on decay .

Have been told that the two plants (blubells and garlic) have responses to different stimuli regarding springtime vigour . Thus some weather patterns in spring may favour one over the other.

I think that digging up the bulbs would be the way to discourage the garlic /eat garlic bread . Hopefully one could recognise the two bulbs apart , the garlic being abit longer than the rounder bluebell bulb (?)

[tracy]

Here are some helpful comments from Julian Evans, author of Badgers, Blisters and Beeches. (available free here: http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/owning-a-wood/books/badgers-beeches-and-blisters/)

Wild garlic. In my own wood I am trying to encourage wild garlic!! since it struggles against Dogs Mercury of which I have a carpet. Whether it competes well against blue-bells I am not sure, but even if it does one really finds wild garlic woods like bluebell woods covering many acres. Ecologically it tends to patches, very occasionally as much as ¼ acre, but, in my experience, rarely more.

[tracy]

Another reply from Peter Buckley who wrote 'Managing your woodland for Wildlife' (http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/practical-guides/managing-your-woodland-for-wildlife/)

Both species are prolific seeders and are gradually spread around woods by people and animals, with some limited, local clonal growth as the bulbs proliferate. Both take some years to flower from seed - up to five for bluebell. However, the important thing to remember is that each has a subtly different niche, so therefore there should be no danger of one species taking over completely from the other. Garlic prefers somewhat wetter, more base-rich soils and it stands shade exceedingly well, to the extent the Rackham notes that it responds poorly to coppicing. In contrast, bluebell doesn't like it too wet, it prefers a slightly more acid soil, and responds well to coppicing. To give a better prognosis one would need to have more details about the particular wood, its soils, topography and recent management. But it seems likely that, given the variation in environmental conditions one might expect to find in a small wood, that each species will find its optimum space and resist further ingress from other, less well-adapted ones.

[chrisjs]

We would love some wild garlic in our wood! if you want to sell a clump let me know.

Chris ([email protected])

[Neil]

Many thanks for these responses. I think that we'll do nothing for the moment and see how things progress over the next couple of years. At the moment, the wild garlic isn't showing, and so I have no idea how extensive an area will be covered when it does. The wood covers the area of a gully through which a stream runs, and is in the lower part of the gull where the soil is wettest and the shade deepest, whilst the bluebells are on the upper slopes and in dappled sunlight; there is thus, at the moment, the separation of habitat that is mentioned in the response from Peter Buckley, but whether this will be maintained remains to be seen. We are very happy to supply wild garlic to anyone who would like some and wouldn't dream of charging a penny for it: just let us know where to send it, and we'll do so in the sping when the plants start to emerge. I'll keep SWOG posted on developments with the wild garlic/bluebell competition.

Neil ([email protected])

[Neil]

Sorry for a slight error in my last post. It should have read: 'The wood covers the area of a gully through which a stream runs, and the wild garlic is in the lower part of the gully where the soil is wettest and the shade deepest ... etc.'

Neil ([email protected])

[Rich]

Happy New Year!

I'm just wondering whether or not it's a good idea to introduce any species, especially into ancient woodland. I did try planting some ramson seeds into a wet gully 2 or 3 years ago, but they didn't take so maybe if they could be there, they would be there already?

[Neil]

I'm inclined to agree with Rich. An ancient woodland will presumably have acquired an optimum balance of species over many years, and introducing a new one could have marked and unpredictable consequences. In the case of ransoms, I understand (though I'm no expert on the subject) that they spread primarily by the proliferation of their bulbs, with seed propagation being secondary. The stream running through our gully occasionally floods and its width may increase by five times or more; it is possible that ransom bulbs could be brought down from the higher reaches of the stream to lodge in our gully. With changes in weather patterns, and with flooding occurring at different times of the year than previously, it is possible that species not hitherto present in our gully may be swept into it. We'll keep a close watch.

Neil ([email protected])