05/07/2026
Sick of the huge influx of ticks? There are many reasons for it, but one you may not realize is innocuous-looking invasive plants like this Garlic Mustard.
Garlic mustard truly sucks for multiple reasons that everyone should know about:
☠️ It releases chemicals into the soil that kill natural, beneficial fungi that would normally infect and kill deer ticks!
🕷️ Garlic mustard naturally repels predators of ticks, such as spiders.
🦋 It’s also an ecological trap. Butterflies mistake garlic mustard for native woodland plants in the mustard family and lay their eggs on it. But when the caterpillars hatch, they usually cannot survive because it contains different chemical compounds than the native plants they evolved with.
🌼 Any non-native plant crowds out native wildflowers and reduces biodiversity
👉 If you have wooded land (or if you hike!), make sure you’re doing your best to manage it properly. Now is the best time to identify garlic mustard leaves and flowers and get it out before it goes to seed. It’s easy to pull by the roots.
So get weeding and share this post!
