How to Kill Wild Garlic

Use a trowel to remove and kill the wild garlic in your landscape.

Wild garlic (Allium vineale), often called wild onion or onion grass, is a winter weed, sprouting in the late summer or fall just as most other weeds in the landscape are withering. It grows from underground bulbs that multiply if not controlled, becoming more of a nuisance over the years. With persistence, you can control and kill most of the wild garlic in your landscape using one of several methods.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel or trowel
• Herbicide
• Hoe

Instructions

1. Dig up clumps of wild garlic with a shovel or trowel. Lift the bulbs and roots from the ground, shake the excess soil off and discard the entire clump -- do not compost. The roots and bulbs don't spread very deep or wide into the ground and should be easy to remove. The best time to complete this step is the day after a light rain when the soil is soft.

2. Apply a postemergent herbicide, such as 2,4-D dicamba, glyphosate or imazaquin, that is effective on wild garlic. Apply the herbicide in the fall per manufacturer directions when plants are about 8 inches tall. Reapply in March or April. Note that it could take several years to kill all the wild garlic in your landscape using this method.

3. Hoe the area where the wild garlic is growing once every two to three weeks throughout the winter and spring. This damages the underground bulb and may kill the entire plant. It will also prevent the bulbs from forming new bulbs.

Tips & Warnings

• When shaking excess soil from pulled clumps, be careful not to shake any tiny bulbs back to the ground.

• Read the herbicide's label to verify that it is safe for the other plants or grasses nearby. Otherwise, you may inadvertently kill them as well.

References

• Oregon State Univeristy: Wild Garlic Control in Nursery Crops
• Clemson Cooperative Extension: Wild Garlic & Wild Onion
• The University of Georgia: Wild Garlic Control in Turfgrasses