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Help! Last Year, I had a few wild onions/chives in my gardens. This year my gardens are full of them. Pulling doesn't seem to help. What can I do? G.D.
Answer
Thank you for your question. Wild Onions/garlic need to
be dug up and then removed. If you pull them up without
loosening the soil around the base of the plant, most of the
bulbs/bulb-lets will break off and remain behind to grow
another plant. When you dig and pull them out, do not
shake the soil off of the bulbs. Instead, put the whole plant,
bulbs and soil into a plastic bag and throw it away. Any
pieces of the roots that fall off from shaking the soil off the
roots can fall to the ground and grow another plant. Never
put the plant into your compost pile! Do not allow the plants
to flower and then go to seed because each flower produces
lots and lots of seeds! Use your lawn mower to cut back the
plants to keep them from flowering. Mowing will not kill the
plant; just keep it from going to seed. To kill the plant, you
can pour boiling water onto it and into the ground around the
plant. You may have to do this several times to kill the plant.
Be careful though, boiling water will kill anything it touches so
protect surrounding plants. I hope this helps with your wild onion problem.
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About Linda Lillie
Linda K. Lillie is the President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc, the premier
landscape design and maintenance, tree care, lawn care, stonework, and carpentry
service provider in southeastern Connecticut since 1997. She is a graduate of
Connecticut College in Botany, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national
award winning landscape designer for her landscape design and landscape installation work.
