Scout Info Kentucky IPM Pest Information Pages Wild Garlic (Allium vineale) There are many weeds that can occur in small grain fields, but wild garlic is of particular concern to growers for two reasons. It is difficult to eliminate the weed in the field, and the aerial bulblets that develop shortly before harvest can contaminate the crop, thus lowering its value. Wild garlic is a cool-season perennial weed that is grass-like in appearance with round, slender, hollow leaves. Its leaves and bulbs have a distinct garlic odor. Wild garlic propagates itself by developing underground bulbs that grow into new wild garlic plants, and by aerial bulblets that develop shortly before harvest. Wild onion (Allium canadense) and Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) look similar to wild garlic and may occasionally be found in Kentucky. The leaves of wild garlic are round and hollow compared with the flat leaves of wild onion, and the fleshy leaves with pale midrib of Star-of-Bethlehem.

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