Stinging nettle is probably top-killed by fire.
Perennating buds on shallow rhizomes probably survive low-severity fire. Stinging nettle bloomed during the first postfire growing season on a ravine site in western Montana that burned in mid-July. Fire was prescribed on two sites in the spring 1 week after snowmelt. Approximately 96 percent of the dry surface fuels were eliminated. Vegetation was inventoried during the growing seasons before and after the fires.