Subject: Re: kudzu

From: [email-masked] (Elaine Jackson)
Date: 27 Sep 1994 16:07:20 GMT

[email-masked] (ABRAHAM WALKER) writes:

> Well, let me ask a favor.  The next time you cut it dig it or . . . put
 it in a
> box or something and mail it to me.  I'm very serious.  We plan on
 tending it
> just like the Japanes do and are convinced that given our climate 
which is much
> much dryer and has fairly cold winters we can in fact control it.  We will be
> happy to pay the postage on it.  

Oh dear.  Well, if you're determined to try, *PLEASE* be sure it's 
planted in the middle of the chosen area, so you have access from all
sides to keep it under control.  The serious kudzu problems around here
(central NC) feature the dead skeletons of 30-, 40- and 50-foot trees
completely enveloped in kudzu vine, and those are just the ones we can
see from the road.

For the post-er who asked what kudzu looks like, I don't believe I've
seen any other description yet, so here goes my true-life-experience 
version, as observed this morning on the way to work, and every weekend
near the main dumpster site for our county:

Pueraria thunbergiana; a huge (to 100'+) vine much more rampant, persistent, 
vigorous, invasive, healthy, and prolific than wisteria.  Leaves light mid-
green with silvery edge, leaf size ranges from sandwich-plate size to 
dinner-plate (or frisbee) size to really big; shaped something like a 
simplified ivy leaf.  Large, sweetly fragrant, lavender flowers, carried in
trusses like those of many of the other leguminous (nitrogen-fixing) plants
(e.g. pea, some beans).  Thick, strong, heavy vining stems capable of 
overgrowing and smothering adult trees; the main stem may be 4"+ in diameter
in an old or well-established plant.  Can be used for fodder and forage.  
Effective erosion control if the plant(s) can be contained.    

Sounds superb, doesn't it?  And it is, really, except that it can propagate
itself by stem cuttings, seeds, and any piece of root of nearly any 
size.  A splendid plant that needs to be treated like the ruthless invader
that it is.  Good luck to the folks who plan to plant it; if you do it
with deliberately, with great care, it may be just what you need, with
your special conditions.

Elaine Jackson