“Southerners must close their windows at night to keep the kudzu out…”
Quote from The Amazing Story of Kudzu
(Above) Kudzu covering half a road, note the yellow line
(Above) A vast sea of kudzu
Did you know that Kudzu was once planted as a decorative ornamental? It was introduced to the US in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, and promoted for use as a decorative plant in gardens, and as a way to control erosion on slopes. Kudzu blooms mostly in July and August, and has very long clusters of dark purple, very sweet smelling flowers. When in bloom, the grape-like smell is very strong and pleasant.
The south has near perfect conditions for kudzu– hot summers, mild winters with few hard freezes, high humidity and normally high amounts of rainfall, and no natural predators. In fact, it grows much better here in the south than it does in it’s native land of Japan. As a result, this vine now covers more than 7 million acres in the southern US, and has destroyed much forest and farm land, both public and private. Here, it grows at the unbelievable rate of a foot (a FOOT!) a day during spring and summer, up to 60 ft per season, completely covering trees and roadsides, power poles, fences, yards, houses, absolutely everything in it’s path. It can spread for many miles, it’s roots go as deep as twelve feet in the ground, and it can take up to 10 years of specific herbicide use to get rid of it.
©seasonal kudzu photo by Jack Anthony, used with permission, Kudzu-The Vine
Green, mindless, unkillable ghosts.
In Georgia, the legend says
That you must close your windows
At night to keep it out of the house.
The glass is tinged with green, even so…
From the poem “Kudzu”, by James Dickey
Kudzu covering a tree, half the road, and both sides of the main highway
People have been known to leave home on vacation down here only to return a week later to find cars and other LARGE objects buried under its lush greenery.
From Gardening Tips From Down South – How to Grow Kudzu
This plant is an evil, invasive, strangling weed. My photos were taken less than a mile from where I live. Thank goodness there are creeks, a lake, and a road between us and it… even so, I still look twice anytime I see a broad-leaved green vine twining anywhere near here.
Kudzu close-up of the leaves, the vining tendrils, and growing on the hot pavement
Click thumbnails above for larger versions of the photos.
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See a more recent post (September 27, 2010) here, with many more photos of this vine and how it covers everything in it’s path, including a photo of kudzu flowers:
Kudzu World
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Many photos of kudzu in the South, seasonal photos including larger versions of the all-seasons kudzu photo above, etc: Kudzu-The Vine
The Amazing Story of Kudzu
Wikipedia
It takes over the land, and I have seen areas just like that all over the place here in Georgia. It looks like somebody would come up with a way to get rid of it.
Wow, very informative! I knew it was a problem, but didn’t know all the background info on it. And the pictures are startling. It is pretty depressing when you realize how extensive the problem is, but oddly, you don’t hear much in the media about it. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Thanks for visiting, Kay. It absolutely does look like someone would come up with a way to get rid of this stuff! I’ve heard about people continuing to cut it down and spray it, year after year, and then trying to keep the area mowed.. all just to try and stop the spread.
Hi Maggie,
It’s an awful problem here, and yes, it’s depressing. It’s depressing to me to see all the land being completely covered by it. The photos I took are just a short distance away from where I live, and it’s very beautiful, mountain land near a lake. It’s a shame that this vine is taking it. Every year, more and more of it is covered.
You know, I’ve been told about Kudzu here in the south. I’ve never seen it! Or, I never looked for it. I walk a college campus when the weather is decent and have looked for it in the naturally wooded areas…
I thank my lucky stars, so far. Thanks for this information.
Hi Mary,
You are very blessed not to have this where you live. It’s terrible here, all along the sides of the highways and into the woods in the mountain areas. I hope it never gets started in your area!
Thank you for visiting.
It is a cancer on the native landscape. It destroys the habitats of our beautiful woldflowers and trees.. As it covers large tulip poplars, oaks, river birches whatever, it makes giant green shapes that resemble dinosaurs and monsters. It is itself a monster. I read somewhere that it was also introduced as a fodder plant. Well bring on the goats! When the hay crops fail, harvest the invasive stuff. Little Shop of Horrors has nothing on this monster plant. It should totally convince us never to introduce foreign plants and animals into an environment. Japanese honeysuckle is almost as bad. Ailanthus is a scourge. I don’t know why environmentalists have not declared war on these intruders to our native flora long ago. The state should be conducting a campaign to get rid of them.
[…] kudzu will come in and take over the house. An article from CBC discusses kudzu, the near-ubiquitous […]
Hi nouveaufauves,
I agree, it surely is like a cancer on the landscape. I’ve seen the “monster shapes” you spoke of, it’s terrible the way the vine covers and chokes the native trees and plants.. and everything else in it’s path. It has destroyed so much property.. I wonder as well why the state doesn’t seem to do much to eradicate it. It spreads from the state owned roadsides onto acres of private property, and even if the property owners try to stop the vine from taking over, it doesn’t make much difference when the state doesn’t do anything about it and allows it to spread. Thanks for your comments.
[…] overtakes a parked car, growing as far out into the street as the double yellow center line, starting to overtake a house, and another severe […]
it is scary how fast it grows!
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Have you tried goats?
Hi d,
I’ve heard of people using goats to try and get rid of it.. :) hopefully, it won’t ever get started here in my yard. Thanks for visiting.
My husband and I traveled to Atlanta from Indiana this last weekend and we saw this vine just completely covering parts of the landscape on the highway. I thought I’d Google it to find out what it was and I was surprised to hear it was kudzu. I remember hearing about it in the news a while back but nothing lately. I too am surprised someone hasn’t figured out how to eradicate this plant.
Suzanne, it really is a terrible blight on the landscape in the south — in midsummer it completely covers tall trees along the roadsides. I think it could be eradicated with herbicides, I just don’t know why the state doesn’t do it. That would at least stop it along the roadsides, which is where it starts and then spreads onto private property (in this area anyway).
We live in NW Alabama and have been in our house 12 years. We have a steep slope which has been dug up 3 times and replanted and we’ve been battling a vine which wants to take over the shrubs. Since I’m from New Jersey I’d never heard of kudzu. It finally dawned on me that kudzu is what I’m dealing with. I’ve looked at your pictures, and that’s it. I pull it up and after a heavy rain it completely covers the slope again. Interestingly, we have other garden areas which do not have this problem, just the slope. I think my only solution is to forget plantings and have it completely razed and put rocks instead. HELP!
Hi Carol,
I have never had to battle this monster, thank goodness! It grows within a mile of me though so I see how rampant it is, and am always amazed at how fast this stuff grows.
I did find an article about getting rid of it. Seems this person was successful in eradicating it from her land, so you might want to try her method. Here’s the link:
Kudzu Monsters…will not take over the universe!!
Good luck!
Folks I just returned from a two week trip to the SE and was shocked to see this “creepy” vine taking over the landscapes everywhere. A few years ago there was a warning from different knowledgeable people that the Kudzu was heading westward toward Texas and that if it wasn’t stopped soon, it would take over everything. That was the last I heard about it until this past couple of weeks when I saw it first-hand!! Someone had better stop it soon before it destroys everything in its path!!!
Terrence, I see it every day, miles and miles of it along the roadsides and on private property. It’s all over western NC and northern Georgia. It is shocking to really start noticing just how much of it there is.
Kudzu just discovered in Leamington, Ontario, Canada. Leamington is on Lake Erte, about 30 miles south east of Detroit. From what I have read on various web sites, Kudzu likes hot humid weather, which would limit the growing season in Ontario (I hope).
Our provincial government getter get a handle on this problem fast.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/23/leamington-kudzu-092309.html
Jerry, it is a terrible problem. Hopefully, your climate would prevent it from becoming as rampant as it is here in the south. However, after looking at the photo in the article you linked to — I have seen acres and acres of it here that look just like that. Your government should do whatever it takes to eradicate this horrible plant. It will absolutely cover everything in it’s path.
Hi, i love right outside of DC and even we have some near us. Not nearly as much as is around where you live, but we do have some. It’s a real problem just like some of the bambu that got planted in the area. somebody should find a use for it. Maybe it could be turned into a biofuel.
Hi Will,
It’s surprising that it is as far north as DC, but it’s even in Canada now (the comment above yours has a link to an article about it there). Definitely it’s a problem, wherever it is. I hate the stuff, and agree that somebody should find a use for it. There would certainly be an abundant supply!
Thanks for visiting.
Researchers Find Kudzu, the Vine That Ate The South, Loaded With Health Benefits
(NaturalNews) Kudzu, first introduced to the U.S. in l876 when the Japanese government brought the vine for a garden display at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, is often called the vine that ate the south. You’ll understand why if you drive down country and even some suburban roads in Georgia, Alabama and other southern states — there’s no way you’ll miss seeing thick kudzu vines winding to the top of mighty oaks, wrapping around telephone poles and covering countless hills and roadsides. To put it mildly, kudzu is a kind of Godzilla of nuisance weeds. But in Asia, it has long been known as a traditional medicinal plant.
Now scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have found traditional healers in Japan and China may have been right all along. Research just published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry suggests the so-called weed could actually be a source of natural health benefits. It may be of particular value in treating metabolic syndrome, a condition that affects 50 million Americans.
According to the National Institutes of Health, metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors linked to being overweight or obese that increases the risk for heart disease and other health problems such as diabetes and stroke. And the UAB research team’s studies on animal models show that natural chemicals called isoflavones found in kudzu root could improve a host of problems associated with metabolic syndrome. For example, it normalizes blood pressure, lowers high cholesterol and stabilizes blood glucose. One particular isoflavone called puerarin that is only found only in kudzu appears to have the strongest beneficial effect on health.
“Our findings showed that puerarin helps to lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol,” J. Michael Wyss, Ph.D., a professor in the UAB Department of Cell Biology and lead author on the study, said in a statement to the press. “But perhaps the greatest effect we found was in its ability to regulate glucose, or sugar, in the blood.”
Too much glucose in the blood is linked to both diabetes and obesity and can be a symptom of metabolic syndrome. According to Dr. Wyss, puerarin has the remarkable ability to regulate glucose by driving it to places in the body where it is beneficial, like muscles, and away from fat cells and blood vessels.
Dr. Wyss and the other UAB researchers added small amount of kudzu root extract to the diets of laboratory rats for about two months. Then they compared this group of rodents to a control group of rats who didn’t get the kudzu supplementation. The rats who had consumed kudzu extract had lower cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and insulin levels. What’s more, there were no side effects found from kudzu.
“Puerarin, or kudzu root, may prove to be a strong complement to existing medications for insulin regulation or blood pressure, for example,” Jeevan Prasain, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UAB Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and a study co-author, said in the press statement. “Physicians may be able to lower dosages of such drugs, making them more tolerable and cheaper.”
Editor’s note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present these findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired.
It could be a good idea to suggest you all to see this vine as a saviour instead of a weed to be killed !!
I live in Argentina and wish to have a vine like KUDZU here !!!!
Medicine
The Harvard Medical School is studying kudzu as a possible way to treat alcoholic cravings, by turning an extracted compound from the herb into a medical drug.[6] The mechanism for this is not yet established, but it may have to do with both alcohol metabolism and the reward circuits in the brain.
Kudzu also contains a number of useful isoflavones, including daidzein (an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial agent). Daidzin is a cancer preventive and genistein (an antileukemic agent). Kudzu is a unique source of the isoflavone puerarin. Kudzu root compounds can affect neurotransmitters (including serotonin, GABA, and glutamate.) It has shown value in treating migraine and cluster headache.[7] It is recommended for allergies and diarrhea.[8]
Research in mice models suggests that kudzu is beneficial in women for control of some post-menopausal symptoms, such as hypertension and diabetes type II.[9]
In traditional Chinese medicine, where it is known as gé gÄ“n (Chinese: è‘›æ ¹), kudzu is considered one of the 50 fundamental herbs. It is used to treat tinnitus, vertigo, and Wei syndrome (superficial heat close to the surface).[citation needed]
[edit] Starch
The roots contain starch, which has traditionally been used as a food ingredient in East Asia.
[edit] Other uses
In the Southern United States, kudzu is used to make soaps, lotions, jelly, and compost.[10] It has even been suggested that kudzu may become a valuable asset for the production of cellulosic ethanol.[11]
Hi miangelsai,
Thanks for visiting and for offering your opinions and the wikipedia article you posted. Obviously, it doesn’t grow in your area or your opinion might be a bit different, especially if this vine had taken over every inch of your property and you constantly had to battle it to keep it from literally covering your home. I personally don’t have to battle it but I know many people who do.
Here in the south, our climate is such that it grows far more rampantly than it does in it’s native land and it literally destroys large trees and every other native plant, forest and farm lands and everything else in it’s path.
There may be some uses for it, even medicinal uses, but the fact is, it’s not being used here — it grows uncontrollably, covering acres and acres of land in the south. It is estimated that it covers more than 7 MILLION ACRES of land! If there are uses for it, then it should be harvested from it’s native land, where it can be controlled and doesn’t destroy everything else.
I don’t think anyone in the south or anywhere else where this awful vine grows thinks of it as a savior.
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Here are links to the rest of the wikipedia article, the part you didn’t post:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu#Ecological_invasion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu#Control
Points of interest from this article:
-According to ScienceDaily, kudzu has been spreading in the southern U.S. at the rate of 150,000 acres annually, “easily outpacing the use of herbicide spraying and mowing, as well increasing the costs of these controls by $6 million annually.”[2] Its introduction has produced devastating environmental consequences.
-Kudzu has naturalized into about 20,000 to 30,000 square kilometers (7,700–12,000 sq mi) of land in the United States and costs around $500 million annually in lost cropland and control costs.
I finally gave up and just let it grow. It now covers the entire house. I look out the window only to see vines and if I don’t open the door for more than 12 hours I can hardly open it. I’ve come to like it…….it grows on you !! (pun)
Angela, your comment made me laugh out loud!
If you’re anywhere close and need help, call and I’ll come and try to dig you out… LOL
Thanks for your offer Sherry, but I think I’ll just let it grow. Maybe the vine has taken control over my mind like it controls everything else, but I must say…….I like it !!………I know I know…….I must be crazy !! :-)
Angela
Angela, if you have decided to like it, I’m afraid it’s definitely too late…
LOL
i can’t believe you really like that stuff…WOW WOW WOW thats amazing…lolololol
[…] Kudzu, The Vine That Ate The South […]
thats crazy kudzu is really bad for ppl./.
i think they should make a poison for that stuff..