The Triangle
Look At
|
 KUDZU: The Vine That Ate The South You'll see it while driving along Interstate 40 from the airport to Raleigh. It's a bean vine. A legume, to be exact, which grows like a pole bean on steroids, with a stalk nearly as large as the one that Jack climbed. Propagating at the rate of a foot (or more) each day, kudzu is truly awesome. Kudzu was introduced to the US by the Japanese government in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Soil Conservation Service actually promoted kudzu for erosion control. Hundreds of young men were given work planting kudzu and farmers were paid as much as $8 an acre as incentive to plant the vines in the 1940s. Unfortunately, it soon become evident that kudzu grows too well. It now covers over 7 million acres of the South. Under ideal conditions the vines can grow 60 feet a year--destroying trees, climbing utility poles, covering roads, fences, automobiles, swimming pools and even small homes. And to make the problem worse, the plant is very difficult to eradicate. Researchers have found that most herbicides have little or no effect--some even make the vine grow better! Kudzu is very pretty in the early spring and summer. Its broad leaves and flowers are quite attractive until the first hard frost turns it into tons of ugly brown leaves and thick matted vines. Every spring the plant regenerates itself from the ground up. Some advice for newcomers about cultivating kudzu: "For best results, select an area having at least some dirt. Throw the seeds and run--very fast. To avoid possible lawsuits, always plant at night and well away from your neighbor's house."
THE RELOCATION HELP DESK
E-mail the Webmaster! |
COPYRIGHT 1999-2003