A few attachment questions for the evening...

[Turfman]

Keep Kudzu there, we don't need it. We have Dyer's Woad here. It is loose everywhere and turns the hills yellow in the spring when it flowers.

 

[BrettW]

Kudzu was brought into the US by those sharp thinking NC roads maintenance folks. They needed a fast growing plant to hold in the banks. They got one for sure. Now it climbs over the tops of the tallest trees along the roads.

 

[Turfman]

It's interesting that most of the very noxious weeds we have are imports. The Dyer's Woad we are plagued with was brought here by the pioneers to use as a blue clothing dye. We have Russian Olive here, that was also brought by the pioneers because they could dig young sprouts and wrap them in damp burlap and they would live during the 3 month trek in a wagon. It is everywhere and very trashy in the landscape.

 

[BrettW]

On a postitve note, Kudzu is a favorite of the Japanese beetle!, (one import eating another)

 

[pennwalk]

I read in the paper where some enterprising shepard was renting out her flock of sheep to the state to control kudzu. Appearently sheep love the stuff.

Chris

 

[bmac]

Researchers are working on a fungus that is lethal to kudzu. Early results are promising but they need to do more testing before they begin wide-spread use.

 

[Slamfire]

I kinda like kudzu for the way it crosses a highway. It finds a powerline guy wire and zip right across the road. My wife was cussin' and pullin' in her garden, but the kudzu she was extractin' turned out to be volunteer gourds. ;^)

 

[Stonewall]

If your up against some really persistant weeds/vines you may need to take some drastic measures to get rid of them. Round up is a great way to kill these things and breaks down in the soil fairly quickly allowing for re-seeding of more favorable species. Burning is also a possibility. I am on a Volunteer Fire Department and we often do some forest or feild burns as part of our wildland training. No charge to the land owner and we don't have to mess with those pesky "emergency" calls because things got out of hand. You will have to get a permit from the county. If you're drought striken like we are here in Colorado then you won't get to burn.