Attention: Southerners - A Market For Kudzu.. (lol)

I've always thought that had to be a market out there somewhere for Kudzu, after all our forefathers bought it didn't they!!! (lol lol lol)

Ge Gen - Kudzu 15 seeds - $2.95 USD
pueraria lobata
Treats alcohol abuse by suppressing appetite for alcohol. Climbing, semi-woody vine. Zone 5b and up. Easy to grow once established. Perennial

(BOY HOWDY - on that last part DON'T WE KNOW!!!)

http://www.easternherbs.net/chineseherbs.html

I believe I've heard that kudzu root is used in Japan as a food starch. It's also the root that is used to treat alcoholism.
Seems like there should be a market for this in the US.
I've never personally tried to uproot kudzu, but have heard it takes a Herculean effort!

As much as there is of the stuff!!! I think some people refer to it a the "mile a minute plant".

Of course there are a few areas with rusted out yard cars and falling down buildings which look much better once they were covered over with kidzu. lol lol

I read somewhere that you can buy ground kudzu flour for baking.

Darius they honestly need to find something to do with it. If a person could come up with something HOT they could make a fortune!!!

Well, the best use I can still see for it is covering junk cars and dilapated houses, like you said above!

Here's a quite informative article on kudzu from Mother Earth News
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1979_March_April/The_Kudzu_Connection

Anybody tried to Bonsai kudzu? Seems like you could hack it every day. Sell it as a house plant in Maine. Disposal is easy, the porch in Feb., the compost pile in spring thaw. Frank

In Lochapoka, AL during the Syrup Sop every October we always have people selling Kudzu jelly and it taste pretty darn good. Also it makes great material to weave into baskets. I wish I could remember the name of the lady that always had the booth it was just amazing what she had done with it.

Saint

My daddy was probably the only person in the south that actually grew Kudzu!At one place that didn't take annuals well he had a wood trellis that went all the way to the third story of the house. The Kudzu covered it QUICKLY in the summer, and he hacked it down to the ground in the fall. Really a pretty vine, and yes, when it grows over all the yard junk it makes lovely green sculptures. LOL
Pati

Pati, you are so right, Kudzu is a pretty vine too bad it is so hated!!

http://www.local6.com/health/4497096/detail.html

lol another use for kudzu

araness, interesting research! Loved this line about Kudzu

Great link, Araness:

According to the article (which has been carried by CNN also), it seems that a kudzu pill prior to the first sip of beer doubles the effect!

"Dr. Scott Lukas speculated that kudzu increases blood-alcohol levels and speeds up its effects, so the subjects needed fewer beers to feel drunk."

Call me a cheap drunk...

lol...wonder if I eat the hot pepper kudzu jelly I have on crackers and drink wine if I'll get tipsy.

That's a good really good question!
I know that you can get a 'natural high' from hot peppers... (plus it keeps your nasal passages and arteries clear)
It may be that kudzu powder has a doubling effect on the hot peppers???

http://www.article-emporium.com/health-2214.htm

I've read a lot about kudzu over the years and I compare it to hemp: mostly left to rot due to a bad reputation but, like hemp, its uses are limitless. Kudzu, among the other uses you've all listed above makes great paper. (Kudzu flour is used in Asian cooking and many Asian food stores stock it.)

I can't understand why people stand back and allow this useful plant to eat the South. (And I've seen it as far north as West Virginia.)

My fair city came up with a brilliant solution to the kudzu problem. I love this, it's so low tech. Turns out, Tallahassee was spending a couple million a year on people, tools, herbicides and nasty chemicals trying to spray, burn, uproot, plow under -- they did everything everybody could think of to get rid of it in the public landscaped areas of the city. Nothing worked and money was just flying out the door. True to form, kudzu always came right back. Finally, they found out that kudzu is very nutritious for sheep and goats.

So the city hired a shepherd, a border collie and a flock of sheep!

I kid you not. You could be driving into a city park to take your kid to a soccer game, turn the corner and find yourself face to face with a flock (or is it a herd) of sheep, bred especially for this hot and sulty climate. They'll be happily munching away on the kudzu. The dog is happy. The shepherd is happy. And the city is happy, because the sheep, shepherd and dog all cost only about $250K per year, as opposed to a couple cool million. Now our parks are landscaped, the kudzu serves a useful purpose, the sheep fertilize the grass, the shepherd has a job and the border collie has something to do all day.

How cool is that?

Very cool!

How wonderful!!!

LOL. I had forgotten about that. My daughter used to live in Tallahassee and told me about it. In this hi-tech world it's wonderful when something natural does the job! Some of the nucular plants are using flocks of geese as guard dogs..they're noisey and they attack! They also keep the weeds down. *grin*. They tried this in the plant in Miami, but the crocodiles ate them. Yes, they have a huge colony of salt water crocodiles that live in the cooling ponds. Sometimes you see them swimming along the public beach there. Only in Florida *sigh*
Pati

LOL.

"We used to have geese but the crocs ate 'em."

That sounds like an urban legend, but I'm sure it's true. How very Florida. (Don't the manatees hang out in those cooling ponds as well? I believe I've heard that.) I'm sure the crocs appreciated Miami-Dade county putting out a little goose-feast for them. ("Look! Pate!" CHOMP)

I'll never forget the time I went to Target and darn near wrecked the car because I was so surprised to see a flock of sheep casually munching kudzu in the vacant lot next to Target's parking lot. Now, I'm used to seeing them all over town and manage to maintain control of my vehicle. ;>) A while back, there was a story about someone was stealing the sheep. I do not want to know for what purpose because it has to be a nefarious one (especially in certain parts of the unincorporated county). I don't believe they've caught the sheep thief though.

The manatees don't have access to the cooling ponds. The Crocs can walk out to the ocean. You don't see them anymore swimming in the ocean. Since 9/11 there are huge metal nets around the facility to keep any boats from approaching. They are highly protected and it's worth a jail term to kill one. They have now spread down to the Keys and are a real problem for the very expensive condo owners. They tend to take up residence in the lakes used in the landscaping.

One condo had such a problem the people were really afraid and the wildlife people said "Too bad, just live with it". The condo people thought that wasn't right, they were there first, so one night someone "accidently" dropped a large charge of dynamite in the lake and POOF, the problem was solved! No one knows how to do this except the poachers from the Everglades, and they never get caught.
Pati

I've finally found a reason that I would live in zone 5A or down, (no offense anyone, but true). At $2.95 per 15 seeds I must have lost millions over the year times when I bushhogged . Maybe I should go into competition. How about $2.94 for 16 seeds?

Chilihead - go for it. BigDaddy99 can build you a heck of a "Chilihead Kudzu" website!!! lol lol

I would honestly LOVE to have some to grow in a pot... if anyone wants to rid themselves of it. :-)

judyc. While I was on the tractor today I got a brain storm,( actually I just got to "thinkin", and that does happen every once in a while ). How about thistles? There's got to be a market somewhere.

I saw someone offering to trade thistle seeds ---- "googled" then and dang there many kinds of thistles.

MILK THISTLE SUPPLEMENTS MAY HELP LIVER DISEASE

Thistle feeders are important because it will greatly increase the number of American Gold Finches that will visit your yard.

Nyjer Thistle Seeds are fed to song birds.

I guess it just depends upon your "thistle" (lol lol lol)

The ones we have down here are Canadian thistles, and they spread like wildfire. If you haven't got them yet, I hope you don't, but I have a feeling your out of luck. I'm not sure if kudzu isn,t better. (never thought I would say that.)

*LOL* That is pretty bad...and something I didn't think I'd hear any southern say. I remember growing up (before it developed so much) driving from Decatur to Huntsville use to be all kudzu. And what wasn't was cotton.

Saint

http://home.att.net/~ejlinton/jelly.html

Oh yes, I have some that I have to get after every year and I'm late this year so I best get to doing that tomorrow.

The only hope I can see for ridding our ground of invasives both plants and insects is to start rumors that the specific item is an aphrodisiacs. A South American country had a problem with a certain type of rodent u n t i l this rumor was spread about, actually by the government because they didn't have the necessary funds to control the problem. (lol lol)

ROFLMAO....

Now there's a heck of an idea! Got that stuff all in my woods. It keeps creeping up in the yard. Can't kill the stuff.

send me the flowers and I'll make us some jelly.

Girl you make Jelly out of anything!!!

Judy

I need to send you a picture of my woods! You go out there at your own risk. They are GA protected wetlands. Actually, we love them and wouldn't clear it if we could. Everything lives out there. It's beautiful. Just hard to keep where it's s'ppose to be!

araness - I'm so slow sometimes... you were talking about ..thistle jelly to go with the beer and kudzu jelly. Story of my life it takes awhile for things to connect. People don't even bother to tell me jokes!!!

Judy

If your slow then I crawl *G* I use to be so quick...then I turned 35 and the last three years have been downhill since then. *sigh*

Lordy I was slower at 35 than I am at almost 60. lol lol

Okay I'm 52 and every year goes faster than the last. Can you grow kudzu in Maine? Should I even try? I am very good at growing burdock and dandelions. Frank

God Forbid, that it should take a likin' to your fine state!!! People get all worked up about invasive water plants that I've seen die here so I don't have a problem, ship them in, but Lordy I don't think I'd have the heart to send anyone Kudzu.

I'm off to rest my head on a fluffy pillow and look at my wish book, a Sunset book on greenhouses, but I real desire is for a sunhouse.

Judy