kudzu... a lost cause?

We just moved into a new (old) house, the last tenant let the yard turn into an overgrown mess of weeds - most notably, a serious kudzu problem. There is an L-shaped raised bed (aprx 50 sq ft) that runs along part of the house's perimeter, which I would really like to utilize... Problem is, it's been overtaken by A LOT of kudzu with very strong woody roots that (I believe) may run under the house, and to who knows where else! Is this bed a lost cause? Even if I get rid of everything that's visible right now, won't the kudzu just grow on back and kill anything that I plant in that bed? Anyone have any success stories ridding your beds of this stuff? Thanks!!

I read once that someone in Ga. had the same problem and used (don't LOL) goats to irradicate the problem & it worked! The goats ate it down to the "nubbin's". You could get a couple, put them on an anchored rope & let them go to town. I realize that this may not seem very appealing, but I don't think that I would hesitate. There may be another plus to it...you could sell goats milk & cheese; that is if you have a tendency to farm. If all this is out of the question....GOOD LUCK!

Check out this website: http://www.kudzu-free.org/

This sounds alot easier than the goat thing!

Thanks for that link - I will try this method out and see what happens...

Although... it probably would be pretty funny to see my neighbors' faces if I brought a few goats into my yard to stomp on some kudzu (not that I'd even know where to find goats... can you rent one for a few hours? lol) - you don't typically see barnyard animals just outside of downtown!

Hmmm... just thought of something...

That kudzu-free.org eradication guide includes a few years of herbicide application to kill the stuff - would it be pointless for me to put plants into that bed (the one I'm trying to rid of kudzu) in the fall (Oct... planting time)? I don't want to sink a bunch of $$ into that bed, if everything will just be killed off by the evil vine...

You raise an extremely valid concern. If I use a weed wrench to remove an invasive species such a Buckthorn, Porcelain Berry Vine, Japanese Barberry, Siberian Elm, White Mulberry, Silver Lace Vine, or any other invasive species that can be eradicated without the use of chemicals if caught at the right size; I'm relatively assured it has come up and out of the ground roots and all therefore I will plant back in the same area immediately. If I use chemicals to destroy an invasive species regardless of whether I am foliar spraying or painting a stump, I now try to give it one full year to come back to haunt me. I've found that invasive species have this nasty habit of making my life absolutely miserable by reappearing time and time again. I'm lazy by nature. I really do try my best to hold off planting anything in a treated area because it is tiresome having to work around desirable new plantings to attack regrowth of the invasives. Been there- done that- with tarps and pieces of plexiglass as well as cardboard and anything else I could readily grab to shield more appropriate replacement plants.

Unfortunately I think you are right, equilibrium! Well, I guess that means I won't be procrastinating on tilling up some new beds in the front yard! (Kudzu-free, thank God!)

I took these pictures today while bike riding. This is only about a half mile from my backyard. Part of this property is owned by the city and part is owned by the National Guard. What a shame!

This message was edited Aug 13, 2006 3:05 PM

This road is the only barrier that keeps it from coming to my property. If it weren't for passing cars, this piece might try to cross the road.

I'm not trying to defend this plant, but right now it is in bloom and has the most pleasant fragrance. Then again, the same could be said of honeysuckle.

Music 2: Actually, I think the "goat thing" is a lot easier than trying to herbicide massive invasions of Kudzu. In actual fact, you have to use both methods. Goats, cows, sheep or any grazing animal, Llamas I suppose will eat kudzu. It has an extremely high nitrogen content, though, and the animals will need something else in their diet to stay healthy.
Here in w.central Alabama, I have seen farms reclaimed from kudzu by grazing cows on the property. In one season the kudzu is controlled. A kudzu field near Moundville, Alabama is now supporting a large vegetable garden with sunflowers, and corn. The owners grazed cattle there just one year and they had their property back.
In the Southeast, Kudzu, like global warming, is something everyone should be educated about and take responsability for its control. But in fact, here in Greensboro, Kudzu is actually encouraged by ignorant policies of local governments. It is a beautiful plant. It is blooming now in fact with pink pea like bloom (so is the wild wisteria). But enough is enough, isn't it?

What you wrote makes perfect sense. Around here many people are trying to take responsibility and there are some who go and help out the elderly who aren't in a position to clean up themselves. We call it being "neighborly". Sadly, there are people who plant invasives purposely and openly boast of same and sadly there are those who believe the folk disseminating information about highly invasive species such as Kudzu are in need of anti-psychotic drugs. It's not just ignorant policies of a spattering of local governments perpetuating these problems.

I would like to say a word in defense of eupatorium sp. I have noticed in the catalogs lately some kinder genter varieties of Joe Pye. Wayside has a eupatorium called "Little Joe". And Bluestone Perennials has a plant which they call eupatorium coelestinum Wayside - Hardy Ageratum. This plant is one growing around my 100 year old house and it had to be planted before 1950. It was interplanted with an orange daylily which has triple and some times quadruple blooms. These two plants along with ferrel garlic, camillias, and spirea are the ones I am trying to save as I nuke the wisteria, sweet autumn clematis, blackberry, cypress, ivy, privet, and China Berry sprouts.
I am using the fertilizer/Round-Up combination suggested above. Yes, lets plant less invasive plants. It will make a better world for those who inherit our gardens--and isn't that partly what they are for? The future as well as ourselves.