Kudzu – The Plant that Ate the South
April 1st, 2004
Florida Monthly
Kudzu, Pueraria montana, is a semi-woody Asian vine, belonging to the pea family. It has been utilized by by the Chinese for its medicinal properties since at least 200 B.C. In the 18th century is was introduced into Japan. The Japanese were the first to share Kudzu with the west at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876.
Kudzu became popular for animal fodder, residential landscaping, erosion control, and for soil improvements. Citing Kudzu’s effictiveness, the U.S. Government began offering payments of up to $8 / acre for land planted in Kudzu.
Today, we know the invasiveness of Kudzu, which grows as much as 60 feet in a single season. It now covers an estimated 2 million acres in the United States. Vines can extend as far as 100 feet, and a single root system may weigh as much as 400 pounds. Normal methods of eradicating, such as spraying, are not effective due to the plant’s massive crown/root systems. It takes repeated herbicide spray applications for 3 to 10 years to finally exhaust the plant’s reserves and kill it.
The only effective policy at present is to use repeated herbicide application or mowing isolated colonies, since its spread is almost exclusively vegetative and not by seed. Kudzu is a prime example for the need for extreme caution in relocating plants far from their native home.