>Garth Webb
As a native of north Georgia, I feel competent to field this question!
If you have access to the World Wide Web, try this URL...it's pretty amusing:
http://www.sa.ua.edu/brent/kudzu.htm
Here's an excerpt from the page...I don't want to go on too much on a CP list
about this weedy legume! I did NOT write this article.
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"Kudzu was introduced to the United States in 1876 at the Centennial
Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Countries were invited to
build exhibits to celebrate the 100th birthday of the U.S. The Japanese
government constructed a beautiful garden filled with plants from their
country. The large leaves and sweet-smelling blooms of kudzu captured
the imagination of American gardeners who used the plant for ornamental
purposes.
"Florida nursery operators, Charles and Lillie Pleas, discovered that
animals would eat the plant and promoted its use for forage in the
1920s. Their Glen Arden Nursery in Chipley sold kudzu plants through
the mail. A historical marker there proudly proclaims "Kudzu Developed
Here."
"During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Soil Conservation Service
promoted kudzu for erosion control. Hundreds of young men were given
work planting kudzu through the Civilian Conservation Corps. Farmers
were paid as much as eight dollars an acre as incentive to plant fields
of the vines in the 1940s.
"The problem is that it just grows too well! The climate of the Southeastern
U.S. is perfect for kudzu. The vines grow as much as a foot per day during
summer months, climbing trees, power poles, and anything else they contact.
Under ideal conditions kudzu vines can grow sixty feet each year.
"While they help prevent erosion, the vines can also destroy valuable
forests by preventing trees from getting sunlight. This problem led Dr.
James H. Miller of the U.S. Forest Service in Auburn, Alabama to
research methods for killing kudzu. In eighteen years of research, he
has found that one herbicide actually makes kudzu grow better while many
have little effect. Miller recommends repeated herbicide treatments for
at least four years, but some kudzu plants may take as long as ten years
to kill, even with the most effective herbicides.
"The USDA declared kudzu to be a weed in 1972!"
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The article goes on, complete with pictures, but I'll stop here.
Harry Haecker
(haeckerh@nwrc.gov)