permaculture

["Mathew Waehner" <waehner@gmail.com>]

I too am in NC.  The three inch stalks were on centennial campus in
Raleigh.  They were common, but not typical.  They didn't seem to live long
once they got that big.  The internal texture was different- much more
woody.

As far as my idea about "giving a tree another year of life" - kudzu can
indeed grow a foot per day, but it takes a while to gain a "foothold" on a
tree, and a tree is forty or fifty feet tall.  Trees survive (barely) until
they are covered completely.  The fall frost makes kudzu pause, also.

Give me a shout (off list) if you are in the Raleigh area!

On Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 4:06 PM, <Marimike6@cs.com> wrote:

> Waehner,
>
> I think your experience of kudzu may be different from mine here in North
> Carolina.
>
> "I think the ideal place for kudzu is on a green roof- its roots could
> live
> in a single container (possibly hydroponic) and spread all over the roof.
> The single container would weigh much less than covering the roof with
> soil,
> and could be removed before winter snow weighed down the roof."
>
> An intriguing idea. Before putting it on your roof though, better try it
> in a
> container for a year, training it as best you can. That way you can come
> to
> understand the beast first, seeing what it does before letting it get at
> your
> roof, gutters and downspouts. The notion that you could remove your kudzu
> simply by taking down the tub you're growing it in does not compute, in my
> universe.
>
> Wisteria might be the model. Around here it's a pest when it gets loose--
> it
> can pull down a barn, given a couple of years to wrap itself around the
> wood.
> But isolated on a front lawn and tamed, it provides a nice flowering bush.
> One
> needing constant trimming, of course, but very pleasant when braided back
> into itself.
>
> "It may be dificult to eradicate kudzu, but it isn't hard to prevent it
> from
> choking trees- vines thinner than about 3 inches are easily cut with a
> serrated pocketknife, evern the older woodier vines can be carved with a
> knife. On a hot day, the vines "gasp" when cut- you can hear them sucking
> in air as they try to bring water to the leaves. Of course, the kudzu
> grows
> back, but in five minutes you can give a tree another year of life."
>
> I have never seen anything like a 3" stalk. Around here a half inch is
> pretty
> normal. Normally the young ones don't even need to be cut, you can snap
> them
> by hand. The problem is, if you don't get the root out intact you've done
> nothing. They can regrow from the root overnight, and put out about 12" of
> new
> growth each day under good growing conditions.
>
> This would make of it a good fodder plant, if your goats were hungry
> enough
> to eat it. But if your plan is to continually snap the shoots off at
> ground
> level, try once a week. Once a year, around here, is not a viable
> approach.
>
> "Landscapes overcome by kudzu are a testament to our culture not caring
> for
> the land."
>
> Turn your back on a property for one year and it can be hard to ever
> finally
> eradicate this pest from hell (sorry, Lawrence... I tried to love it). It
> puts
> out runners and each new runner sinks a line of new roots, one every four
> or
> five feet. If you're retired and have the time to chase down every new
> root,
> fine. A mattock is the tool of preference for bringing it up. Otherwise,
> avoid
> buying property with the Weed on it.
>
> At least in my experience. My stand had run rampant for five or six years
> by
> the time I got the property. And since then I've yet to do more than fight
> it
> to a draw. It would require daily battle for an entire summer-- time I
> just
> don't have. And I'm only talking a quarter to a half acre at best. The
> best I've
> been able to do is to contain it in one place, keeping it from spreading.
>
> Michael
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-- 
Matt

This is our grace: To be a note
In the exact chord that animates creation

-- Deena Metzger