permaculture

[paul wheaton <paul@richsoil.com>]

My impression is that kudzu is great stuff when you work with it.  It
really sucks for fallow land or for monocultures.

Not so?



On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 11:03 AM, mIEKAL aND<qazingulaza@gmail.com> wrote:
> (Interesting how "The fungus produces chemicals called tricothecenes,
> which can damage the health of humans and animals." isn't a show
> stopper...)
>
> Fungus Could Be Kudzu Killer
>
> http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=fungus-could-be-kudzu-killer-09-08-11
>
> Scientists at the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research
> Service are testing a fungus that could one day be sent into battle
> against the land-grabbing vine kudzu. Steve Mirsky reports.
>
> It’s been called the “vine that ate the south.” Kudzu grows so fast it
> can completely cover a cabin in the woods in a couple of days. The
> invasive plant takes over another 150,000 acres every year. Which
> costs another $6 million to control.
>
> But plant pathologists with the US Department of Agriculture’s
> Research Service have gotten promising results with a fungus that
> itself rapidly spreads in kudzu. The fungus is called Myrothecium
> verrucaria. In early tests, the fungus killed all kudzu seedlings and
> at least 90 percent of older plants. Most important, Myrothecium did
> little or no damage to the species that commonly live in habitats
> infested with kudzu, such as pine, oak, cedar, pecan, hickory,
> blackberry and, of course, sassafras.
>
> So what’s the catch? The fungus produces chemicals called
> tricothecenes, which can damage the health of humans and animals. But
> the researchers discovered that if they grew the fungus in a fermenter
> or on a liquid diet, the production of the toxins fell precipitously.
> If the fungus can be safely let loose one day, it could finally give
> kudzu the heave-ho.
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