In my part of the country, certain things define the culture. The heat, the humidity, the food. The music, the literature, the dialects.
The kudzu.
Kudzu is a climbing vine native to Japan. The word is a corruption of “kuzu,“ the Japanese name for the plant.
The Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Library says this about kudzu:
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Scientific name: Pueraria montana; a subdivision of Phaseoleae, the group that includes peas and beans.
Common Names: Kudzu, foot-a-night vine, mile-a-minute vine, the vine that ate the South.
Botanical Description: High-climbing, trailing, twining deciduous woody vine, with hairy, rope-like, dark brown stems to 65 feet long. Leaves alternate with 3 leaflets. Leaflets dark green, hairy on both surfaces, to 5 inches long. Flowers pea-like, reddish purple. Fruit a dark brown pod, densely covered in long, golden-brown hairs.
Distribution: Widely naturalized in the United States, throughout the Southeast, north to Illinois and Massachusetts and west to Texas and Oklahoma. Estimated to cover two million acres of forest land in the South. Has also invaded South Africa, Malaysia, and western Pacific Islands.
Origin: Eastern Asia. Introduced into the United States in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia as an ornamental. Developed for use as a forage in the 1920s. Promoted in the 1930s for erosion control. From early 1950s, no longer advocated by U.S. Department of Agriculture. Declared a weed in 1972.
Ecological Significance: Forms large impenetrable masses, growing over woody vegetation and able to completely engulf unwooded areas. Can completely envelop a tree, killing it by shutting out all light. A serious and widespread invader of semi-natural and natural habitat.
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After it was too late, after the Civilian Conservation Corps had planted it widely to control erosion, the government discovered that in the South, kudzu has found optimal conditions to go crazy and grow out of control.
The South has hot, humid summers, frequent rainfall, and few hard freezes. All of that is good news for kudzu. Kudzu roots cannot tolerate prolonged freezing, which only happens farther north. Where you have frigid winters, the roots don’t survive. Ergo, no kudzu.
If you look at it clinically, kudzu is almost attractive in early spring and summer, when the leaves and tendrils are lush and green.
However, when cold weather arrives, and the first hard frost hits, the kudzu quickly dies. It becomes a brittle tangle of hideous thick vines and ugly brown leaves — a dead, dry eyesore waiting for a spark.
The dead kudzu becomes fertilizer for the next crop, sustaining the roots so they can regrow those 65-foot vines in the spring.
All my life, I’ve heard that researchers are trying to figure out a commercially-significant use for kudzu. Now and then, I hear a report that kudzu might serve as a feed for livestock, or the basis for soap or starch or ethanol. There is talk of possible medicinal uses.
I’ve also read that the Japanese make tofu from kudzu tubers. They say it has a nutty flavor.
So far, the science guys have not made a breakthrough. No large-scale use for the stuff has been found. And each year, the new crop emerges, bigger and hardier than the one before.
In the same way that Floridians coexist with palmetto bugs, and Mississippians are resigned to living with mosquitoes, and Georgians have learned to talk and blow away gnats at the same time, Southerners have sighed and accepted kudzu into their lives. Nobody likes it, but nobody can do anything about it.
People have a way of seeing the humor and the irony in situations like this.
For example, consider the following, written by Tifton B. Merritt, a Southern writer and humorist.
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How to Grow Kudzu
All you beginning gardeners out there might want to consider growing kudzu as a fine way to launch out into the great adventure of gardening. Kudzu, for those of you not already familiar with it, is a hardy perennial that can be grown quite well by the beginner who observes these few simple rules.
CHOOSING A PLOT — Kudzu can be grown almost anywhere, so site selection is not the problem it is with some other finicky plants like strawberries. Although kudzu will grow quite well on cement, for best results you should select an area having at least some dirt. To avoid lawsuits, it is advisable to plant well away from your neighbor’s house, unless, of course, you don’t get along well with your neighbor anyway.
PREPARING THE SOIL — Go out and stomp on the soil for a while just to get its attention and to prepare it for kudzu.
DECIDING WHEN TO PLANT — Kudzu should always be planted at night. If kudzu is planted during daylight hours, angry neighbors might see you and begin throwing rocks at you.
SELECTING THE PROPER FERTILIZER — The best fertilizer I have discovered for kudzu is 40 weight non-detergent motor oil. Kudzu actually doesn’t need anything to help it grow, but the motor oil helps to prevent scraping the underside of the tender leaves then the kudzu starts its rapid growth. It also cuts down on friction and lessens the danger of fire when the kudzu really starts to move. Change oil once every thousand feet or every two weeks, whichever comes first.
MULCHING THE PLANTS
Contrary to what you may be told by the Extension Service, kudzu can profit from a good mulch. I have found that a heavy mulch for the young plants produces a hardier crop. For best results, as soon as the young shoots begin to appear, cover kudzu with concrete blocks. Although this causes a temporary setback, your kudzu will accept this mulch as a challenge and will reward you with redoubled determination in the long run.
ORGANIC OR CHEMICAL GARDENING
Kudzu is ideal for either the organic gardener or for those who prefer to use chemicals to ward off garden pests. Kudzu is oblivious to both chemicals and pests. Therefore, you can grow organically and let the pests get out of the way of the kudzu as best they can, or you can spray any commercial poison directly onto your crop.
Your decision depends on how much you personally enjoy killing bugs. The kudzu will not be affected either way.
CROP ROTATION
Many gardeners are understandably concerned that growing the same crop year after year will deplete the soil. If you desire to change from kudzu to some other plant next year, now is the time to begin preparations.
Right now, before the growing season has reached its peak, you should list your house and lot with a reputable real estate agent and begin making plans to move elsewhere. Your chances of selling will be better now than they will be later in the year, when it may be difficult for prospective buyer to realize that beneath those lush, green vines stands an adorable three-bedroom house.
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And yes, it was inevitable that kudzu would be immortalized in verse.
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Kudzu
By James Dickey
Japan invades. Far Eastern vines
Run from the clay banks they are
Supposed to keep from eroding.
Up telephone poles,
Which rear, half out of leafage
As though they would shriek,
Like things smothered by their own
Green, mindless, unkillable ghosts.
In Georgia, the legend says
That you must close your windows
At night to keep it out of the house.
The glass is tinged with green, even so,
As the tendrils crawl over the fields.
The night the kudzu has
Your pasture, you sleep like the dead.
Silence has grown Oriental
And you cannot step upon ground:
Your leg plunges somewhere
It should not, it never should be,
Disappears, and waits to be struck
Anywhere between sole and kneecap:
For when the kudzu comes,
The snakes do, and weave themselves
Among its lengthening vines,
Their spade heads resting on leaves,
Growing also, in earthly power
And the huge circumstance of concealment.
One by one the cows stumble in,
Drooling a hot green froth,
And die, seeing the wood of their stalls
Strain to break into leaf.
In your closed house, with the vine
Tapping your window like lightning,
You remember what tactics to use.
In the wrong yellow fog-light of dawn
You herd them in, the hogs,
Head down in their hairy fat,
The meaty troops, to the pasture.
The leaves of the kudzu quake
With the serpents’ fear, inside
The meadow ringed with men
Holding sticks, on the country roads.
The hogs disappear in the leaves.
The sound is intense, subhuman,
Nearly human with purposive rage.
There is no terror
Sound from the snakes.
No one can see the desperate, futile
Striking under the leaf heads.
Now and then, the flash of a long
Living vine, a cold belly,
Leaps up, torn apart, then falls
Under the tussling surface.
You have won, and wait for frost,
When, at the merest touch
Of cold, the kudzu turns
Black, withers inward and dies,
Leaving a mass of brown strings
Like the wires of a gigantic switchboard.
You open your windows,
With the lightning restored to the sky
And no leaves rising to bury
You alive inside your frail house,
And you think, in the opened cold,
Of the surface of things and its terrors,
And of the mistaken, mortal
Arrogance of the snakes
As the vines, growing insanely, sent
Great powers into their bodies
And the freedom to strike without warning:
From them, though they killed
Your cattle, such energy also flowed
To you from the knee-high meadow
(It was as though you had
A green sword twined among
The veins of your growing right arm —
Such strength as you would not believe
If you stood alone in a proper
Shaved field among your safe cows –):
Came in through your closed
Leafy windows and almighty sleep
And prospered, till rooted out.
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Embrace the kudzu.
Mr. Write's Page 
Stumbled on your post and loved it, so I thought I’d comment. I remember a 60 Minutes report on kudzu when I was a kid, and your post was a nice jog to my memory. Thanks!
wow i learned alot!! very thought out!
Amazing post – can’t help it if Kudzu reminds me of that red alien weed from War of the Worlds.
Great post! I love the photography! Thanks!
Beautiful photos, great post! I always wondered what that was on the REM album!
http://www.denwrites.com
The best method for planting this aggravating vine is throw it an run…still growing up in area with it… It is aggravating can’t kill it, just control it.
This is a vine that eats houses, trucks and yet…we can eat it…yuck.
I want my south back from this vine. Export it back to Japan!
Very impressive plant. On the West Coast, more specifically Sonoma County (north of San Francisco) we have Ludwigia that invades creeks. It chokes them in the summer and provides a grand breeding ground for mosquitoes. Arundo also travels by creeks and rivers (looks like corn stalks) taking over the banks. Some people plant it because it grows so fast and they like its looks. To me it always seems to be dying but is incredibly tenacious. And then there is vinca, that takes over shady hillsides – with a lovely purple flower. Alas, nothing like the Kudzu, I’ve heard so much about.
I love vinca, although, like kudzu, it’s considered a noxious weed in Georgia.
All this talk of the south makes me wish I was out sitting on my porch with a mint julep in hand.
The Codger
http://thecodger.wordpress.com/
Creepy. I’ve heard of Kudzu, but the pictures, as they say “Are worth a thousand words”. I’m glad the thing can’t grow where I live, in Washington state. Maybe the Kudzu will survive the climate change thing and provide feed for any animals that survive? Does any animal eat it? Like cows, goats or?
Creeped out Hamster
Most grazing animals will eat it, but only if they have no choice.
Thank you for this post! I wrote a novel that is set in Charlottesville in July and August, and is in part a love song to kudzu. I have actually been meaning to send it to you. Maybe now I will.
http://www.myspace.com/eyescorpion
Kudzu is used very often in China. The root is a medicinal herb; it’s used for fevers and headaches from flu that may occur in conjunction with a stiff neck, diarrhea, rashes, herpes, chicken pox, measles, sore throat with extreme thirst, and hypertension. Check out Materia Medicaq, by Dan Bensky. Now there’s some uses for kudzu!
How to plant Kudzu:
Drop it and RUN!!!
Wow. Pretty, yet intimidating all the same. ha
Check us out at Road Rage with A & A
great article. i too, live in Jefferson, GA.
greetings neighbor.
Well, hello, neighbor. Writing is definitely a Southern thing.
Funny and scary!
Great article. Anytime I travel, I just have to marvel over the kudzu. As long as it isn’t in my yard.
When my dad was a child, he thought kudzu would one day consume the earth. I am told goats will eat it, so long as they are confined to a pasture of nothing but kudzu and have nothing else to eat. Once, I spent an hour inside a store. When I came out, I could swear I could tell the kudzu vines were a few inches longer.
Great post.
Wow! That is frightening and fabulous. Particularly love the picture of a kudzu-covered telephone pole that looks a bit like a giant person.
Very informative post, I’m off to go have daymares now.
Amazing poem about the kudzu! You are very talented. I wish I could write like that! I have to say the kudzu looks very suspiciously like the plant that has taken over my garden and refuses to die…any evidence if it being found in the UK?
Thanks for those nice comments.
According to Wikipedia, “Kudzu is also becoming a problem in northeastern Australia, and has been seen in isolated spots in Northern Italy.” You’re probably safe. Probably.
SON MUY INTERESANTES ESTAS FOTOGRAFIAS, DE COMO LA NATURALEZA BORRA TODO INDICIO DE LO QUE NOSOTROS CREAMOS.
MUCHAS GRACIAS,
SU AMIGO GUILLERMO ESPINOSA.
I think Kudzu is actually sort of pretty. I know it’s a nuisance, but it looks like a magical forest!
We are so anthropocentric and use nature to work “our way”, and when it doesn’t people are always so surprised.
Kudzu… brilliant! I had never interacted with nor heard of this plant. I’m so glad you saw fit to write about it as it gave me the opportunity to read about its wondrous nature. 🙂
With Love and Gratitude,
The Intentional Sage
Maybe the government should try making gasoline out of it!
Now that’s a great idea! It has a powerful energy so there you have it…Kudzu Fuel
Beautiful and scary! Thanks for sharing.
I wrote a post on Kudzu myself. If you can’t beat it, write about it!
http://gloriadelia.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/kudzu-faith/
I just read your post. Nicely done. “Malicious” — that was the description I was searching for.
Great pictures, btw. Did you take them?
No, I found them online.
I’m kind of wondering why you don’t really mention the fact that kudzu is considered an invasive species. You did say that it’s non-native to the U.S., but it’s also referred to as “the plague of the South.” It’s incredibly invasive and has no natural predators here, thus the extensive amount of pictures you found online of it covering homes, power lines, and other infrastructure. It’s NOT a good thing to plant, and probably shouldn’t be encouraged…
The invasive part just seemed self-evident, but your point is taken.
Some years ago, I had a load of fill dirt dumped in my front yard. Within days, kudzu tendrils began to emerge. It took two months of plucking to get rid of it.
I suppose it is – it was the environmentalist reacting in me when I saw you were showing how to plant it. 🙂
Hey, no problem — we need all the environmentalist reaction we can get.
Great post. And mighty scary. Yikes, now I have to add kudzu to global warming, nuclear war, terrorism, killer bees, extraterrestrials, superviruses and bacteria, and Rush Limbaugh.
I think Kudzu can be really pretty, but really scary-looking. Have you ever had to walk through it? I swore it was going to eat me alive.
Ah yes, kudzu. I wrote about kudzu a couple of months ago myself. I especially enjoyed the “How to grow kudzu” section of your post.
When I lived in middle Tennessee it was everywhere. It really is pretty in the spring, it gets really foggy in the morning. Too bad it grows so fast and is overall destructive.
The Kudzu is the burkha of the horticultural world!
I played in it as a kid. It grew so thick on an embankment at my cousin’s house, we’d jump from the top, fly 10 or 15 feet through the air, land in the kudzu(which we called “vines”;-) and never even hit the ground.
Fond memories, always brought back by pics like these, so I’m sorry it bothers folks so much. But hey, we ain’t doing too much to harmonize with the stuff either. Sounds to me like the Chinese got the right idea there. Turn it into something consumable, the kudzu will be in trouble. 😉
PS: Rocky, your avatar reminds me of Red Green.
How did you know I wear suspenders?
LOVED your post!
Being from the south my whole life, kudzu was just “accepted.”
I never really gave it much thought until I moved from Mississippi to Georgia and was exposed to other cultures who laughed about the kudzu being everywhere.
Now I find myself noticing it ALL the time. LOL
Enjoyed this post and have bookmarked you for further reading.
Have a great day!
SOC
Wow. Amazing.
“Feed me Seymour!”
(Little Shop of Horrors)
What a frightening fantastic piece of work!
Thank you.
http://gmomj.wordpress.com/
Cool post. It looks pretty beautiful when it’s got leaves
Eu fiquei muito impressionada, nunca tinha ouvido falar, bem,gostei muito, coloquei no blog, com a sua devida autoria, muito bom, ótimo artigo.
Wonderful post! I have a girlfriend who introduced me to Kudzu (via photos – one or two also shown here) and I just fell in love. Of course, I’m in a cold state and after September, everything green around here starts dying if its not an evergreen.
Wonder what kudzu would look like during a Michigan autumn? Probably more beautiful than ever.
I was very confused about kudzu the first time I read a Joshilyn Jackson novel. Now you’ve made it all very clear. Thanks!
Informative, but better yet, hilarious! Yes, definitely if you want to get back at your neighbor. Scary plant. Thing is, there’s a good chance it’ll creep into your own yard as well. That James Dickey bit was funny as it was unexpected.
what a great post..
way to go..
thumbs up..
Amazing plant.
So beautiful.. climbers and creepers have always fascinated me..
Amazing natural.
thanks for showing us another kind of nature’s beauty. Seems so magical, looks like its right out of a fairy tale.
kudzu is everywhere, we have it as well
I would still like to see us continue to do research to find uses for the useless. Like Kudzu, politicians, lawyers and fire ants.
kudzu new to me..interesting….funny too
quite beautiful actually. it blankets with a sculptural quality.
Wow! The cottage looks so exclusive and hidden. This place is definitely a good place to visit and stay in when you want to escape from the busy streets modern life.
it made me tingle
Thanks for posting this — I learned a lot! Never knew about this kind of plant. Now, if only the U.S. economy would grow like this vine does, we’d be in pretty good shape now!
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