31 January 2025

If you’ve ever been to Atlanta you’ve seen areas like the one pictured above where invasive kudzu is draped over everything. You can see why it’s called “The vine that ate the South.”

Kudzu was introduced to the Southeast U.S. back in 1883 and given a healthy head start on its way to invasion.

The vine was widely marketed in the Southeast as an ornamental plant, … as a high-protein content cattle fodder and as a cover plant to prevent soil erosion.

By 1946, it was estimated that 3,000,000 acres of kudzu had been planted [in the U.S].

— Wikipedia: Kudzu in the United States, emphasis added

Planted!

Now that the genii is out of the bottle, how do we get rid of it? Good question.

The video below shows an interesting technique that is not enough to eradicate kudzu but is very satisfying to watch.

The “business” end of the equipment is a claw or grabber attached to a Tiltrotator on an excavator. It twirls the kudzu like spaghetti.