kudzu vines

While in Atlanta, Ga. several years ago, I saw numerous kudzu vines for the first time, and saw the devestation they could cause in the SE States. While listening to the radio in my car today there was a program about the vines spreading north and may eventually come into Canada There is now an infestation in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

It got me to wondering what effect do they have on the railroad right of ways and how are they being controlled by the railroads.

An interesting website about these noxious vines can be found at www.yahoolavista.com/kudzu.

A lot of kudzu was planted by railroads in the south to prevent soil erosion OOPS ! Kudzu is very hard to eradicate I believe they are using herbicides,it also is an invasive plant and subject to a heavy fine for planting it, it’s known as the vine that ate the south.

Following the URL you provided led me to this page.

http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/sculptures.html

Fourth picture down shows the railroad doing a good job keeping the vine at bay with spraying. I seem to recall an old Trains magazine article about MidSouth’s operation also involving Kudzu control. Regular spraying was important, as Kudzu grows 60 feet a year with enough rain.

An interesting distribution map is here.

http://www.biology.duke.edu/bio217/2005/cjc6/Kudzu.html

…From photos I’ve seen taken back a few years ago down at Saluda grade in Saluda, N C…it {Kudzu vines}, was trying to take over the ROW after they embargoed that line.

We had a chance to visit several times the location before the trains stopped running and I noted it was heavy along the banks there as it started down the grade from Saluda. By now, if it hasn’t been cut or sprayed, I can’t imagine how much it must have grown out on the ROW. That was my first experience of really seeing how that stuff grows…It’s easy to see how it will take over almost anything in it’s path.

Hi gang, I live in metro Atlanta and railfan regularly all over north Georgia. Let me tell you kudzu is everywhere–literally. And it is also all over the railroads where I shoot video. Here are two videos that clearly show the effects:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uBxgUlnXOS0
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uVqDXr9KAU4

Sorry for the shameless self promotion [;)], but I think those videos show just how dominant the kudzu is around here. In both, everything you see on the ground (except for the track ballast and the occasional rogue patch of tall grass) is kudzu, brown and dormant for the winter. Even the trees are covered with it. When active in the warm season, starting in spring, this stuff grows like mad and must be a real nuisance for the railroad crews. In Tunnel Hill, GA, right before the stuff starts to go green, the forestry service and CSX burn it off all around the north portal of the tunnel through Chetoogeta Mountain. I missed the burn last year but will be going to check it out in '08. For photographers/videographers, the stuff is great because all of your scenes contain lush green vegitation that causes the trains to really statnd out.

Morseman; Wecome to Canada, a map shows it’s extent to the 49th, and I would assume with the warm winters Ontario may be introduced soon to this cute green monster, at least you can make baskets from the vine and I’m not sure if you can eat it. It’s sort of like Virginia creeper on steroids.

Not much to add to all this except a couple of points, which are-

Kudzu got introduced to this country from China in the 1920’s by the US Department of Agriculture. It was supposed to be a ground cover plant to reduce erosion of topsoil. And no, you can’t eat it.

I have seen CSX actively control overgrowth here in Georgia by using a spray car on a maintenance of way train. The spray car was owned by ASPLUNDH.

Other railroads I have seen tell me that kudzu growth is controlled by just cutting it back. Either way, the solution is temporary. It’s not a matter of if it will come back, just when.

The damage that can be caused is pretty impressive. A kudzu vine can literally strangle a tree, and if unchecked, can knock down a building. I’ve seen old railroad stations, abandoned by their roads, covered in kudzu and knocked down. I have also had to do search and recovery through a kudzu infested area, and there is no machete strong enough or sharp enough to get through the stuff.

Holy cow, this sounds like the makings of an old science fiction movie from the 1950’s!

Kudzu is a menace to the world second only to the atomic bomb according to a North Georgia Front Porch Philosopher I once knew. In truth I discovered from the same man the solution to the kudzu problem. First it makes a great methanol when distilled or if getting rid of the stuff is what you have in mind, Goats love it.

Good to be back for a visit,

Piouslion

Good to have you back Piouslion and please keep coming back often. You peaked my interest with your comment about Kudzu being a great source of ethanol. Since the price of other crops used to create ethanol are going up (along with the other products related to them…i.e. milk going up due to high ethanol related demand for corn), how about using Kudzu weed instead of these other crops whenever possible to offset the impact on things like milk and get rid of as much of the Kudzu as possible at the same time.

Jim, I was wondering the same thing, except Mr. Lion piously said methanol, not ethanol. If ethanol production from kudzu were possible, you’d probably have farmers trying to make a cash crop out of it!

Thank you Carl,

I mis-quoted on the distilled product name, ethanol is indeed correct.

But on further thought: To quote another “anything that is green can make something.”

I wonder if a solution to the fuel challenge to the railroads might just be growing on their right of ways for bio-diesel. Now that would be a creative solution. Who is listening???

PL

This stuff is a real pain. It seems to grow a foot or two overnight. On lines such as branch lines or industrial spurs that aren’t used but every so often, this stuff can reak havok. When you run over it the juice from the vines is slick and will cause wheel slip. In areas where it’s really thick, I have witnessed it roll up in front of the traction motors and get stuck. The vines present a bad tripping hazard as they are very strong, and will get tangled around your feet. Spraying kudzu with weed killer does help, but even after the stuff dies it’s still laying along the ROW and the vines are still strong enough to cause you to trip.

http://www.ag.iastate.edu/aginfo/news/2001releases/rose.html

Multiflora Rose is not as fast growing as kuzu. It is nastier than simply something to trip over. Farmers complain the thorns will work their way into and flatten tractor tires.

It does make great game cover as any hunter who has tried wading through it in pursuit Bambi and Thumper can testify. The only way to cut through it is with a mechanical mower and then you want to be clear of any flying debries. Napalm in a flame thrower may work.

You would not want to be exposed on any piece of moving equipment brushing up against it.

For years they used Crown Vetch to slow/halt erosion in our area. I don’t see it used much anymore. May have some other quality that affects the environment. Any one know what they use today?

A little radical, but does napalm stop the growth in the next year? Kudzu is known to be a true survivor. Goats might work better to clear the stuff out, but the smell might be something else to think about.

PL

After a trip to Georgia I was fascinated with kudzu and wondered why it had not expanded north or west. The reason is that it likes warm and very wet weather. West is too dry and north is too cold. The plant is originally from Japan and Korea, where the temperatures are more limiting for its growth. I hear that it can be used as food for humans as a leafy green. I wonder why this hasn’t been marketed yet.

TO KRAZYCAT

Take a look a following website biology.duke.edu/b10217/2005/cjc6/kudzu.html Canadians are worried that kudzu might soon be coming up North. One way it’s possibly travelling is by people diggging up some roots down south and transporting them to their areas to stop erosion.

Kudzu originally came from China and were planted along the Mississipi to protect the levees, I believe. Kudzu would have been a great plant to save New Orleans from their hurricane several years ago.

Methanol…Could it be turned into fuel? That would solve two problems at once.

BINGO!