DATE: 9/14/05

CONTACT: Newt Hardie, (864) 582-0990

WRITER: Diane Palmer, (864) 656-4741

War on kudzu

SPARTANBURG -- Kudzu is still doing what it does best – take root, spread across the ground, through the trees and over pretty much anything else that doesn’t move, smothering and killing all that it covers.

Spartanburg Master Gardener Newt Hardie has spent the last four years studying and developing ways to kill this obnoxious vine without using chemicals, primarily through manual removal of the plant’s root crowns.

In 2004, the Spartanburg Men’s Garden Club along with the Spartanburg Mayor helped Hardie and Henry Pittman, Master Gardener and tree expert, form the Coalition to Control Kudzu. With the help of local Master Gardeners, Clemson Extension Service and other volunteers, the coalition now has more than 25 demonstration sites in and outside of the city of Spartanburg.

“The demonstration sites shows proof that kudzu can be controlled in urban areas,” said Hardie.

In addition, these volunteers have turned a kudzu patch behind the Spartanburg YMCA into 15 experiment plots where additional treatments are evaluated.

Results from the methods used in the demonstration sites can be applied to almost any small urban area, including neighborhood corners, sidewalks, fences, creeks and more.

While results from the kudzu study can’t yet be applied on a massive scale, property owners in an urban setting can surely benefit.

For example, Larry Nelson, Clemson University professor, had the idea that heat would kill the kudzu. Experiments were done by covering the kudzu with clear or heavy-mil black plastic sheeting. The team confirmed that this does indeed kill the foliage.

In addition to the heat or thermal method, other experiments that are working are the manual removal of kudzu crowns and installation of fencing as barriers and cutting fire lanes.

Jack Callahan, an inventor from Tennessee, designed a patented kudzu guard devise, which prevents kudzu from climbing up guy wires and utility poles. Callahan discovered that kudzu cannot climb a tree or utility pole or a round object larger than eight inches in diameter. The vines also can’t reach more than three feet above the level of kudzu mass.

The coalition has successfully installed more than two dozen of Callahan’s Kudzu Guards.

While coalition members avoid saying they can get rid of kudzu entirely, they offer to show proof to any interested persons that they do know how to control the green monster in urban situations and know how to do it without herbicides.

END