LAND UNDER ATTACK: KUDZU WEEK CREEPING NORTHWARD

In a horror film, this monster would entice people with its beauty and fruity scent. They would invite it into their yards, celebrate its usefulness and even give it cute nicknames. Only after realizing that it can spread as much as a foot a day in warm climes, roots itself 12 feet underground and overwhelms everything in its path would people realize that this legume's intentions are not necessarily friendly.

Since arriving in the U.S. from Japan in the 19th century, kudzu (rhymes with "mud zoo") has taken over 7 million acres of the deep South. It causes an estimated $300 million in damage to agricultural and forest lands each year. In the South, kudzu has become part of the social landscape, like grits.

Kentucky has given up trying to eradicate the leafy vine, concentrating instead on trying to protect the state's nature preserves. Fearing a similar onslaught, Illinois has declared war on kudzu with a coordinated eradication effort employing poisons. In its last session, the Missouri Legislature passed a bill adding kudzu to its list of noxious weeds. The designation, if the bill is signed by Gov. Bob Holden, requires efforts to control the spread of kudzu.

The problem with most plants is getting them to grow. The problem with kudzu is it grows too well in warm climates, and once it gets established is difficult to stop. When other plants are withering in a drought, kudzu climbs and covers power poles and kills big trees. Kudzu-covered objects take on the look of trimmed topiary.

Jody Shimp, a biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources office in Benton, Ill., calls kudzu "the modern-day Jack and the Beanstalk." Kudzu also has been called the "weed that ate the South" or the "cuss-you vine."

Illinois starts war

Illinois began identifying populations of kudzu throughout the state in 1997. Surveys found 320 acres and 90 populations, most of them in the southern third of the state. Most of these were planted.

A coalition of federal and state agencies is trying to eradicate kudzu from the state before it gets established. According to the IDNR, the state's kudzu population could be entering an "exponential spread phase" that could result in much more rapid growth.

Led by the IDNR, the agencies have been treating kudzu patches at Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Shawnee National Forest, Giant City State Park, the Union County Conservation Area, Trail of Tears State Forest and along several road right of ways. So far the results have been good, Shimp says.

An herbicide called Transline has worked well against kudzu but can't be used where water contamination is a problem. It is banned in Florida. Transline also costs more than $300 per gallon. The more common herbicide Rodeo also has had success against kudzu.

The first application at the Illinois sites resulted in 85 to 90 percent mortality. The residual has been treated within the same year. "We are really pleased with the results so far," Shimp said.

But the biologists know their opponent and are wary. "We are concerned that if there are plants we missed, kudzu has the ability to grow a foot a day and can colonize really quickly," Shimp says.

Landowners who participate are required to sign on for a 15-year monitoring program. Illinois is offering full assistance to the landowners.

Missouri invasion

Kudzu has been identified in 26 counties in Missouri, most of them in Southwest Missouri. State Rep. Estil Robirds, R-Theodosia, sponsored the bill designating kudzu as a noxious weed. That status means counties can enforce control of the weeds.

The Missouri law would require individuals, associations, corporations, government entities, railroad companies and other transportation companies to control the spread of kudzu vine (Pueraria lobata) by methods approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Cape Girardeau County has no ordinance controlling the growth of noxious weeds, although the county is beginning the process of writing a nuisance-abatement ordinance that would cover weeds.

Some counties do have ordinances that require people who have noxious weeds on their property to remove them, says Gerald Bryan, an agronomist with the University of Missouri Extension Service in Jackson, Mo.

He doesn't get many calls about kudzu in Cape Girardeau County but says there are chemicals -- Tordon, Banval and Arsenal -- that have good ratings against it.

Mike Brown, an official with the state Department of Agriculture in Jefferson City, Mo., says kudzu has been located as far north in Missouri as Hannibal. "Historically, it has been considered a Southern problem and it is more prevalent in the Southeastern United States," he says. "But it is becoming more widespread in Missouri."

Robirds, who is from Ozark County, tried unsuccessfully to get his bill passed last year. House Speaker Jim Kreider, D-Nixa, was the bill's co-sponsor this past session.

"Last year it was a kind of joke to some people," Robirds said. "Really, it's not too much of a joke."

Local patches

A long stretch of kudzu grows along the side of Route OO in Cape Girardeau County between Burfordville and Gordonville. The vine was planted by the highway department about 30 years ago, say local farmers.

At 85, Buford Helderman still raises "wheat, corn, a little hell and hay." He also raises kudzu, though he'd rather not.

Helderman and his son, Wayne, both have patches of kudzu on their farms next to Route OO. The cattle they raised until 1976 would eat it. "They'd almost tear the fence down to get to it to eat," Buford said.

"There hasn't been any cattle to bother it so it grows where it wants to," Wayne said. He calls the kudzu on his property "a nuisance."

Buford has lost pastureland to kudzu. It can be difficult to deal with when they bale hay. He talks about the way it grows on trees and smothers them. There is another opinion on the farm, though. "I think it looks pretty on them," says his wife, Gertrude.

After the roof blew off an old barn on the farm, kudzu took it over.

No bottom to it'

He has dug down to the root system with a backhoe without success. "There's no bottom to it," he says.

Neither father nor son has ever tried to kill the weed with herbicides.

"I didn't figure it was our responsibility," Wayne says. "To me, that's the state right of way."

Controlling the spread of weeds from the right of way can be a problem. Stacy Armstrong, roadside management supervisor for the Missouri Department of Transportation in Jefferson City, said MoDOT may have planted kudzu along right of way as ground cover at one time, but she's sure that hasn't occurred in the past 15 years. She said the agency has had good success using Transline against the vine. She's waiting to see what effect last winter's prolonged cold spell may have on roadside kudzu.

"We don't know if it's going to knock it back or what," she said.

Some kudzu defenders remain. There are people who deep-fry the leaves or make baskets from the vines. Some claim the root has healing properties.

Sheep and goats are being touted as one of the most effective means of controlling kudzu. Robirds said one lobbyist in Jefferson City insists there is only one way to get rid of it -- "an atomic bomb."

The history of kudzu

Kudzu arrived in the U.S. in 1876 when the Japanese government built a garden for the Centennial exposition in Philadelphia, Pa. American gardeners began using the plant for ornamental purposes. During the Great Depression, the Soil Conservation Service began distributing kudzu seeds to control erosion. Farmers were paid incentives to plant fields of the vines.

In the 1940s, a Georgian named Channing Cope promoted the virtues of kudzu through his daily radio show and newspaper articles. He traveled the South starting Kudzu clubs.

China is kudzu's ancestral home but it grows much better here. By 1953 the U.S. government decided that promoting the spread of kudzu wasn't such a good idea after all. The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated kudzu a weed in 1972.

A study by a U.S. Forest Service researcher found that many herbicides have almost no effect on kudzu, and one actually makes it grow faster. The study found that some kudzu plants take up to 10 years to kill.