Kudzu "The Vine That Ate The South"

They are making Ethanol out of it now free gas woo hoo hey have finely found something to do with it . LOL

great idea!

Great news! My family in sw. Virginia will be the new "Beverly Hillbillies", only much richer!

he he he I know what ya mean there is a feller in lebanon Tn that is doen it has the system built already made a few batches i did a college paper on it . no joke i just had to use all the MS word stuff ans make it all Fancy . but i got an A on it any way

Now somebody is thinking smart. Pay people to harvest it for fuel processing, instead of trying to grow fuel "crops"

I s this kudzu? Each leaflet is about the size of my hand! Stem is very fuzzy and brownish.

Well Doc,

It does seem to appear that by your description that you have found a “Kudzu” Vine I do not know if I should say congratulations or say I am Sorry, LoL. They do have some pretty flowers on them if you can keep them in check but that don’t happen they grow 6’’ over night here’s another photo I had hope it helps you out .

The Sarge

It's about time you guys got ethanol down in TN (or the south)!! Congratulations!! We moved just north of Chattanooga for a short time in '03-'04 (long story), and you should have seen the cashiers face when I asked if their gas had ethanol in it. I was on a mission. Looking, looking, looking for someone who's gas had ethanol in it!! I'd been using ethanol based gas up here forever, so to discover that they'd never heard of it down there....LOL

Terry,

We Drink Moonshine and put it in the tank to out run the law ROTF not for the cars to run on every day it messes up the New cars.Lol and folks round here dont like it in the gas either lol ;>)

ROFL!! I don't know a thing about Moonshine, Ethanol I do know. It's only a 10% blend in the gas.

It was around here for a bit and folks started hunting for the ones that did not have it added to the gas the stations that clam to not have it must have an up to date sticker on the pump and cert displayed at the counter before they can make the clam of NO ETHANOL in their Gas . it deteriorates the gas lines and rubber in the fuel system and causes problems for folks round here.
Moonshine is Corn Whiskey , White lightning and good Shine is Awesome, folks will tell ya it is made every where around bt most will tell ya Tennessee and Kentucky is the Two Best Places to get What you want to sip on LOL .

Sarge

Sally, if you just have a little itty bit of kudzu, DIG IT OUT, USE WEED KILLER, GET RID OF IT! IT WILL EAT YOUR HOUSE AND ALL YOUR LAND! There's an old DG article (by girlgroupgirl) on getting rid of it. I'm serious.

LOL I see you have had some dealings with it too Carrie . it's a Bad Vine !

Yes, my family - cousins grandparents aunts etc. - lived near Tyson's Corner, VA, back when it was an intersection near old Tyson's place, out in the country. Tons of kudzu everywhere. Now I think it's all paved over.

lol most that have had to fight it have had a battle

I've been told that the railroads planted this vine many years ago to hold and solidify the gravel and cinder along the tracks. The reason it is so invasive is that it doesn't die back to the root in the Fall like most plants. In the Spring it simply continues from where it stopped in the Fall. In some areas in Virginia it has grown several hundred yards from where it's rooted. My grandparents abandoned farm has been overtaken and two pear trees were bent and pulled to the ground. The railroads have sprayed many times but it's like trying to kill 'The Blob", it just gets bigger. You can do a Google search and see some chilling pics where they show a farm from Winter through Summer and houses, barns and cars are completely hidden. The only purpose I can see for this "evil" is if you happen to be a rattlesnake and need a great hiding place. lol My family had goats and it grew faster than they could eat it.

psudan,

Nope !

It was Actually brought over by the Japanese Master Gardeners’ at the Master Gardeners’ Show for the Honoring of the USA back in the early 18 or 1900’s I can’t quite remember . it was because of the wonderful flowers it produces and the fragrances’ it has it was sold to farmers and used to feed live stock for years until the Ag department band the sale and classed it as an Invasive Plant and it had took over and had no known predator to control the weed .

Sarge

Sarge, I didn't mean the railroads brought kudzu into the country and spread it,but my mom's brothers worked on the ccc corps and planted it along the sloping rr beds to prevent soil erosion. My uncles probably helped create this nightmare. lol When I was growing up ,my grandparents lived about a mile apart and the fastest way to get from one to the other was to walk the tracks. The kudzu completely covered the tracks in places and I was so afraid of snakes that I took the long way around. You couldn't even see where the trains running over it did much damage to it. It just grew back overnight. I've even seen where some people eat the stuff. If I'm going to eat "wild" ,I'm sticking to dandelions and poke.

OOO ok i missunderstood you sorry i se what your saying lol

Sarge, I just figured how to get rid of kudzu. We can contract the people from BP who engineered that mess down in the Gulf. They could destroy anything! LOL

BP said they stoped the oil leak they put a wedding band around the tha cap and it stop putten out ..... ROTFLMBO.....


Sarg

snicker !! too funny, Sarge

Ethanol, 10% in the gas, isn't going to deteriorates the gas lines and rubber in the fuel system on any car. Unless you're still driving some car made in the 60's that burned regular gas and has no catalytic converter in it? Otherwise, the gas isn't harming anything. It burns cleaner. Where is any c-station able to buy only gasoline?

terryr,

welcome to Tennessee


So said the Sarge

Hat Feller

Here's ya one that Don't have all that Mess on it !

And it runs like a skalled Dog!

We lived in TN Sarge, remember? You don't want to know what I did when I left for the last time ☺ No sirree, not telling.

I am a frad to know, there have been a few states that me and you might have done the sam thing on! ROTF


Sarge

LOL