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Post by Drahkk on Aug 1, 2012 13:58:27 GMT -5
Sorry, Wood. I intended that as humor, not rancor. Expression and tone don't always translate into text very well.
I know kudzu has its uses. Food for humans and animals, basket weaving and wicker furniture making with the vines, etc. It just grows and spreads so fast and is so difficult to kill that it is very easy for it to get out of control, and I wouldn't want to see Australia end up like our Southern states.
MB
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Post by castanea on Aug 1, 2012 16:33:00 GMT -5
Kudzu gets a bad rap. Kudzu got out of control in the American southeast because too much was planted in rural areas, in a perfect environment, with lots of precipitation, with aggressive promotion and protection, with few natural enemies, and then allowed to grow for more than 50 years. If you combine all of those factors, it can get large and out of countrol.
But if you plant a small kudzu plant almost anywhere in a rural area today, it probably won't make it through the year without supplemental irrigation, protection and care. Otherwise it will get eaten by something, probably deer, or cattle, or wild hogs, or it will succumb to drought. Kudzu plants that are less than 5-10 years old don't have much of a root system and don't recover well if the foilage is eaten. Nor do they tolerate drought very well. Many plants are more aggressive than kudzu when young, including hops. Young hops vines and many other aggressive vines will outgrow any young kudzu vine.
The kudzu that exists in the American southeast is more appropriately comparable to a mature redwood or eucalyptus, which are very strong trees when they get well established, but not particularly tough when young.
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Post by mountaindweller on Aug 2, 2012 21:59:21 GMT -5
Now you will throw me out of the forum.... I had a kudzu plant and it didn't survive last winter! I think it was too wet. Maybe I give it another go this spring, the el ninho/la ninha condition is supposed to change. I was very interested in kudzu as is makes an edible tuber. But I am sure it won't survive chicken and sheep either. Weeds are only weeds in certain areas.
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Post by castanea on Aug 2, 2012 23:48:21 GMT -5
Young kudzu is not a very strong plant, even under good conditions. Only mature/old kudzu shows the growth characteristics that have made it a legend in the southeastern US. If you want to see a very aggressive vine, even when young, grow hops.
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Post by castanea on Aug 3, 2012 9:05:04 GMT -5
Now you will throw me out of the forum.... I had a kudzu plant and it didn't survive last winter! I think it was too wet. Maybe I give it another go this spring, the el ninho/la ninha condition is supposed to change. I was very interested in kudzu as is makes an edible tuber. But I am sure it won't survive chicken and sheep either. Weeds are only weeds in certain areas. Kudzu is not very cold hardy. Cold has been one of the limiting factors. And unless they're old enough to have developed a huge root, they don't deal well with drought either. |
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Post by mountaindweller on Aug 6, 2012 3:26:14 GMT -5
How cold hardy is kudzu? Maybe it was the cold together with the wet? The interesting thing about kudzu is the starchy root - however I should try the stuff before maybe it tastes terrible. I think the leaves can be used as fodder, but if it dies down in winter that is not of much use.
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bertiefox
gardener
There's always tomorrow!
Posts: 236
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Post by bertiefox on Aug 6, 2012 4:44:51 GMT -5
For biomass and for height, you can't beat elephant grass, Miscanthus giganteus. Once it is established you can harvest it annually and shred for biomass or cut the canes to use like bamboo. Grows up to 12 foot high with enough water at the roots. Maybe you are allowed to grow it in Australia as it is an important energy biomass plant.
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Post by castanea on Aug 6, 2012 19:39:18 GMT -5
How cold hardy is kudzu? Maybe it was the cold together with the wet? The interesting thing about kudzu is the starchy root - however I should try the stuff before maybe it tastes terrible. I think the leaves can be used as fodder, but if it dies down in winter that is not of much use. The taste is very mild. It tends to asborb any flavors you mix with it. |
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Post by blueadzuki on Aug 7, 2012 13:52:45 GMT -5
How cold hardy is kudzu? Maybe it was the cold together with the wet? The interesting thing about kudzu is the starchy root - however I should try the stuff before maybe it tastes terrible. I think the leaves can be used as fodder, but if it dies down in winter that is not of much use. Depends on which species you mean. There are two (actually there are about 30 plus interspecies hybrids, but there are 2 that make up most of the cultivated/invasive biomass. Pueraria montana var. lobata and P. phaseoloides. Lobata is the one that covers most of the south (actually the southern version is probably interspecific, but most reaseacher agree it is mostly lobata gentically.) That one is pretty cold hardy, the current U.S. "official line" is all the way up to New Jersey and it is still moving up (there is a patch near me (in souther NY) that has been there for at least 5-6 years, and scattered patches are known as far north as souther Quebec), but does not do well in extreme heat. P.phaseoloides is often called Tropical Kudzu. That one does phenominally well in hot tropical zones but cant take really cold temperatures, so it isn't usually found thrving much north of Mid Mexico. You can draw your conclusions from that. on the subject of fast growing trees, if you are tropical, Gmelina arborea is supposed to be a very fast grower. In fact I think it is one of the trees somtimes grouped under the name "tree that mocks the woodcutter" (the idea being it grows so fast a woodcutter can't keep up) Given it's family affiliations (it's actually a mint) I can sort of belive the claim |
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Post by mountaindweller on Aug 8, 2012 1:18:50 GMT -5
Interesting info about the kudzu, it is the lobata species sold here. We are in cool climate and in winter we have night frosts up to 5°C under freezing. Kudzu is sold here at the organic coop it is expensive, why on earth people do not harvest it?
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Post by MikeH on Aug 8, 2012 6:16:53 GMT -5
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Post by ottawagardener on Aug 8, 2012 7:15:14 GMT -5
Woah! MikeH: Didn't know it could grow that far north.
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Post by blueadzuki on Aug 8, 2012 15:12:06 GMT -5
Woah! MikeH: Didn't know it could grow that far north. Actually, as I mentioned before, it could actually get even worse. Based on the study I've done of the patch near me, when kudzu is put under stress (like being on the margin of the range) it seems to respond by diriving seed production through the roof. From what I have read, in the south, a lot of kudzu never actually flowers (it never completely dies back, so it doesn't have to) and even when it does the average number of fertile seed per cluster is supposed to be 2-3. The one near me flowers every year, and each pod cluster is making something on the order of 40-60 apparantly fertile seed. So either I've got a patch of super-kudzu, or kudzu placed in more marginal areas simply seeds itself like crazy. |
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Post by Drahkk on Aug 8, 2012 16:46:44 GMT -5
So The Blob and Tribbles are from the same planet...
MB
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Post by steev on Aug 8, 2012 22:41:53 GMT -5
Uranus, I think.
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