My back yard has a 4' wide, 15' long and 3' deep box filled with composty stuff they call top soil. 5 pumpkin vines have taken hold. Leaves as large as a foot and a half sprout off vines that have long since covered the box and taken over the nearby lawn and patio. I think there are male and female flowers because flowers are built differently.

Well it got me thinking about a favorite fascination I have with the old South's newest identified old South resident, Kudzu. This Asian import could revive the old 1950's horror flick. No computer graphics.

Imagine if you will, the couple from Maine or Rhode Island spending the Winter in Kudzu country. Arriving to their winter home they meet the usual assortment of Southern charactars. Off in the nearby woodlands are some Kudzu vines.

When ones back is turned the vines rustle. When looked at it stops.

Over moments the vines gain ground. Consuming the woodland and moving on the house. Finally to engulf the house. As our fighting couple retreats to the last room, defenseless for a last night together, there is a freeze killing the Kudzu back. B&W and no more special effects then a leafy mop enlarged and puppet string motion. Think of the old Giant Ants movie or the Giant Tarantula. Just good honest, bloodless horror popcorn fare.

Ideas?

How about a nice story about the "Castrating Kudzu", or giant ant mandibles burdizzoing "Them". You just made me laugh and come up with a silly reply. Sorry.

I agree with you that kudzu vine could make a good story for a sci-fi movie, after living in the south for a while, I came to the conclusion that this imported kudzu vine was actually VERY destructive to the forests and lands that it was supposed to protect from errosion. I think "kudzu" must be the hindu word for "killer vine from outer space."

I lived in Georgia, more accurately I survived the worst time of my life in hell on earth, for three hellish years. That is where I saw first hand how kudzu works, it is truly a destructive parasite plant. For a brief period of my time in Georgia, I went on a truly insane quixotic quest to kill all the kudzu behind my home: I would go on walks in the woods behind my home and cut every kudzu vine I saw. It was truly a useless and futile effort on my part, but it at least made me feel that I was trying in some small way to resist the evil.

As for the pumpkin vine problem you are currently dealing with, I would not worry too much, the pumpkin will die off when winter hits, and you will be able to rake up the dried out vines with little effort. What's more, you might just be lucky and harvest a few pumpkins to boot.

DeaconBlues (imported) wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2009 10:35 am I agree with you that kudzu vine could make a good story for a sci-fi movie, after living in the south for a while, I came to the conclusion that this imported kudzu vine was actually VERY destructive to the forests and lands that it was supposed to protect from errosion. I think "kudzu" must be the hindu word for "killer vine from outer space."

I lived in Georgia, more accurately I survived the worst time of my life in hell on earth, for three hellish years. That is where I saw first hand how kudzu works, it is truly a destructive parasite plant. For a brief period of my time in Georgia, I went on a truly insane quixotic quest to kill all the kudzu behind my home: I would go on walks in the woods behind my home and cut every kudzu vine I saw. It was truly a useless and futile effort on my part, but it at least made me feel that I was trying in some small way to resist the evil.

As for the pumpkin vine problem you are currently dealing with, I would not worry too much, the pumpkin will die off when winter hits, and you will be able to rake up the dried out vines with little effort. What's more, you might just be lucky and harvest a few pumpkins to boot.

DB-

How very true, few win-wins in life.

chilli

Kudzu I belive is originalily from Japan and soil condishtion will on longer sport it. Kudzu is used like a vegetable there. We should harvest it and sell it to them. Ernie

Kudzu is to the south like tribbles were to Captain Kirk.

Fortunately my land in the south had no Kudzu, and when it tried to take root, I'd kill it. With malice.

It's like ivy, only 10 times worse!

Hay Loosthem Kudzu is 10x worse then ivy,not poison ivy. You can,t eat it, touch it or burn it unless you are a goat. Ernie

Ernie of Maine (imported) wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:14 pm Kudzu I belive is originalily from Japan and soil condishtion will on longer sport it. Kudzu is used like a vegetable there. We should harvest it and sell it to them. Ernie

I have heard this before, that you can make "kudzu jelly" and all that, but funny thing, NOBODY SEEMS TO BE DOING THAT... hmmmm, maybe that's because kudzu jelly tastes about like "smart pills."

The fantasy about kudzu is that it is somehow a good thing, that it can be harvested, that it might reduce soil errosion, that it might provide forrage for the deer, that.... blah blah blah... The reality of that horrible infestation is simply this, it KILLS FORRESTS, it blocks any paths or open spaces, it destroys any structures that are not actively protected with daily prunning back of the kudzu vines. It is truly heartwrenching for me to even look at it, when you walk by a large tree, and see the kudzu vines litterally strangling the tree as they wrap arround the trunk, and then the broad leaves of the kudzu shading out the tree's leaves, and you know, that any tree the kudzu starts climbing on will be dead withing a year or two. Then as the tree is killed by the kudzu, and it eventually rots and falls over, the tree line recedes just a bit and exposes a new tree to sufficient sunlight for the kudzu vine to infest it, and the process continues until the whole forrest is destroyed.

When people drive on the highways down south, many of them believe (wrongly) that the forrests they are driving through are so so so healthy and verdant, because if you look at the forrest just beyond the "right of way" fences on either side of the highway, you see a seemingly impenetrable wall of dark green leaves. This green wall is the kudzu, not any of the indiginous plants that are part of the natural eco-system, and it is why just getting into the forrest is a hard task, you have to hack your way through that green wall (sometimes it is a very thick wall, fifty or a hundred feet).

Though I have heard people say that there are some uses for kudzu, jelly and such, I have yet to actually see any good use for it.

I grew about 60 - 70 pie pumpkins this year. The squirrels got into 10-15 because they really like the seeds. Now they think I am a very good gardener, and they really like me. Now if only I could convince them to wait till the pumpkins are ripe and I would give them the seeds.... but, I guess they aren't big on the concept of postponed gratification. Oh well

:-\ Deacon I never sd it was a good or bad thing I sd it could be useful to someone. I have on idear what it tast like. That sd the Japanese will eat things we whont eat. (Kelp for instance) And I have seen it in the Tennessee River Valley however if a profit can be made fom it why not. Ernie