What kills kudzu?

[ReeferMac]

Looking for some agent-orange level stuff here.

[superduty]

Goats

[Garufa]

2 minutes ago, superduty said:

Goats

This.  If you have enough of it there are people who rent out their kudzu goats and will bring them over.

[Grunt67]

1 hour ago, ReeferMac said:

Looking for some agent-orange level stuff here.

Napalm.

[gregintenn]

Move.

[peejman]

Fire. Or goats, your choice. 

[bobsguns]

Gotta be careful on that pesticide stuff. You don't want to kill everything nor pets. 

Here in Polk Co they've sprayed it quite a bit, doing real well in making a lot of it go away. No clue what they're using, but you'd almost certainly HAVE to have a pesticide license to buy that sort of thing. I don't know if Round-up would be good enough or not?

Could call your Highway Dept, see what they're using? 

Edited October 25, 2021 by bobsguns

[Jeb48]

We bought our place before the Kudzu started greening up and I saw lots of vines and thought it might be the case but the seller made it out to be no problem. The way Kudzu propagates it is nearly impossible to kill it completely, the best you can do is control it.

Goats are one of the best methods if you can fence in the area. I had a local goat farmer that was interested in using part of my property but in the end decided not to because of a seasonal stream running through it that he thought young goats might drown in and some trees that the older goats may girdle and kill.

What I gave done to control mine: Mowing regularly if possible, I had a large area terraformed so it could be mowed once a month. I smothered one hillside with some old tarps I had that I spread out and weighted down with rocks and let the sun cook it for a coupe of summers. I also buried a bunch under shale fill where I wanted to extend a flat area over a drop off. In the deeper woods I noticed what looked like hoses running through the woods then up trees, turns out the Kudzu would make runs till it saw a little sun then go up. I spent a lot of time with clippers and bow saw cutting the vines to kill the Kudzu that was spreading out over the tops of the trees. Some were 2-3" in diameter.

Now for the real control method when you have areas you can not do any of the other methods. Trycera herbicide, I asked the people that control Kudzu for the power company to keep it from climbing the poles and ripping down the wires. They use a very strong mix with a truck mounted tank and sprayer and the Kudzu starts wilting with in hours. The active ingredient is Tricolor: 3,5,6-trichloroethane-2pyridinyloxyacetic acid 29.4%. I us a generic version called Crossroad from the farmers Coop. I mix it 8oz to the gallon which is about twice what the jug says but way less than the professionals. On a sunny day the Kudzu will be wilting by the next day. I used a lot of this the first couple of years with many heavy sprayings each Summer. Even hired a pro to do massive spraying to the worse areas twice. Now 6 years later I spray about 6 gallons (mixed) along a ravine that is not mow able and I do not own both sides of along my driveway and the edges of my woods. I do this level of spraying early when it is just getting leafed out and again in July. I do extra touch up spraying of about 2 gallons each time a couple of more times each Summer. Of course I continue watching and clipping new shoots or spot spraying as I see them.

I'm convinced that if I just stopped I would be back where I started within 5 or 6 years but the Trysera and mowing has it controlled. I started with it being solid Kudzu on both sides of about 800' of my 1200' drive, about 1/2 acres beside the house a couple of acres out in front, and hit and miss around the rest of our 7.5 acres.

Seeing what "bobsguns" posted while I was typing this long message, Roundup does not work well enough to bother with. The Trysera if used carefully will not kill grass and such but will turn it brown for awhile, it is a broadleaf herbicide.

[Grayfox54]

Hate to tell you, but fire don't work. The roots will survive and just grow back.  

 

[ReeferMac]

Thanks guys and @Jeb48. The spectracide version of "kill everything for 2 months" was applied very liberally. Then a refill bottle of concentrate was purchased, and applied directly in good amounts with a paintbrush.

It laughed: Hahahaha, puny human!

Tried manual removal.

Lots of roots left, which are now sprouting.

All for a couple loads of free woodchips from the guys clearing powerlines nearby...

[Alleycat72]

The guys at work use poison and run a chisel plow. 

[jpx2rk]

Check out "Cornerstone" and see if any of the ingredients would work.  It's a Roundup variant from the local Co-op.  It's a bit cheaper than roundup label.  

[No_0ne]

14 hours ago, ReeferMac said:

Looking for some agent-orange level stuff here.

The only known survivors of a nuclear exchange are cockroaches and kudzu ...

[FUJIMO]

Call this guy

[Hozzie]

I had heard of Kudzu, but luckily haven't had an issue with it on my land.  I just googled it and some of the images are crazy.   I did find this one article though that I thought was interesting.  I think if I had a major issue with it, I may actually try helium as it appears it can help kill it underground.  Not the easiest option, but with a little setup, probably not undoable.  No idea what a tank of helium costs.

https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/teen-scientist-inventor-kills-kudzu/article_11378be0-3aeb-59dd-b61e-ea5ac4cf513c.html

Edited October 25, 2021 by Hozzie

[E4 No More]

13 hours ago, Jeb48 said:

We bought our place before the Kudzu started greening up and I saw lots of vines and thought it might be the case but the seller made it out to be no problem. The way Kudzu propagates it is nearly impossible to kill it completely, the best you can do is control it.

Goats are one of the best methods if you can fence in the area. I had a local goat farmer that was interested in using part of my property but in the end decided not to because of a seasonal stream running through it that he thought young goats might drown in and some trees that the older goats may girdle and kill.

What I gave done to control mine: Mowing regularly if possible, I had a large area terraformed so it could be mowed once a month. I smothered one hillside with some old tarps I had that I spread out and weighted down with rocks and let the sun cook it for a coupe of summers. I also buried a bunch under shale fill where I wanted to extend a flat area over a drop off. In the deeper woods I noticed what looked like hoses running through the woods then up trees, turns out the Kudzu would make runs till it saw a little sun then go up. I spent a lot of time with clippers and bow saw cutting the vines to kill the Kudzu that was spreading out over the tops of the trees. Some were 2-3" in diameter.

Now for the real control method when you have areas you can not do any of the other methods. Trycera herbicide, I asked the people that control Kudzu for the power company to keep it from climbing the poles and ripping down the wires. They use a very strong mix with a truck mounted tank and sprayer and the Kudzu starts wilting with in hours. The active ingredient is Tricolor: 3,5,6-trichloroethane-2pyridinyloxyacetic acid 29.4%. I us a generic version called Crossroad from the farmers Coop. I mix it 8oz to the gallon which is about twice what the jug says but way less than the professionals. On a sunny day the Kudzu will be wilting by the next day. I used a lot of this the first couple of years with many heavy sprayings each Summer. Even hired a pro to do massive spraying to the worse areas twice. Now 6 years later I spray about 6 gallons (mixed) along a ravine that is not mow able and I do not own both sides of along my driveway and the edges of my woods. I do this level of spraying early when it is just getting leafed out and again in July. I do extra touch up spraying of about 2 gallons each time a couple of more times each Summer. Of course I continue watching and clipping new shoots or spot spraying as I see them.

I'm convinced that if I just stopped I would be back where I started within 5 or 6 years but the Trysera and mowing has it controlled. I started with it being solid Kudzu on both sides of about 800' of my 1200' drive, about 1/2 acres beside the house a couple of acres out in front, and hit and miss around the rest of our 7.5 acres.

Seeing what "bobsguns" posted while I was typing this long message, Roundup does not work well enough to bother with. The Trysera if used carefully will not kill grass and such but will turn it brown for awhile, it is a broadleaf herbicide.

Add a little surfactant like Dawn and the herbicide will stick better to the plants making it more effective.

[Quavodus]

It's tough stuff for sure. I know a spot where an old man used to live, when he passed it sold to a dumbass (believe me I know him) . He bought it and moved some equipment that had sat outside covered in Kudzu on another property, to this property.  Well you guessed it, the whole place is covered now. I bet the neighbors living next to the old man's place love the new owner.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Quavodus

[Jeb48]

10 hours ago, E4 No More said:

Add a little surfactant like Dawn and the herbicide will stick better to the plants making it more effective.

Good idea, I'll try it in the Spring. 

[MacGyver]

As the old saying goes - it's a race to see which will take over the world first - kudzu or southern Baptists.

The SBC is going through a touch patch right now - so maybe kudzu is pulling ahead.

[Swamp ash]

What kills Kudzu: a truck.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/truck-accident-kills-kudzu-cartoonist/

Edited October 26, 2021 by Swamp ash