Kudzu!

[Magus]

 

[jazzy]

i miss kudzu--it was everywhere aorund i lived in the south. i thought a few times of trying to plant it here but i think the wnters are too cold. but ive heard many times it is good for you.

 

[Pearl]

It's invasive here! Guess I need to do some homework on it!

 

[Magus]

It attracts groundhogs.

 

[Magus]

Groundhogs attract me and my mini-14 or 10/22.

 

[DrHenley]

It attracts groundhogs.

And herds of wild hogs.

 

[Magus]

Better bring my FAL too. LOL

 

[Mountain trapper]

i miss kudzu--it was everywhere aorund i lived in the south. i thought a few times of trying to plant it here but i think the wnters are too cold. but ive heard many times it is good for you.

In some states it's highly illegal to knowingly plant an invasive species (weed). Around here a person would probably get shot for bringing in a horrible plant like that. Fortunately it won't grow here, but there are plenty of other invasive weeds around here. People, and the county, spend a lot of time and money spraying these weeds.

 

[Magus]

Point. you can literally see Kudzu grow after a rain!

 

[jazzy]

i understand your point mountaintrapper but i got to disagree a bit. one persons invasive weed is another persons food. it really is healthy for humans and animals. i think maybe not enough people know ho handy it is and how to use it so it just grows and becomes a bother.
**********

Kudzu

Kudzu is a great food source, and not just because it’s so abundant. Like any other dark leafy green kudzu is really, really good for you. It’s high in calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, and vitamins C and K. Like any other legume, it’s also high in protein. It actually makes excellent livestock forage. Goats, cows, and sheep all love it. It’s great as hay, it just doesn’t lend itself well to mechanized baling. There are plenty of ways to eat it, too: The shoots can be snapped off, cleaned, and cooked like green beans or asparagus. You can steam them, sautee them, fry them, add them to soups… the possibilities are endless. The leaves can be eaten raw (best for younger leaves), cooked as a green, or, our favorite, made into kudzu chips.


https://sarcraft.squarespace.com/news/kudzu-edible-and-medicinal-uses

 

[Pearl]

EXCELLENT ARTICLE @jazzy !!!! I'll definitely be trying some this spring!!

 

[jazzy]

EXCELLENT ARTICLE @jazzy !!!! I'll definitely be trying some this spring!!

im glad you liked it, some things i didnt know myself.

 

[Pearl]

im glad you liked it, some things i didnt know myself.

I'm actually going to do more homework on it, there is plenty of it around! I know the wild hogs like it a lot, lol!

 

[Magus]

Nobody has done an article on bamboo shoots in here yet, have they? bamboo grows as far up as Ky and maybe farther and can be just as invasive. 1 planted root can turn into an acre if you don't watch it, but the shoots are so tasty you'll be watching for them!

 

[Mountain trapper]

Thank God that none of that stuff will grow around here. We have enough other invasive weeds to deal with. Responsible land owners around here spray and burn the thistles and other noxious weeds. I think it's the law here to keep your weeds from spreading to other property owners land. It's a big issue out here on the range land too.

 

[Magus]

Those "weeds" are alternate food crops.

 

[Mountain trapper]

No real farmer would ever grow a nasty weed like that. I think it would be almost impossible to get rid of when the farmer decides to change to a more profitable crop.

 

[Pearl]

It's ok for wilderness survival if you happen upon it, but not for farmland!!

 

[Peanut]

The narrator skips over an important point when it comes to digging root balls. They are commonly 5 to 15ft down. In the south that means red clay. Ever dig a grave by hand in alabama? I have... it's no fun, takes a crew of guys half a day to dig 6ft down in red clay. F* trying to dig kudzu!!!! There's a reason it's 8 times the price of corn starch... 8 times the cost in digging it up! Unless you're in China and have very cheap labor.

He did get another point correct.... don't plant kudzu. You don't want it on your land!!! It'll kill everything else. I mean everything, from trees down to grass. And once started it's difficult to eradicate. Sprays are expensive.

However, relief finally showed up at Atlanta's Hartsfield airport about a decade ago. A beetle hitched a ride on an airplane from asia that is kudzu's only natural predator. Hartsfield used to be surrounded by kudzu. No more, it's mostly dead. This little beetle is keeping it under control.

 

[Peanut]

But.... Took me a moment to find it... the kudzu beetle has turned out to be worse than the kudzu. Even though its difficult to imagine anything worse than kudzu...

So, if you plant kudzu you're asking for kudzu beetles...

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2013/sep/10/kudzu-stink-bugs-have-arrived/

Kudzu bugs are here; problem is (besides the stink), they may eat more than kudzu
September 10, 2013 at 1:00 a.m. | Updated September 6, 2013 at 7:50 a.m.


https://atlantaveggies.blogspot.com/2012/04/new-pest-kudzu-bug.html

.......A new, tiny brown bug - the Kudzu Bug - showed up in my yard last week, but other yards in the Atlanta area have been host to this insect for a couple of years now. A large number of calls to the local county extension office over the past year have been about this particular pest.

It shares that unfortunate habit of ladybugs of overwintering inside the walls of buildings, leading to occasional outbreaks of "what the heck?" when great masses of them emerge inside the building instead of outside, where they belong.....

 

[Haertig]

Not for me. Maybe as a last resort to stay alive after the apocalypse for some people. It's thoughts of having to root around for weeds like this to eat that is the basis for me not wanting to live too long after the apocalypse. The video provides reasonable academic knowledge on this plant. I would not want to live an existence where I had to apply that knowledge however.

 

[Alaskajohn]

When I lived on the bayous I was in constant battle with the darned stuff. Every time I thought I won the battle, they would suddenly be back.

 

[Magus]

No real farmer would ever grow a nasty weed like that. I think it would be almost impossible to get rid of when the farmer decides to change to a more profitable crop.

Probably so, But here's your butt!
In an urban/suburban area, you couldn't escape before SHTF, a backyard full of Polk and mustard plants, ditch lilies, dandelions, plantain, carrots, kudzu, and bamboo shoots will not attract the first looter, in fact, will probably repel them if you have enough blackberry briers!, he who has a backyard or lot full of that will be eating while you're running out of places to hide the bodies. better get an industrial wood chipper. I hear they make good fertilizer.

 

[Patchouli]

In the 1970s/80s more than once we drove down through Georgia and seems to me it was kudzu taking over the forests. That stuff was draped over everything, trees, roadside brushy areas. It was a huge concern at the time.
As advantageous as you think it might be, I’ll go with the science on this one and support eradication of it. It is invasive.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Probably so, But here's your butt!
In an urban/suburban area, you couldn't escape before SHTF, a backyard full of Polk and mustard plants, ditch lilies, dandelions, plantain, carrots, kudzu, and bamboo shoots will not attract the first looter, in fact, will probably repel them if you have enough blackberry briers!, he who has a backyard or lot full of that will be eating while you're running out of places to hide the bodies. better get an industrial wood chipper. I hear they make good fertilizer.

Fortunately I'll never have to experience what it would be like in an urban/suburban area. We'll be fine.

 

[Magus]

I'm sure you will, I would, but this stuff isn't for the seasoned and learned like us, it's the noobs and those trapped in suburbia I post this stuff for. Hell. we'll probably gain weight post-SHTF.