Science: Kudzu

Ah, you may have watched the blacksnake run

To the shaded hole from the blistering sun,

And you may have seen the swallow’s flight

And the shooting star in the deep, dark night;

But until you have watched the kudzu grow

You never have seen the fastest show.

Ollie Reeves, poet laureate of the Atlanta Constitution, recently broadcast this ode to a plant whose exploits are becoming the talk of the South. Kudzu (rhymes with good zoo) is a vine which, say Arkansans, grows so fast that men drop kudzu roots into the ground and run. It has been known to grow as much as twelve inches in a single day, as much as 100 feet in a season.

Last week the magazine Country Book reported that kudzu may revolutionize southern farming. Already the kudzu cult has a radio program (on Atlanta’s WAGA) and an organization of more than 1,000 ardent growers, the Kudzu Club of America, Inc. Chief kudzu-cultists are two well-known Georgia gentleman farmers, Channing Cope, a onetime utility man, and Cason Callaway, retired textile manufacturer.

Kudzu is an old Japanese plant, grown in the Orient for its edible tubers (roots) and hemp-like fiber. In the U.S., where it was first grown in 1895, it has been known chiefly as a fast-growing porch vine. But southern farmers now cultivate it as a field plant to cover eroding soil. Planted from “crowns” (roots and buds), it spreads quickly, putting down new roots like strawberry runners. Its big leaves, shed each fall, eventually cover the ground with a thick, flaky carpet like a forest floor. Because it may be winterkilled by hard frosts, it has so far been grown only in the South, but the Department of Agriculture is trying to breed hardier strains.

Kudzu not only stops erosion but so enriches the soil that when plowed under, it increases corn yields by two to sevenfold. As rich as alfalfa in protein and carotene, kudzu leaves can be used for grazing or cut as hay. Dehydrated, they also make a fine breakfast food, according to enthusiasts; some kudzu growers have gone so far as to concoct a recipe for Kudzup.