Deja News: For a half-century, kudzu was Georgia's 'miracle vine'

Metro Atlanta

Deja News: For a half-century, kudzu was Georgia's 'miracle vine'

PHOTOS: Once heralded as forage food for horses, cattle and hogs and praised for its ability to stem soil erosion, the Japanese vine eventually revealed itself as a highly invasive, nuisance plant.

Kudzu (Pueraria montana) - some people eat it, but most folks try to control the growth. The best way to stop kudzu in its tracks is to continuously cut back the vine to rob the plant of nutrients, causing eventual death, says Georgia gardening expert and AJC columnist Walter Reeves.

This 1908 Journal classified ad lists kudzu vines among gardening assets.

The City of Doraville has used goats to eat kudzu and other overgrown plants at Autumn Park. Several metro area cities have turned to the furry eating machines as a way of getting rid of the Japanese vine, which has proven itself among the hardest invasive plants to kill.

1981 -- At the old Funtown amusement park on Stewart Avenue (now Metropolitan Parkway) in southeast Atlanta, Humpty Dumpty is overgrown with kudzu, giving him a mop of curls... in a sense. CREDIT: W.A. Bridges / AJC Collection at the GSU Library

In the early half of the 20th century, kudzu was seen as a 'miracle vine,' good for use as animal forage (see the aforementioned goats two photos back) and as an excellent means of abating soil erosion.

By the 1950s, however, Southerners' view of kudzu was changing; the former 'miracle vine' was seen as a nuisance blighting the countryside. Kudzu, which grows rapidly, chokes out the surrounding trees, plants and grass in its quest for as much sunlight as possible. Photo credit: Robert Michalove/Flickr -- Special to AJC

1981 -- The poles holding the netting for the old Funtown batting cages, engulfed by kudzu. CREDIT: W.A. Bridges / AJC Collection at the GSU Library

The South's love/hate for kudzu is evident on this whimsical Eric Clapton poster, featuring the vine overtaking a guitar case. CREDIT: Methane Studios / Special to AJC

Henry Chubb of Cave Spring fights through kudzu to open the door of an abandoned schoolhouse on his family's property. It is a Rosenwald school, one of dozens built across the South in the past century for black students.

Nothing is seemingly safe from kudzu's unchecked spread, as evidenced by this speed limit sign on New Providence Road near the Atlanta National Golf Club in north Fulton. AJC FILE PHOTO

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Kudzu (Pueraria montana) - some people eat it, but most folks try to control the growth. The best way to stop kudzu in its tracks is to continuously cut back the vine to rob the plant of nutrients, causing eventual death, says Georgia gardening expert and AJC columnist Walter Reeves.

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