Metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta

Kudzu in decline in Georgia. It’s true.

Kudzu-eating sheep at Georgia Tech. Photo: Georgia Tech.
Kudzu-eating sheep at Georgia Tech. Photo: Georgia Tech.
By Dan Chapman
Aug 18, 2016

Kudzu, the nightmare weed that gobbled the South, is disappearing.

Slowly, inexorably, the scientists, foresters, farmers, goats and sheep are gaining the upper hand on the slinky, creepy green vine that makes abandoned homes and utility poles disappear seemingly overnight.

“It’s in retreat,” said Jim Miller, a somewhat retired research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service in Auburn, Ala., nicknamed Dr. Kudzu.

Yet kudzu's decline is difficult for a Southerner to grasp. The "mile-a-minute vine" has inspired poets, musicians, playwrights and science-fiction enthusiasts.

Read more about the vine that didn't eat the South here.

About the Author

Dan Chapman
More Stories

Keep Reading

Fulton County's main jail on Rice Street is desperately understaffed and in unacceptable condition, a court-appointed monitor says in a new report. (AJC File)

Credit: Steve Schaefer

Unsupervised inmates would destroy new Fulton jail, report says

A damning report says Fulton County's jail staffing crisis is so bad that unsupervised detainees with makeshift weapons would immediately tear apart any new facility.

Man to serve life for killing teen after stealing $8 in botched drug deal

Georgia man to serve life for killing teen after stealing $8 in botched drug deal

Cobb officer fired, charged with distributing obscene material

Matthew Clements Abbott, 36, is facing charges of distribution of obscene material, two counts of public indecency and violation of oath by a public officer.

The Latest

Because of the large number of trucks on Georgia roads, the state leads the nation in moving violations by commercial drivers this year (22,091) and drug and alcohol offenses (677), writes Doug Turnbull. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Gridlock Guy: Big trucks have an outsize impact. Meet the unit policing them.

Unsupervised inmates would destroy new Fulton jail, report says

Man to serve life for killing teen after stealing $8 in botched drug deal

Featured

In 2022, Georgia Power projected its winter peak electricity demand would grow by about 400 megawatts by 2031. Since then, Georgia has experienced a boom of data centers, which require a large load of electricty to run, and Georgia Power's recent forecast shows peak demand growing by 20 times the 400-megawatt estimate from just three years ago. (Illustration by Philip Robibero/AJC)

Credit: Illustration: Philip Robibero / AJC

DATA SURGE

Data centers need a lot more juice. Georgia consumers fear being squeezed.

Data centers, utilities and regulators in Georgia have pledged that facilities will pay their fair share of the infrastructure costs they incur. Not everyone is so sure.

Regional approach needed to ‘eliminate’ homelessness, officials say

Metro Atlanta once had a regional approach to homelessness in the 1990s, but it collapsed when elected leadership did a poor job of collaborating.

RFK Jr. visits Stone Mountain restaurant, and a server gets burned by politics

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited a Stone Mountain restaurant Aug. 11, a server got a picture and posted it to Facebook. She wasn't prepared for what came next.