How Do You Get Rid of Kudzu in Georgia?

You get rid of kudzu by wearing out its roots, one growing season after another. A single cutting will not do it. Extension guides say older patches may need repeated treatment for 3 to 5 years. A USDA Forest Service guide says to keep checking a patch for up to 10 years after treatment.

Mulching is where our kudzu removal work comes in. We mulch the vines down to the ground, along with the privet and brush under them. That knocks the patch back and opens the ground, so the regrowth is easy to keep after. Mulching does not kill the roots, and the rest of this guide covers what does.

How does kudzu grow and spread in Georgia?

Kudzu is a vine from Asia. It first came to America at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. UGA Extension says farmers in the early 1900s were urged and paid to plant it for forage and erosion control. The USDA took it off its list of approved cover crops in 1953 and named it a weed in 1970.

The Georgia Forestry Commission’s invasive plant guide calls kudzu widespread throughout Georgia. Georgia’s exotic pest plant council lists it in Category 1, its most serious group. UGA Extension reports it ranked third on the Forestry Commission’s first Dirty Dozen list of invasive plants, with nearly 27,000 acres of Georgia land. By 2011 it covered over 42,000 acres.

Kudzu likes open, disturbed ground such as roadsides, rights-of-way, forest edges and old fields. In prime conditions a vine can grow more than a foot a day and run past 100 feet. Where a runner touches the soil, it roots at the nodes and starts a new crown. That is how a patch creeps outward.

The root crown is the part that matters. It is a woody knot at the soil surface where the vines start. Below it, a large root stores energy, and the state forestry guide says these roots can reach 3 to 16 feet deep. Extension guides say kudzu cannot regrow from below the crown, so every new vine comes from one.

What does it take to control kudzu?

Control means starving the root crowns. Each time the leaves come off, the plant spends stored energy to grow new ones. Keep that up long enough and the crowns give out. Here is what the public guides describe.

Repeated cutting and mowing

Extension guides say mowing has to remove more than 80 percent of the leaves. It has to happen every month of the growing season. Kept up for a few years, that can badly weaken or kill a stand.

The Southeast’s invasive plant council advises cutting every two weeks early in the season, with longer gaps later. It also warns that cutting alone does not usually kill the roots.

Grazing

All kinds of grazing animals eat kudzu. A USDA Forest Service guide says close grazing for 3 to 4 years can clear a patch. That holds when the animals keep eating 80 percent or more of the growth. Heavy grazing in August and September helps most.

The patch needs a fence and water for the animals. Vines also have to be cut out of the trees so the animals can reach the leaves.

Root crown removal

On a small patch, you can dig the crowns out. Extension guides say to expose each crown with a shovel or pick. Then cut the root just below it with a hatchet or mattock. Crowns are easiest to spot in early spring, but this work is not practical over a large area.

Herbicide treatments

Herbicide work belongs to a licensed pesticide applicator. In Georgia, a business that applies pesticides to another person’s land for pay needs a license. The state Department of Agriculture issues it.

Extension guides time leaf treatments for late summer into early fall. Your county extension agent can recommend products. We do not spray, so this part of a plan comes from another provider.

Work the whole patch

The USDA guide says every plant in and around a patch has to go. Survivors can spread back and undo the earlier work. If a patch crosses a property line, the landowners should work it at the same time.

How long does it take to get rid of kudzu?

Plan on several years. UGA Extension says clearing established kudzu is laborious work that may take years. Extension guides put older root crowns at 3 to 5 years of repeated treatment. The USDA guide’s grazing plan runs 3 to 4 years.

Old patches take longer. The USDA guide says roots get large once a patch passes 10 years old or climbs into trees. Crowns over 2 inches across, clay soils, rocks and old terraces all mean more rounds of work. It notes that old terraces are common in Piedmont kudzu patches, and much of Northeast Georgia is Piedmont clay.

A patch can also look dead and come back. The USDA guide says badly injured large roots can stay dormant 2 or more years. Extension guides add that seed can sit in the soil for many years. Small, young patches go faster, and the state forestry guide says to start as soon as you find one.

What does forestry mulching do to kudzu, and what can’t it do?

Forestry mulching puts a mulching head on a track loader or a mini excavator. The head cuts kudzu to the ground and grinds the vines into mulch. The privet and saplings under the vines go into the mulch too. The mulch stays on the ground where the patch grew.

What mulching does:

• It takes the vine mat down, so you can see your land again.
• It opens the ground, so regrowth comes up where you can reach it.
• It shows what the vines hid. Extension guides warn that thick kudzu can hide ditches, stumps, rocks and gullies.
• The mini excavator’s head reaches steep banks and ditch lines the loader cannot.

What mulching does not do:

• It does not kill the root crowns. They send up new vines.
• It is not a herbicide treatment.
• One pass will not clear a patch for good. That takes repeated work over several seasons.

Kudzu often shares ground with privet and briars. Where the woods beside a patch are choked with undergrowth, underbrushing clears it and the big trees stay.

What is a good seasonal plan for kudzu in Northeast Georgia?

Kudzu follows the seasons, so the work does too. This plan pulls from the public guides above. Run it each year until the regrowth stops.

The spots that come back each year point to the live crowns. Those spots get the next round of work.

What should you plant after kudzu is knocked back?

Open ground in Georgia fills in fast. To complete the work, the USDA guide says to establish grass or trees. It says grass sown in the fall after treatment competes hard with weakened kudzu. A grass cover also protects the soil and takes the place of the weeds that follow.

How do you get started on a kudzu patch?

Start by knocking the patch down so you can see what you are dealing with. Wall Land Solutions mulches kudzu across Northeast Georgia, about 60 miles around Toccoa. See how our kudzu removal service works, or read what forestry mulching costs per acre. Call or text (678) 776-8002 for a free estimate, and we will put the quote in writing.