Kudzu

[Rutman]

Just wondering, how well does bushhogging 3-4 ft kudzu do?
Do the vines get wrapped up around the shaft up under it or does it cut right through it?

 

[2manyrocks]

I usually have no problem cutting it with a rotary cutter. Sometimes I see it wrap around the PTO shaft at the gearbox more so than under the cutting deck.

You can cut it forever and it will keep coming back until you kill it.

 

[Jrasband]

Excellent livestock forage

 

[2manyrocks]

Goats are effective at killing kudzu if you can find a way to keep them fenced in.

I probably need to explain why.

Kudzu grows from crowns that establish themselves in the ground as the vines grow outward. Mowing will destroy the leaves, but can't reach the vines that run just along the surface of the dirt. Mowing will not get rid of the crowns, either, that are visible on the surface of the dirt. Below the crowns are tubers about maybe 6" deep in the dirt that are essential to the kuduz's growth.

Goats, on the other hand, will eat the vines and so forth on the surface of the ground to the point that they actually kill the kudzu.

My own thread on kudzu here: The challenge of Kudzu