Kudzu: The Vine That Covered The South In Darkness 

I once told a pal, "Most parts of kudzu are edible," and she said, "Nobody wants to eat that much kudzu."

Kudzu is one of those plants that I think should be a pokemon.

Fast-groing plants are insane. I've seen this with the pumpkin plants in our garden. 30cm growth per day, you can literally see it move under the magnifying glass.

I wish you'd also mentioned that it makes really good forage for ruminants and they can ruin even established stands in a few years. The leaves are also edible, and as you point out, the vines make good fibre for baskets, paper, or textiles. It's a good plant that needs keeping in check rather than an out-and-out noxious agent.

It seems like kudzu could be an exceptional resource that we are failing to use properly. This seems especially so as the loss of top soil and the real existential threats to agriculture loom. People really don't know how actually precarious our existence is.

Goats, that what we used to completely and easily wipe out all of it in a 1200 acre natural area in middle Tennessee. Put a temporary fence around the area with the kudzu and put the goats in there. Problem solved. They eat it roots and all.

Down here in the Carolinas, that stuff is just about EVERYWHERE. Hardly an empty lot without it at least bordering the property. And in the forests along certain highways, it's all you can see! My relatives up in the mountains all say it's looks beautiful, but I know better.

Kudzu is literally everywhere in Georgia. I'm so used to seeing it here, it would probably be weird NOT to see it. I never heard of bees making grape tasting honey off of it though. I wanna try that out.

In Vietnam we grind the root into a starchy powder (bột sắn dây) and make a drink of it. It's supposed to be "cooling" for your body (i.e. boosting the "yin" side of things), and thus is good for treating inflammation and for general cooling down in the summer.

Thank you so much for talking about this invasive and threatening species. I personally think there should be organizations here in the south dedicated to eradicating kudzu, as well as the similarly invasive English ivy.

There's a problem with the Kudzu Bug. It doesn't just eat kudzu. It likes ANYTHING in the legume family, including green beans as I found out one year. I had no idea what this new to me bug was that were covering my vines. I try to garden organically as much as possible, but organics wasn't cutting it for this beast. I don't have a big garden, but I would still normally get many meals from my beans. That year I only got one. The next year I planted shrub beans and covered them with mesh. I wasn't taking any chances.

Kudzu please keep these fabulous videos coming? Thank you, have a nice day.

Kudzu can be made into sweets. There’s Kuzumochi, a Japanese sweet made out of the plant.

Uncle jimbob was a great man until he did it for the vine, he hasn't been seen in years 😭

I grew up in AL and it would cover EVERYTHING if you let it, I remember entire fields and hillsides and old buildings being covered in it. They've been fighting back against it a lot more since I was a kid but it's still a problem.

Tasha the Amazon is my favourite Animalogic presenter. She is so quirky. Honestly you are the coolest teacher on RU-vid.

I live in Missouri and even though the winters get too cold for it to fully take over, you can still find kudzu near major cities. This plant is a nightmare. Its difficult to control and even harder to kill. Kudzu and Japanese honeysuckle both take the crown as the worst invasives in this state due to how hard it is to eliminate them. To the point where i am in awe when i visit a state park that doesn't have either of those plants, because I know how much work that little detail implies.

I remember reading about the kudzu plant when I took the SATs. Loved reading about it story, and culinary uses! 🥰

It is SO eerie to drive down a kudzu invested landscape. Even in the trees it looks wrong.

We have these in the Caribbean and they are MADDENING!! Good to know there's a use for them.

That one picture towards the end shows the best way to control it. Let the cows get to it. They are wild for Kudzu and then you can eat the steaks!

Oh no, Kudzu. Not only it could, but it can and surely will! When we bought our first house, a very very very fine house, with two cats in the yard and a shed in the garden, we found the shed to be covered in ivy, or so we thought. But no, it was mighty Kudzu, blocking the entrance through the door, shading the windows and whatnot. First we hacked and cut and sawed the door free, so it could be seen and opened. Then we found the Kudzu had completely demolished and torn apart the roof. So we spent some nice weekends freeing the shed from all that stuff, which was mostly a very rewarding task. After having the roof repaired, we kept watch for the slightest sign of new Kudzu growing. This plant is probably the single good reason to own a machete in the Netherlands.

Kudzu could just be harvested as food for humans and animals. Or just lead herds of cows/goats/sheep to such places.

In North Carolina, we pronounce the plant’s names as “kudd-zoo” as opposed to “could-zoo”, the way Tasha said it. I grew up with the plant as part of the backdrop in my rural town, but I was surprised to find out this defining feature of the southern landscape wasn’t introduced until the twentieth century. I’ve seen the Japanese kudzu bug here as well, although I’ve heard it also attacks soybean crops.

Hey superstar, I'm Luka, the bush regeneration manager at Reforest Now, we are a rainforest restoration charity in Byron Bay, Australia. My current nemesis is Anredera Cordifolia or Madeira vine. I would love to see one of your amazing videos covering this literal demon of a plant. It has alarming similarities to Kudzu. I'm locked in a headed conflict with it as it's invading some of our ancient rainforest remnants. Hoping you might dig up some handy hints to help us save some of these old growth giants from being smothered. Love your content and looking forward to what you have next

Tropical kudzu is one of five vines I constantly fight on my farm. Takes over really fast.

Kudzu is very invasive here in sub tropical and tropical Australia. Darn neighbours have it growing all over their yard, I'm forever spraying it to kill it since it grows so fast in hot and humid weather.

I'd love to hear about the genus of Banksia from Australia! I grew up on stories including The Banksia Boys, animated talking seed pods of Banksia bushes (Banksia marginata has a great example) and oooof, nightmare fuel.

Just like so many other things in life the Flamethrower might just be the answer.

I'd love to hear your take on Japanese Knotweed! Also thank you so much for including bloopers! You make me feel so much better about my scripted videos 🤣🤣🤣 I so much prefer winging it to scripts!

❤😂 Fabulous! Informative and wonderful. OMG the outtakes! 😂

While I shake my head whenever there's kudzu wordplay, it's still really funny.

During an exceptional ice and snow storm in Alabama my brother and I could walk across it for yards at a time, before falling through.

I grew up in Texas and my mom loses her mind any time she sees kudzu where we live now (....which is not the south, as kudzu is spreading west), we have a tiny infestation that refuses to be fully destroyed...

Can you do an episode focusing on the way people use kudzu in clothing and cuisine?

They say kudzu will cover the whole world and this is how everything ends .... ' it is known .. "

I worked as a land surveyor in the South. Kudzu has been the bane of my existence for many years. It is awful. It is even worse when the vine dies. Then it becomes even more difficult to cut it up with a machete.

Kudzu gives such a eire and sinister vide, I love it. The new hair is awesome btw

I’ve never seen a kudzu flower before. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. Don’t know how I missed it the woods next to the highway have been completely eaten by them.

In Japan, kudzu is deeply rooted in the culture, both as a medicine and a sweet. Kakkonto(葛根湯), perhaps the best known Chinese herbal medicine, is made from kudzu. Kudzukiri(葛切り), Kudzu mochi(葛餅) and Kudzuyu(葛湯)are traditional and popular foods, although these days they may not be made from real kudzu.

it may be invasive but it is so beautiful. i remember road tripping through North Carolina and seeing it for the first time along the highway, just covering valleys and trees. its so ethereal, i was like "woah"

Please talk about Japanese Knotweed, which is a less well known invasive

Tasha and her blooper reels are my new fave!

I love the out takes

One question: What will happen with the kudzu-eating bugs if they do eradicate all the kudzu?

I enjoy bloopers even more than actual video!

great animalogic episode, Tasha is the master of plant plans !!

Tasha the Amazon is so awesome! Love her music, love her docs

The crazy thing is Kudzu is an animal feed in the Orient so you could make double the profit by being paid to remove it from someone's property and paid again when you sell it to live stock farmers.

KUDZUUUU! I don't know if anyone else requested this but I did! So thanks Floralogic! I'm from the southern United States and just wanted to add that folks actually make jelly from this and it's quite good.

I grew up with scenes like this. It’s like a cancer I do think it could be utilized tho but it’s vines are very fragile once dead so doesn’t have much use for making stuff outta them. It’s roots can be used as an anti-alcoholic tea. The leaves are edible for goats. I’ve seen ppl put a herd of goats on a kudzu patch and they can clear it over time. Pigs can dig out the roots Maybe it can be used for ethanol 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm dying laughing cause of the ending. A cat named Cyka is freaking PERFECT

6:46 🥹😍 & Mississippian here! We learned about Kudzu in school & it’s origin! Great video! It covered soo many forests in my hometown. I grew up in a semi-rural area & it was beautiful. However, I understand how invasive it is too!

@Animallogic, Fun Facts: the young leaves are edible as a tender, cooked green, and the beans (rarely formed in the U.S. due to lack of a specialised pollinator) are also supposed to be about as good as edamame. The flowers smell STRONGLY of grape juice.

Miss Tasha, I almost pee’d laughing at your outtakes! You are a TRIP!! ❤😂

Looking forward to some more beautiful plants! Lupines or wisteria could be interesting 🤔

Would be cool to see an episode on Amborella! It’s really unusual how taxonomically isolated it is!

Kudzu is silently but surely moving NORTH - there are highway division areas in Northern Virginia that have become covered entirely - no kudzu bugs in sight YET!

I love Animalogic!

I think I've seen this in Maryland too. Quite invasive!

🤝 bloopers

Purple grape-flavored honey? Yes please!

It's Funny How She Pronounced Kudzu😂😂😊😊Here In The South We Say Khuudzoo😊And Yes It's A Mess Here Snakes Love It And They Use To Say Don't Let Your Cows Get Into It Or You'll Have To Shoot Them To Get E'm Out Of It😂😂😂😂The Flowers Are Pretty And Smell Nice😊😊😊

I would like a compilation of outtakes of just Tasha. When she turned into a daemon I almost spit my coffee out.

I once looked up a map of where kudzu is invasive, and then looked up a map of states that seceded from the union and noticed they were a pretty close match. Naughty slave states get the invasive fast growing vine.

Over the course of a week, I saw kudzu scale a high voltage power line tower. One evening, there was a loud bang outside, and when I went to check, it had reached one of the lowest lines, but the part that had made contact exploded from the water in it turning to steam. The next day, most of it had wilted and shriveled up. Then the forestry service came out with that helicopter dangling the long pole with saw blades on it, chopping back the kudzu and tree line

Was out on a trail trying to film some trains and the kudzu has taking over the abandoned rail yard and mining town

I love the botany lessons but I'm here for the outtakes!

Love the bloopers, so good.

My mom used to call it 'virginia creeper'.

- 0:39 how many times did you have to cut && re do that line? Lolll I love it 😂❤

I like your videos, they're so cool and educational!

shes lit of the oxygen the kudzu is producing

Love how a kitten was apparently hanging out on this set. 😂

Im from Puerto Rico and tht plant is alos everywhere down here. Sometimes it’s sad to see what was a beautiful lush jungle now slowly dying under that thing. Only time I have not seen that plant was when hurricane Maria came through and destroyed all vegetation and it looked like winter had finally come to PR, looked similar to West Virginia in the winter without snow.

That filter you use over the stock pictures, it’s a little trippy

I love floralogic!❤

Goats love to eat kudzu leaves. If a property is over-run with kudzu, install a sturdy wire mesh fence around the property, provide some drinking water and add a small herd of goats. Within six months or so, the vines will be trimmed as high as the goats can reach when standing on their hind legs with their front legs against a tree trunk. Soon the goats will eat the leafless kudzu vines as high as they can reach which will kill the out-of-reach vines in the treetops. Any new kudzu sprouts will also get eaten. My parents used to keep a small herd of less than a dozen goats so that their twenty-acre patch of woodland in Mississippi was kept free of kudzu. The goats did a good job of keeping the woodland free of kudzu and any kids born in the spring were mature enough to be sold in summer to those who wanted a young goat to slaughter and BBQ for a July 4th picnic.

Re outtakes, it is interesting how siamese cats get their colorful paws, nose, and ears.

I have learned something new today. Thank you. I like kudzu. (I'm from Southern Arizona. Need I say more?) I've often wondered if kudzu could be used like hemp or flax. Bamboo and coconut hair are now being spun for threads and yarn. Food for bees is always good! Does it have any medicinal uses or essential oil use? If more of the plant could be eaten by humans or a winter silage for livestock? All of God's creations have a purpose or two. We just have to be clever enough to find it.

Your kitten is adorable! He reminds me of my siamese cat Autumn when she was a kitten ❤

It has hybridized and started growing up North here in Indiana as well

THE CAT OMGGGG AAAH SO CUTE

Let's hope Big Cotton doesn't derail Small Kudzu in the clothing fibre business. Sad Hemp noises ........

The hair, it’s so cute.

Could you talk about the pinus canariensis or canarian pine? I'm from La Palma, where they thrive, and I think they are such amazing plants. I would love to discover more about them.

please talk about Fireweed "Chamaenerion angustifolium"

In the Pacific Northwest, it's the Himalayan blackberry that's trying to take over. It's doing a good job of it too.

I always have memories of seeing it cover sides of highways in nc

I fight this evil plant every year. And each year it gets worse.

A cow won’t eat kudzu - but kudzu definitely will eat a cow 😂

It's not as bad it was 15 years ago but this stuff is still all over the place. 4:27 That makes so much sense! I was wondering why it thinned out.

the traditional treats sounds like a good way to incentivize clearing or harvesting the plant. otherwise maybe a biofuel maybe.

Please do a video about the morning glory family, from the humble sweet potato to the trippy tricolor.

amazing baby gremlin thank you for sharing

Goats. They love this plant.

I would love to see what plants Tasha, the Amazon grows in her home and garden pretty pretty pretty please😅

Its starting to take hold of the north now too.

Kudzu sounds like a creature that would battle Godzilla.🦖

Kudzu is edible, but eating it requires a decent amount of work