You said: "It is a legume that host nitrogen fixing bacteria."

Yes, but contrary to popular wisdom, the nodules on legume roots don't leak nitrogen into the soil. Instead, the nitrogen is used by the host plant.

From the USDA Forestry Dept:

"Ecological Impacts: Kudzu kills or degrades other plants by smothering them under a solid blanket of leaves, by girdling woody stems and tree trunks, and by breaking branches or uprooting entire trees and shrubs through the sheer force of its weight. Once established, Kudzu plants grow rapidly, extending as much as 60 feet per season at a rate of about one foot per day. This vigorous vine may extend 32-100 feet in length, with stems 1/2 - 4 inches in diameter. Kudzu roots are fleshy, with massive tap roots 7 inches or more in diameter, 6 feet or more in length, and weighing as much as 400 pounds. As many as thirty vines may grow from a single root crown."

I would rather compost poison ivy than to take any sort of chance of kudzu coming anywhere near anything I own, least of all my garden. With such words as "invasive", "infestation", "noxious", and "curse" as words to describe a plant, I think I will pass on using kudzu for anything. I have seen that plant tear the shirt off the back of a man with no problem. I have cuts on my arms that look like they were done by a razor, thanks to kudzu.

Though it may indeed be a bonus for soil and compost, I will continue to say thanks, but NO THANKS...

Blutranes

Here is a link that might be useful: Kudzu: Invasive and Exotic Species

I think jackman1944 said he already lived where the plant was plentiful. He's just trying to make the best of it.

I've heard goats will eat the tops. Will pigs eat the roots?

If you have lemons make lemonaide!

Kudzu:a Culinary and Healing Guide is a book that can be found at your library.

kudzo is grown as a forage plant in many tropical areas.

but in the South East the saying goes
"First year is sleeps, second year it creeps, and the third year it leaps"

Boy Jackman, could I have ever used your support in another site when I suggested possible use of this plant.
The tirade of insults aimed at me for even suggesting it....and I didn't know a thing about the plant, only that it would grow while you sat and watched it....
"The plant that ate the south".....I saw it thus described.

Thankfully, no such behaviour is allowed in this site and as you see, good explanations of why it should or should not be grown will go much further in making up the minds of persons considering its use.

As long as you find a way to kill it where it grows, make whatever your heart desires with it. It beats just ignoring it while it smothers the neighborhood, I guess.

Do you know of the book "How to Grow World Record Tomatoes" by Charles H. Wilber?

He held/holds records for average 342 pounds of tomatoes per plant and 27 foot tall cherry tomato plants.

What does he use for fertilizer? Kudzu compost!

Digging and using the soil where Kudzu grew may be all right or may be something you would not want to do, depends on if you screen out any and all bits and pieces of the plants root that may be there, and any chance of the vine rooting is well controlled. Kudzu spreads by seeds, rhizomes and stem rooting so due care is needed but like any other form of organic matter there is no need to waste this resource, as long as due care to prevent dpreading is used.

I can tell you the soil under all of them vines is black and fluffy.After all it has been making compost for years.I will try it and if shows no sign of improvment then I will know.

Think of the nutrients that taproot that is "7 inches or more in diameter, 6 feet or more in length, and weighing as much as 400 pounds" is pulling out of the subsoil and bringing up to the surface in its leaves and vines.

This sounds like the very definition of a superb green manure. Grows excessively vigorously, creates tons of vines, impossible to remove... If you had it somewhere you could check on it, and make sure it wasn't eating the neighbors house... you could have a great source of green materials for compost.

Kudzu foliage is rich in calcium and contains more of the essential NPK components(nitrogen,0.70;phosphoric acid: 0.16;potassium 0.45)than even red clover(0.48 0.09,0.37,respectivley),which is viewed as one of the finest cover crops.Moreover,the green manure values of a acre of kudzu is 2.9 times that of alfalfa. The ag.experimental station in Auburn Alabama,a field of kudzu was planted and turned under after three years.During the next ten years,four crops of corn,seven of oats,and two of sorghum was grown on this field.The ten year average yield of corn was 2.3 times as great for a control plot;the oat field was 1.5 times and the sorghum yield 1.8 times as great as the control.Even ten years after the kudzu was turned under,the kudzu plot produced an average of 9.2 more bushels per acre than a adjacent plot where no kudzu was grown.

"If you had it somewhere you could check on it, and make sure it wasn't eating the neighbors house..."

Yes, that is one of the problems with kudzu; it grows on anything that doesnÂt move. Here are a few houses that failed to move; as you can see the property value is booming in their area. While you are at that page, look at that "definition of a superb green manure", just what one would want in a plant immediately loaded with all those vital nutrients!

"Kudzu spreads by seeds, rhizomes and stem rooting so due care is needed but like any other form of organic matter there is no need to waste this resource, as long as due care to prevent spreading is used."

Here are a few places where "due care"" was not taken. I wonder how much care will be taken now to clean up this slight of observation? It sucks when people donÂt take "due care" in parking areas that one is expected to park their car in. Keeping in mind the "make sure it moves" requirement, one sure wouldnÂt want to leave a car in that parking area too long.

Speaking of seeds, birds and deer love those tasty kudzu seeds. I have seen deer with bloody lips from the thorns (sharper than rose bush thorns) protecting those tasty seeds the deer was attempting to eat. Then there is the problem of where deer and birds release those seeds; I am sure they will use "due care" in their toiletry practices.

IMO, kudzu could be the solution to world hunger; but there will be some hungry behinds over here if anyone is depending on ole Blutranes to use kudzu on his property on purpose. Although there are a few butts I would be tempted to whump with that Âfoot a day growing" kudzu vineÂ

Blutranes

Here is a link that might be useful: A Kudzu Fantasy Land

The kudzu at my area does not have thorns.

I posted a couple months back about kudzu compost. I wish I had some close to the house that I could try composting... of course, since I do live in the South, I'm sure it will eventually creep into my neighborhood. lol

I would like to see kudzu pelletized and used as animal feed just like alfalfa is pelletized. The only possible issue would be that the seed MUST BE ground up in the process so that pelletized product would not be spreading the plant.