Alabama Wages War Against the Perfect Weed

pickens writes "Dan Berry writes in the NY Times that the State of Alabama is spending millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to combat Cogongrass, a.k.a. the perfect weed, the killer weed, and the weed from another continent. A weed that 'evokes those old science-fiction movies in which clueless citizens ignore reports of an alien invasion.' Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) is considered one of the 10 worst weeds in the world. 'It can take over fields and forests, ruining crops, destroying native plants, upsetting the ecosystem,' writes Berry. 'It is very difficult to kill. It burns extremely hot. And its serrated leaves and grainy composition mean that animals with even the most indiscriminate palates — goats, for example — say no thanks.' Alabama's overall strategy is to draw a line across the state at Highway 80 and eradicate everything north of it; then, in phases, to try to control it to the south. But the weed is so resilient that you can't kill it with one application of herbicide, you have to return several months later and do it again. 'People think this is just a grass,' says forester Stephen Pecot. 'They don't understand that cogongrass can replace an entire ecosystem.' Left unchecked, Pecot says 'it could spread all the way to Michigan.'"

Comments

Turn in into advantage !

[Gori]

If it is that resilient and fast growing, you will not be able to control it anyhow. Many, many examples of invasive species throughout the world show this. So, just learn how to harvest it and make biodiesel/biogas/electricity out of it. No intensive agriculture, ferilizers or herbicides needed. Plus, this might piss off the corn/ethanol lobby enough to actually start taking action against the grass. Ether way, we win. Oh yeah, biodiversity losses, but that is shafted anyway...

Re:The perfect weed?

[HangingChad]

Kudzu makes decent forage. Kudzu hay typically has a 15-18% crude protein content and over 60% total digestible nutrient value, slightly lower on longer vines. Unfortunately it's hard to bale and store.

Since it stores a lot of starch in the roots, they can regenerate for a long time. My goats will eat anything that doesn't break off in the ground, including the seed pods. If they're still around, kudzu won't be able to get started again. They'll eat any vines that start. That includes kudzu, but also wild grape vines, poison ivy, and just about anything else that grows on a vine.

If we could cultivate the market for goat meat in the US, those vast areas overgrown by kudzu would immediately turn into potential grazing land. Of course, in an environmentally sensitive area, the goats would be almost as hard on native plants as the kudzu. So there are trade offs both ways. But since goat is a red meat with roughly the same caloric value and 1/2 the fat of skinless chicken, 50% lower fat than beef, and 1/3 the calories of pork you'd think we'd be eating more goat.