A family property that I have really kept up for a while has a dried
pond (catfish made it lose the water) which since last I checked has
apparently found some stray kudzu. I have never had to deal with it
before and here in zone 6b it is not as much of a problem as it is in
parts of the deep south, but itis already growing quite well in a very
sheltered location (the pond is surrounded by sassafras trees which
also overhang it to some extent) and I want to get rid of it fast.

What is my best bet for erradicating it? I was going to cut it out,
pile it on a brush pile and burn it, but I figured it would return
from the roots for sure. I have been told roundup is not very
affective against it. I have been reading up and have almost decided
to spray the area with brush-b-gone heavily, but sites say that it is
tough enough that it might die back and return from the roots several
times, depending on how established it is - I have no idea when it
started, it might have been there all of last year. I just want to
really kill it rather than just hurt it a bit. The good news is that
kudzu usually does not get to bloom and go to seed here, but we do
have late frosts sometimes, so..

griffon wrote:

A family property that I have really kept up for a while has a dried
pond (catfish made it lose the water) which since last I checked has
apparently found some stray kudzu. I have never had to deal with it
before and here in zone 6b it is not as much of a problem as it is in
parts of the deep south, but itis already growing quite well in a very
sheltered location (the pond is surrounded by sassafras trees which
also overhang it to some extent) and I want to get rid of it fast.

Goats and cattle love to eat it.

I have been reading up and have almost decided
to spray the area with brush-b-gone heavily, but sites say that it is
tough enough that it might die back and return from the roots several
times, depending on how established it is - I have no idea when it
started, it might have been there all of last year.

That is the best way, although Roundup on fast-growing Kudzu is
safer than Brush-B-Gone.

Tsu

--
To doubt everything or to believe everything
are two equally convenient solutions; both
dispense with the necessity of reflection.
- Jules Henri Poincaré

On Fri, 16 May 2003 19:38:23 -0500, griffon
wrote:

A family property that I have really kept up for a while has a dried
pond (catfish made it lose the water) which since last I checked has
apparently found some stray kudzu.
snip
I'm fascinated. How do catfish eat a pond?

Kudzu -- search on

kudzu control

Looks as if Roundup is effective.

griffon wrote in message
...
A family property that I have really kept up for a while has a dried
pond (catfish made it lose the water) which since last I checked has
apparently found some stray kudzu. I have never had to deal with it
before and here in zone 6b it is not as much of a problem as it is in
parts of the deep south, but itis already growing quite well in a very
sheltered location (the pond is surrounded by sassafras trees which
also overhang it to some extent) and I want to get rid of it fast.
First how did catfish dry up your pond? Now cut the kudzu and burn it in
place. When the new growth appears spray it with a bush/brush herbicide.
When the growth browns either cut it and burn or just light it. You will
have to repeat this several times and watch the edges of the ponds for
runners. Kudzu seems to have a mind of its own. Good Luck.

"redclay" wrote:

First how did catfish dry up your pond?

I don't know for sure that they did, but it had held water for years
and years and after putting catfish in one summer, the following
winter it started draining. Several people told me that the catfish
did it rooting around at the bottom. I took their word for it. The
elderly man that lived next door to me for a while said that if the
pond was too small for the number of catfish or if it was barely good
enough to hold water, catfish would get it to leak everytime. I don't
know that much about making ponds hold water or catfish myself.

Thanks for the replies on the kudzu.

I live in southern SC and we have kudzu. So far my propery has stayed clean.
A neighbor started to have kudzu encroach the eastern side of his property.
He enclosed the 5 acres affected and borrowed some goats from another
neighbor. They ate the kudzu back (which is quite a feat since around here
in summer it grows about a foot a day). Then he brought in some hogs which
seem to love to root out the tuberous roots. Between the goats and hogs, the
property was cleaned in just over a month for the cost of the fencing, which
he was planning to do anyway. Good luck.

"griffon" wrote in message
...
A family property that I have really kept up for a while has a dried
pond (catfish made it lose the water) which since last I checked has
apparently found some stray kudzu. I have never had to deal with it
before and here in zone 6b it is not as much of a problem as it is in
parts of the deep south, but itis already growing quite well in a very
sheltered location (the pond is surrounded by sassafras trees which
also overhang it to some extent) and I want to get rid of it fast.

What is my best bet for erradicating it? I was going to cut it out,
pile it on a brush pile and burn it, but I figured it would return
from the roots for sure. I have been told roundup is not very
affective against it. I have been reading up and have almost decided
to spray the area with brush-b-gone heavily, but sites say that it is
tough enough that it might die back and return from the roots several
times, depending on how established it is - I have no idea when it
started, it might have been there all of last year. I just want to
really kill it rather than just hurt it a bit. The good news is that
kudzu usually does not get to bloom and go to seed here, but we do
have late frosts sometimes, so..

The only way I can think of that the catfish would have anything to do with
it is if the pond had some kind of thin plastic liner that was all that was
holding in water. Hard to imagine any other situation where fish would be
able to dig down through whatever water-retentive level you have. They
can't dig *that* well.

"griffon" wrote in message
news
"redclay" wrote:

First how did catfish dry up your pond?

I don't know for sure that they did, but it had held water for years
and years and after putting catfish in one summer, the following
winter it started draining. Several people told me that the catfish
did it rooting around at the bottom. I took their word for it. The
elderly man that lived next door to me for a while said that if the
pond was too small for the number of catfish or if it was barely good
enough to hold water, catfish would get it to leak everytime. I don't
know that much about making ponds hold water or catfish myself.

Thanks for the replies on the kudzu.