http://www.boston.com/dailynews/204/region/Tallahassee_using_unorthodox_m:.shtml

Tallahassee using unorthodox method to rid city of kudzu

By Thomas B. Pfankuch, Associated Press, 7/23/2001 21:45

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) ''Baaaah. Bah-bah. Baaaah.''

That's the sound of progress in the state's war against the exotic kudzu plant, which can snuff out entire fields and forests and occasionally cause electrical shorts and power outages.

''Rrrrr, Rrrrr,'' didn't work. Mowers just couldn't cut the Asian flowering plant low enough to kill it and keep it from blocking the sun and wiping out native plants and trees across North Florida.

''Sssss, Sssss,'' wasn't effective, either. Officials just couldn't find the right chemical to spray on the kudzu to kill it without harming the ecosystem they were trying to save.

Those failures led a group of biologists and parks officials in Tallahassee to think simpler, to look back to an ancient solution to the growing kudzu infestation. Last year, they discovered the ''Baaaah-baaaah'' answer.

''Before there were gasoline engines and lawn mowers, there were sheep,'' said Larry Schenk, the Tallahassee city parks superintendent who is in charge of a kudzu eradication pilot program. ''It's how they used to mow the White House and a lot of homes in Europe.''

For nearly a year, two flocks of 150 sheep each have been grazing in Tallahassee parks and greenways to knock back the kudzu plant, a gnarly vine with velvety leaves that grows at the rate of a foot per day. Schenk said the program marks the first time sheep have ever been used to attack kudzu.

The sheep move as a flock and eat kudzu leaves and vines up to a height of about five feet, killing the vines and leaves above them, Schenk said. But then, unlike any power mower ever invented, the happy sheep dig down to munch the roots, the key to thwart the plant's constant attempt to regenerate and spread.

The plan has been so successful and the sheep so biologically spunky that the city is nearly ready to roll out another flock of 200 sheep to chomp down on other kudzu-infested areas of Leon County. Those sheep are still in the lambing stage but should be ready to eat kudzu soon.

And with 7 million acres of the Southeast infested with kudzu, there are plenty of places that need trimming.

Kudzu is a plant that originated in China, made its way to Japan and then was brought to America in the 1930s.

At first, the soft thick vine was used as a climbing ornamental on ritzy homes. But later, the U.S. Department of Agriculture distributed 85 million kudzu seedlings to communities in the South as a way to prevent soil erosion.

But like the introduction of many non-native species into Florida such as the water hyacinth, the Chinese tallow tree, the melaleuca tree, the milfoil plant and the Asian grass carp good intentions for kudzu have led to destruction of plants and animals that have always called Florida home.

''It's a nasty plant, and it's widespread,'' said Don Schmitz, a biologist with the state Bureau of Invasive Plant Management. ''It causes dire consequences to the ecosystems that it invades. It's like placing a blanket over these trees, and diversity over time reduces to basically one species, and that's kudzu.''

And the kudzu invasion is spreading: Schmitz said he's read the plant that thrives on heat, sunlight and humidity has recently been spotted in colder climes such as Illinois and up the East Coast.

Mowing the plant knocks it back, but those who cut it know they must return soon if they want to keep the kudzu from climbing and spreading. Each vine can grow a foot in length per day, and each individual plant has up to 60 vines shooting off it.

''It cuts up real quick, but I'll have to be back here in two weeks if we get one good rain,'' said Pee Wee Cruce, who chopped kudzu from the ground beneath a power line east of Tallahassee last week.

Cruce said power companies despise kudzu because it climbs their poles and wraps itself around lines, sometimes causing shorts and power outages.

But officials, who had nearly run out of attack options, have found hope in the sheep.

Schenk said the areas where the sheep grazed last year remain mostly free of kudzu, and the plants that did return came back in fewer numbers with a weaker vine and root system. The sheep have chewed through about 100 acres so far, he said.

The sheep were brought to Florida by a New Hampshire farmer who has used them to attack some of the other 120 invasive plants that live in the Sunshine State.

Natural combatants have long been used to eradicate bothersome plants, insects and animals, Schmitz said. But in contrast to other such experiments disasters in which the attacking plant or insect sometimes becomes an invasive problem all its own the sheep are extremely unlikely to bloom out of control.

The kudzu-chewing sheep are odd-looking, with narrow noses and small mops of hair clumped on their backs. Schenk said the sheep are natives of islands like Barbados and countries in Latin America and Africa. They are hairy, not woolly, and therefore are able to withstand Florida heat, he said.

Five local and state agencies have ponied up a total of $150,000 a year to pay for the transportation, upkeep and monitoring of the sheep and a detailed analysis of their effectiveness, Schenk said.

The sheep are self-motivated and require very little care while working, he said. They graze quietly (except for the ''baaaah-baaaahs'') inside a half-acre area encircled by a solar-powered electric fence. A shepherd checks on them throughout the day, but often they are watched only by a burly sheep dog.

Public interest in the sheep has been high, Schenk said, and people frequently stop to watch them eat. The only problem occurred when a couple walking their dog plopped their pet over the fence, scaring the sheep so much that some broke their legs in an attempt to avoid the dog. The couple was lectured, but not fined, he said.

Media from across the world have inquired about the sheep, and now the scientific community is also taking notice, Schenk said. There's no way of knowing, though, if other communities in Florida or elsewhere will begin to use sheep against kudzu, he said.

Schenk said the sheep love the kudzu, which has a higher protein content than their old favorite, alfalfa. As a bonus, he said, the sheep also enjoy dining on other invasive plants like honeysuckle.

And there's one final gift the sheep bring that Schenk said no one thought of until after the program was started. ''When they're going through there, they're actually leaving a slow-release fertilizer for the native plants,'' he said.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Answers

A new business! Rent-a-flock. Flocking Kudzu. Portable fences, flock of sheep, a shepherd or two. . .

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Baaaaaaa

Just gotta love those greener pastures.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

I remember reading about the sheep being used up in the mountain areas to keep the raods clear of kudzu. It would grow across the road so fast that drivers couldn't tell where the road was. The sheep would work along the edges of the road keeping the kudzu back.

seems to me the article also mentioned looking for the idiot who brought it over and planted it in the first place. Now this article says the .gov actually gave away seedlings? Well, that's just vine!

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Well, it certainly thrives here in central North Carolina and, as the article says, it thrives in colder areas too so it's gonna be all over the north soon. In its native Japan it has some natural enemies, apparently, but has none here. Except sheep.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Kudzu has reached Plymouth County in Massachusetts, not too many kilometers south of me.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001