Metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta

Kudzu in decline in Georgia. It’s true.

Kudzu-eating sheep at Georgia Tech. Photo: Georgia Tech.
Kudzu-eating sheep at Georgia Tech. Photo: Georgia Tech.
By Dan Chapman
Aug 18, 2016

Kudzu, the nightmare weed that gobbled the South, is disappearing.

Slowly, inexorably, the scientists, foresters, farmers, goats and sheep are gaining the upper hand on the slinky, creepy green vine that makes abandoned homes and utility poles disappear seemingly overnight.

“It’s in retreat,” said Jim Miller, a somewhat retired research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service in Auburn, Ala., nicknamed Dr. Kudzu.

Yet kudzu's decline is difficult for a Southerner to grasp. The "mile-a-minute vine" has inspired poets, musicians, playwrights and science-fiction enthusiasts.

Read more about the vine that didn't eat the South here.

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Dan Chapman
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