Kudzu in Oregon (Portland, Bandon: transplants, 2015, buy)

[MrJester]

How bad is Kudzu in Oregon? I heard that areas in the Northern Willamette Valley around Portland have Kudzu infestation--the only area in the Western U.S. to have kudzu. Does anyone have pictures?

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I have never heard of Kudzu in Oregon, although it may exist.

Our biggest invasive species seem to be English Ivy and Himalayan Blackberries.
Gorse and Scotch Broom are bad too............

In fact, a popular Eagle Scout project is Ivy eradication.

I certainly hope Kudzu does not gain a foothold here!
Looks like a nightmare!

Here are a couple of government websites listing all the nasty stuff we want out of Oregon:
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/article/306419

https://www.oregon.gov/ODA/shared/Do...smentKudzu.pdf

I think you might have better luck just googling "Kudzu in Oregon".


That is what I did, because I wasn't really sure what Kudzu was, and obviously a lot of "locals" wouldn't have a clue either unless they are agricultural folks, and there aren't that many of those types that post here.
The majority are city people, or "recent transplants" and/or "retirees" trying to show off, while exposing what little they actually know about Oregon.
My neighbors are rural folks, that actually applaud my actions and come out to help me, and don't really buy in to that "It's just nature, leave it alone" crap that so many ignorant "citiots" seem to love to spew.

Now that I have a little education on Kudzu, you've scared me half to death!
I wonder how it fares in our climate?
I have never had it get below zero here, but I have been down to low single digits in my little valley.

I have 50+ acres that snuggle against the Cascade mountains about 40 miles southeast of Portland, and my biggest pests are the blackberries, mostly along my two streams, the fence lines and outbuildings.

I use gallons of this stuff called CrossBow, but it is a lot of work to get rid of them.
If they are established, I have to go back year after year to spray and chop down dead vines and destroy root systems.

[PNW-type-gal]

Pretty sure there have been a couple areas in the Willamette Valley that have had kudzu, but I think it was recognized and stopped. There are a couple of mentions of it by the state in the late 1990s and then after that pretty much nothing. Since it is considered a fairly high threat in the Willamette Valley, were it to get established, it'd still be news.

http://library.state.or.us/repositor...9191/index.pdf

The "infestations" we do deal with are English ivy, Himalayan blackberry and European beach grass. Some plants, like butterfly bush, are considered invasive in the Willamette Valley but are not in areas outside of it.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Some plants, like butterfly bush, are considered invasive in the Willamette Valley but are not in areas outside of it.

My wife has two huge "Butterfly Bushes" that she absolutely loves, because they attract so many birds, bees, and other bugs.

However, we have to trim them to about waist height every winter or they certainly get out of hand.
I didn't do it one year, and they got super duper huge!
I can't believe how fast those things grow!

My land is split up between woodlots and grass pastures, and the soil here is not the greatest.
My wife and daughters decided they wanted to start their own blueberry and lavender businesses a couple of years ago.
So far so good, and they hope to see some good returns this year!

Also, the guy before me planted several Mimosa trees (Albizia julibrissin) and I could not believe how invasive and what a problem they turned out to be.
Very pretty tree, but didn't work for me at all.
I cut them down in 2015, and still have them popping up here and there!

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I moved away from that area quite a few years ago, but then I moved to TN, where kudzu is the bane of the world. I can't imagine kudzu thriving on both of those environments.

The "kudzu" of the PNW is blackberries, in my experience. The second worst one is scotch broom, which many towns/counties will require you to eradicate.

Blackberries will absolutely bury a building, if left unchecked. And to remove it, you're talking about cutting away thick canes with deadly thorns. And they will easily grow back if there are any shreds of root left in the ground. Evil, yet delicious.

[Larry Caldwell]

We have a lot of invasive species in Oregon. Reed Canary Grass is almost impossible to control, and makes a mess out of wetlands where it has become established. Gorse was what burned down the town of Bandon. We can thank Luther Burbank for the scourge of the Himalaya Blackberry. It's hard to imagine what walking through Western Oregon was like before it became established here. Cheatgrass kills wheat yields east of the Cascades. SE Oregon has trouble with Russian Thistle, AKA tumbleweed. If English Ivy is not contained, it will wipe out our PNW forests. It carpets the ground and prevents seedlings from growing.

[leastprime]

People=kudzu.

[MrJester]

Does Kudzu need hot, humid summers to grow? Or can they thrive in cool, damp environments, and the real factor is dampness, not mugginess?

Because I'm pretty sure Spanish moss would grow very poorly in Oregon, as it in fact takes hot, humid environments.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by MrJester

Does Kudzu need hot, humid summers to grow? Or can they thrive in cool, damp environments, and the real factor is dampness, not mugginess?

Because I'm pretty sure Spanish moss would grow very poorly in Oregon, as it in fact takes hot, humid environments.

I think it thrives in the hot humid areas. I saw a lot of the stuff in the south when we lived in Texas. Especially in the hot humid green areas like Tennessee. As you moved west into the drier parts of TX it seemed to disappear.

It's kind of like Himalayan blackberries in that it takes over disburbed and abandoned areas. So like old lots and pastures that have gone to seed. In a few years you have Kudzu growing 100' in the air climbing to the top and eventally strangling giant oak trees. That's one difference from blackberries. But it also doesn't have thorns so it is easier to rip out. I didn't see it much in deeper forest areas that haven't been disturbed. And it really doesn't invade suburban areas that are maintained and groomed. People rip it out before it gets really started. Goats are a favorite method of eradication. They love the stuff.

I cleared out some Kudzu from a stream and wooded area next to the school where I worked. Frankly I'd rather have to rip that stuff out than Hymalayan blackberries which are the spawn of the devil.

[Larry Caldwell]

I suspect kudzu would not survive our summer drought. It rains year round in the South, thanks to that giant bathtub off the coast.