Kudzu Vine & Palmer Amaranth:Past, Present, and Future

Jessica LenkerPA Department of Agriculture

Kudzu• The vine that ate the South…..and the North!• 1876 - Pennsylvania introduces kudzu at the Centennial

Exposition• 1920s - Florida nursery promotes it as a forage plant and

sells it mail order• 1930s - Soil Conservation Service offered incentives for

planting kudzu for erosion • 1950s - government stopped promotion• 1970s - it was declared a weed• 1989 - Pa Noxious Weed • 1997 - Federally Noxious Weed

Kudzu Eradication Program• Grant funded 2005-2008• 89 spatially distinct

populations (137 individual properties)– 47 sites treated by PDA– 11 sites treated by owner

under PDA advisement– 31 sites untreated/not

monitored• By the end of the program

about 50% were eradicated or almost eradicated.

Current Status

Delaware – 12Philadelphia – 10Alleghany & Chester – 6 eaYork & Lancaster – 5 eaMontgomery – 3Franklin & Westmoreland – 2 eaBerks, Cambria, Lebanon, & Northampton – 1 ea

Close up of Delaware and Philadelphia counties

Kudzu Locations– Roadside forest– Abandoned lots– Riparian areas

Small Populations

Large Populations

Managing Kudzu• Starts with correct identification!– Grape Vine– Bur Cucumber

• PDA monitoring– Yearly site visits to assess progress– Aid in management strategies– Educate landowners

• Kudzu managers include homeowners, DCNR, municipal workers, & universities

• Notify PDA if you think you have a new site

Managing Kudzu

• Eradication is possible, but the work is tedious…

• Each site is different– What’s under the kudzu? – Terrain workable?– How old is the population?

Managing Kudzu• Foliar Spray• Cut Stump Method • Stump Drilling• Mechanical

Palmer Amaranth – Amaranthus palmeri

Palmer Amaranth• What?– Pigweed species like no other – First PA discovery Sept 2013

• 5 Lancaster, 2 Franklin, 1 Berks & 1 Bedford

– Produces 500,000+ small seeds from one plant• Spread over an acre, 10 seeds per

square foot

– Resistant to some herbicides including glyphosate

– Moved up from the southern states initially• Manure – hay, feed • Equipment

Palmer Amaranth• What?– Thrives in hot, dry conditions– Summer annual – germinates late spring/early summer– Seeds need light to germinate• Deep tillage for first year

– Diocious – separate male and female plants– Genetically diverse plant - hybrids– Pollen from male plant is what carries the glyphosate

resistant gene• Pollen can travel ½-1 mile

Palmer Amaranth• How to Identify?– Unusually tall – 6-10 feet– Long seed heads – 10-12

inches– Prickly seed heads –

female– Petiole is as long if not

longer than the leaf – droopy appearance

– Stems/leaves hairless, smooth

– Did it survive herbicide applications?

D Lingenfelter, Penn State University

Grew 4 inches in 52 hours

Images: University of Georgia

Managing Palmer Amaranth

• Each site will be managed differently

• BMPs – Containment!– Pull out plants out destroy (burn/bury) on site– Mow down the weed – Thoroughly clean equipment and anyone in the

contaminated field

Palmer Amaranth• Why do we care?– Decreased crop yields – 30-50%– Economics of eradicating– Quarantine of ag products between states– Decreased property values

• What to do?– Education, education, education!– Scout early and often– Pay attention to field inputs and where they are coming

from– If palmer is suspected anywhere in PA in any quantity

notify PSU (Curran or Lingenfelter) or PDA (Jessica Lenker).

Questions?

Jessica LenkerPA Department of Agriculture

Botany & Weed Specialist717-787-7204

jeslenker@pa.gov