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The Gillette Woods Association is the latest private organization to join the fight against kudzu, an invasive vine that has taken over large swaths of Polk County.  

The Association’s Board of Directors has made addressing this issue a top priority for the current year. Kudzu outbreaks adversely affect property values but, perhaps more importantly, cause significant environmental harm. The sheer weight of the vines, coupled with the deprivation of sunlight, causes trees to topple prematurely, and every tree lost initiates a domino effect as the wind protection afforded the remaining trees is compromised.  

Kudzu mats can be so thick that everything underneath is completely cut off from sunlight creating, in effect, an environmental dead zone. Even if the kudzu is removed, it can take decades for a forest to recover.  

But all the news is not bad. Once kudzu is removed, native plants and the insects, birds and animals that they host begin to return almost immediately.

This week is National Invasives Species Awareness Week, so we are not alone in our efforts to control the threats from invasives. Every region of the country is affected. Only the species are different.

Brian McCrodden, a Gillette Woods Association Board member, has assembled a group of volunteers who work one morning a week to tackle this scourge.  The group, as yet unnamed, is currently working at the intersection of Braewick Road and East Park Drive where there is a nasty and highly visible outbreak of not only kudzu but a number of other invasives, including privet, autumn olive and silverberry (Russian olive).  

Because Little Creek bisects the affected property, great care is being taken to minimize the use of herbicides. For this reason the work is being done mostly during the winter months so that the “cut and daub” method of treatment can be used. This method involves cutting the stem of the kudzu vine and applying a small amount of herbicide directly to the cut stem. From there the chemical is transported directly to the plant’s crown, the energy storage part of the plant, which effectively kills it. Using this approach means there is no wholesale spraying of herbicides, and aquatic species that are sensitive to herbicides are protected. 

The Gillette Woods volunteer group is modeled loosely after the Kudzu Warriors, another volunteer group that works with Conserving Carolina, the Polk County Appearance Commission and the public.  Two of the Warriors, Greg Miner and Don Dicey, widely recognized experts, have been working with and providing training and guidance to the newly-formed Gillette Woods group.

Now that the group is up and running McCrodden is gearing up to recruit additional volunteers so that the effort can be expanded to other parts of Gillette Woods when work resumes next fall. He also plans to start a service by the Association to identify invasives on the property of homeowners who request it.

 

Submitted by the Gillette Woods Association