When you first see kudzu vines, you can't help but imagine you are George of the jungle, swinging through the trees. But then, in reality, you suddenly crash because all the trees are dead from the thick vines blocking out the sun.

Kudzu, which is a member of the legume family, produces its own nitrogen, which causes it to grow very quickly, covering 7 million acres in the southeast alone. It can cover anything from trees to houses with a 4-foot thick blanket of dark green vines.

My suggestion is, be creative. Don't cuss at it. Use it creatively. -Bob Tanner, professor at Vanderbilt University The taproot of the Kudzu vine can be more than six feet long and weigh more than 400 pounds.  However, the entire root crown must be removed to erradicate the plant, since it will resprout.

There's no easy way to eliminate such a prolific plant. The only way to get rid of kudzu permanently is to mow it and treat the root crown with herbicides regularly for as long as five to ten years. 

Believe it or not, kudzu was not an accidental import. It was introduced to the United States in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition by the Japanese, who promoted it as an ornamental plant that could also be used to feed cattle.

From 1935-1953, farmers were encouraged to plant the vine and were actually paid $8 an acre by the government. The Soil Conservation Service advocated the use of kudzu to prevent erosion and, with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corp, planted thousands of acres of the vine.

It's not going to solve anybody's energy crisis, but it would be a useful supplement. -Rowan Sage, professor at the University of Toronto While the vine is effective in erosion prevention, the idea of using it for cattle feed was short-sighted. An article published by the University of Arkansas, Department of Agriculture pointed out that "cows don't really like Kudzu and, perhaps more importantly, they can't climb trees" to eat it.  

But the troublesome vine can actually be useful. One possibility is to use it as a bio-fuel. kudzu roots are very similar to corn, in that the carbohydrate can be converted into ethanol using yeast. Rowan Sage of the University of Toronto and colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture believe Kudzu could be part of the solution to fuel concerns. 

"Kudzu is just a large amount of carbohydrate sitting below ground waiting for anyone to come along and dig it up," Sage said. The root is 68 percent carbohydrate and an acre of Kudzu can produce about the same amount of ethanol as an acre of corn. "It's not going to solve anybody's energy crisis, but it would be a useful supplement," Sage said.
 
Kudzu is both hated and celebrated. There are festivals and cookbooks dedicated entirely to the vine. Kudzu can even be processed like hemp and made into rope and fabric. 

Bob Tanner of Vanderbilt University had the idea of using kudzu as a bio-fuel back in the 1970s. Now he knows that it has many different uses. "My suggestion is, be creative.  Don't cuss at it.  Use it creatively," Tanner said.