My backyard, before winter, had bushes, and a few good trees. A few dead ones too. It had somehow escaped my notice that a section of a kudzu vine, surviving the efforts of my neighbor to purge it from his yard, had taken root on MY yard. It must have been September or October when this happened. I could have sworn, now, that it grew through the winter. Of all the large oak trees, I can now not see any bark, and my bushes remain under a cover immpossible to penetrate. It dulls my blades and gums the mechanisms, and WILL NOT burn. I have been informed, by local gardeners, that it is also impervious to most forms of chemical treatment. So...what if...it was genetically modified to be, if it could be possible, even stronger and grow faster? That's how you stop the deforestation of the rainforest dead in its tracks. Maybe.-- Paine, May 07 2002 Kudzu Uses http://www.foodrefe...om/html/tkudzu.htmlWhat, though, means "Construction Stalemate "? [reensure, May 07 2002] Kudzu Facts http://www.jjanthony.com/kudzu/Kudzu kills trees, it doesn't save them. [XSarenkaX, Oct 21 2004] Mother nature and her wiley evolution powers should take care of this in a few 100,000 years... question is will WE last that long?-- futurebird, May 07 2002 Hi [futurebird]. Nice to see you poking around again.
[Paine] What's the point? Replace forests with kudzu?
What we need is to engineer it to grow straight up. Then we could use it for a space elevator. Now *that's* halfbaked.-- phoenix, May 07 2002 Further to Phoenix's sterling suggestion, perhaps we could use kudzu in other areas of construction, such as bidge building. Imagine a suspension bridge with cables of strongest vine - not only would it look great, but it would be self-repairing (car goes over the side, ripping out a chunk of bridge? Just restrict the traffic for a week or so, and it's grown back!). Its roots would dangle into the river to provide it with sustenance, and its leafy canopy would shade drivers on their journey.-- friendlyfire, Nov 01 2002 random, halfbakery