Kudzu-eating bug spreads outside Georgia
Ask someone to name Georgia’s most prized export and you’ll get varied responses.
'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'
Peaches, pecans, peanuts (we like P’s) and exotic dancers are among our many claims to fame.
But what about plataspids? Bean plataspids to be precise.
Sounds yummy, but you’d best not eat them. After all, it’s what THEY eat that makes them special — the tiny insects devour kudzu, the South’s least favorite plant.
The Athens Banner-Herald reports the bugs, first found in Georgia near Athens, have spread to almost all of Georgia, South Carolina, a big chunk of North Carolina and four Alabama counties.
You can’t blame them for avoiding Mississippi.
The bugs fly high, so recent winds from Hurricane Irene may have shot the little guys clear up to Canada, where, believe it or not, kudzu grows.
Researchers in Athens say the insects reduce the amount of kudzu foliage by a third in test plots. They also dine on another pesky plant, Wisteria, which has the good manners to at least be pretty when blooming.
The news isn’t all good: Other members of the legume family considered useful (and profitable) — peanuts and soybeans — are also targeted by the tiny winged beasts.
Kudzu — which can grow a foot a day — became widespread in the ’30s and ’40s when the U.S. government planted it far and wide to reduce soil erosion. It’s taken over vast swaths since — spreading at the rate of 150,000 acres per year.
Bean plataspids, unlike struggling artists, will never go hungry.
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31 comments Add your comment
Sam
August 30th, 2011
9:27 am
Federal government departments are like kudzu. They grow and grow and creep along and are essentially indestructible and turn into a monstrosity with no repeal or repair in site and are now just big weed jobs program run amok in the yard.
nokiddingsherlock
August 30th, 2011
9:28 am
Alex: why are you spewing your liberal B.S on a blog about horticulture and insects? (giving away the Panama Canal is not something to brag about) And why are other people talking about China and how evil the U.S is for buying materials overseas? Are you afraid of competition? the days of secular and micro economies are over. Get used to being competitive or get out of the way and be poor. I imagine you are.
As for Kudzu, introducing another evasive species is probably not a great idea without extensive research.
nokiddingsherlock
August 30th, 2011
9:29 am
Sam: love the analogy!
Kent Brockman
August 30th, 2011
9:52 am
I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.
Bufanaquishria
August 30th, 2011
2:28 pm
“Kudzu…became widespread in the ’30s and ’40s when the U.S. government planted it far and wide to reduce soil erosion.”
If memory serves it was first introduced in Georgia, to control wash outs along roadsides. A cautionary tale about government central planning perhaps. Will ObamaCare eventually turn out to be like kudzu?
Rabbit
August 30th, 2011
9:08 pm
So, Joe. You think automobile choices are “free market?” Try almost free good. According to a 1980s study, government subsidies for highways and parking alone amount to between 8 and 10 percent of our gross national product, the equivalent of a fuel tax of approximately $3.50 per gallon.
AND spending on transit creates twice as many new jobs as spending on highways.
DrMallard
September 9th, 2011
8:34 pm
Let’s hope these bugs are satisfied with eating kudzu. Lord knows there’s plenty of it in the South, but now it’s spread clean up to New York City and Long Island. Then again, people are planting Chinese fan palms in the New York metropolitan area – and even as far north as Seattle and Vancouver – and they’re doing just fine. They’re even growing in London (52.5 degrees North latitude). But, of course, there’s no such thing as global warming. And, by the way, I’m really a kangaroo.
Alison
September 12th, 2011
1:06 pm
What about the helium? CNN reported earlier this year a kid in Valdosta discovered if you inject Kudzu with a little helium, it will kill the entire plant down to the root (and none around it). I know it would be hard to stop the spread of this bug naturally now, just like the kudzu, i think injecting an invasive plant with helium is a much better alternative than introducing something that will ruin our peanut and other crops.
kimmer
September 12th, 2011
8:38 pm
You can’t blame them for avoiding Mississippi? Wow, classy there george, just classy.
missysmom
September 13th, 2011
7:21 am
Goats will decimate your kudzu in short order. No need for these nasty sounding bugs that will eventually attack our crops.