Klub Kudzu in Lake Accotink Park

Friends of Accotink Creek is cooperating with the Fairfax County Park Authority in the Invasive Management Area (IMA) program. On Wednesdays starting in September 2006 a FAcC team began removing kudzu from Lake Accotink Park. We call our efforts "Klub Kudzu". The FAcC team leader, Philip Latasa is shown below with the spoils of victory over kudzu.

Our efforts are still continuing today and have expanded to a site in Americana Park. The kudzu is effectively vanquished, but a variety of other invasive alien plant species demand our attention. Keep fit - join us at "Klub Kudzu".

The Weed Wrench can be fairly effective at removing Kudzu tubers. Place the jaws on the narrow spot below the crown of the root (some digging may be necessary), keep one foot on the jaws to maintain a tight grip, and rock the lever to gradually loosen the tuber. Lengthier tubers may require repositioning the jaws lower and lower to extract the tuber bit by bit. This Kudzu tuber is 12 feet long and the attached vines are 70 feet. (We later learned the secret of avoiding this back-breaking task - these huge tubers will die in the ground if cut just below the crown - much simpler!)

More large Kudzu tubers extracted with the Weed Wrench

Volunteers Josh Mausolf, Ben Steenblik, Meagan D'Annibale, and Philip Latasa display extracted Kudzu tubers and vines.