Kudzu Removal in Illinois: Laws, Plan and Cost

Kudzu has been recorded in southern Illinois, including Massac County. Its vines spread over field edges and trees, and Illinois regulates it as both an exotic weed and a noxious weed.

Clearing it is a job measured in summers: one mulching pass to take down the vines and whatever they have smothered, repeated cuts of the regrowth to wear out the roots, and, if you choose, a licensed applicator’s treatment. Clearing kudzu from a fence row, a field edge or the ground under trees you keep typically runs $1,500 to $2,500 an acre.

What Illinois Law Says About Kudzu

It is an exotic weed. Kudzu (Pueraria montana) is on the IDNR’s official list of exotic weeds. Under the Illinois Exotic Weeds Act, it is unlawful to buy, sell, offer for sale, distribute or plant the seeds, plants or plant parts of a listed exotic weed without an IDNR permit. Grinding the vines where they grew keeps the plant material on the property instead of moving it anywhere else.

It is a noxious weed. The Department of Agriculture’s noxious weed list names kudzu alongside Canada thistle, musk thistle and johnsongrass. The Illinois Noxious Weed Law requires every person to control the spread of and eradicate noxious weeds on land they own or control, using methods and timing the Director of Agriculture approves. So a kudzu patch on your ground is not only a nuisance; the law puts its control on whoever owns or controls the land.

These are Illinois rules. Across the Ohio River, in Paducah and the rest of western Kentucky, Kentucky law applies, and the county extension office is the place to ask how it treats kudzu.

Where Kudzu Grows in Illinois, and How It Spreads

It grows across the far south. Kudzu has been recorded in Massac, Pope, Alexander, Pulaski and Johnson counties. Its vines cover roadsides, old fields and woodland edges, rooting where stems touch soil.

People moved most of it. Kudzu turns up along roadsides, in old fields, around farm ponds, on strip-mined ground and around home sites. Stems root where their nodes touch the soil, and pieces carried on construction and mowing equipment keep growing once buried.

It spreads three ways. It spreads by seed, by broken vine fragments and by root expansion, and viable seed has been found in Union County. Vines can grow up to a foot a day.

How to recognize it. Kudzu leaves come in three parts, alternate on the stem, with fine hairs on the underside and edges; hairy yellow-green young stems that harden into gray woody vines up to 10 inches thick; and fragrant red to purple flower clusters.

Why One Cutting Fails

The vine you see is the smaller part of the plant. Its tuberous roots run 3 to 10 feet deep, and across the river in Kentucky most new growth sprouts from those roots rather than from seed.

• The roots outlast a single cut. Mowing, hand removal or burning on their own usually fail, because they leave the sprouting roots and tubers alive.
• Repetition is what works. Cutting the plants close to the ground during hot, dry summer months for several years may exhaust root reserves. Each regrowth spends stored energy, and cutting it before it rebuilds is what drains the root.
• Winter is misleading. The leaves die at the first frost while the roots stay alive, and in Illinois the woody stems do not always die back either; some carry seven years of growth rings.

That is why the first pass is only the opening move. It brings the mat down and puts the regrowth within reach, and the savings come from planning the return visits at the same time.

A Kudzu Clearing Plan Over Several Summers

1. Map it after frost. With the leaves dead, the trees under the vines, old fences and ditches show again. Ribbon the trees you are keeping.
2. Make the first pass on firm ground. Our crew grinds the vines, the brush beneath them and any saplings you do not want into chips, working around every tree you flagged. Work the kudzu last, and clear vine pieces off the machine before it moves to clean ground, since stems root wherever they land.
3. Cut the regrowth through the summer. Return visits take the new shoots close to the ground while they are young, through the hot, dry months.
4. Add a licensed applicator if you want one. Chemical treatment is a licensed applicator’s work, not ours; chemical control usually takes multiple treatments over three or more years, and our crew can time the cutting around them.
5. Keep at it for several years. Older, larger patches take longer than young ones. Walk the edges each summer, because runners from a patch next door can root back in.
6. Give the ground a new tenant. Grass on a cleared field edge lets a mower keep the shoots down between visits.

What Kudzu Clearing Costs per Acre

For kudzu on a fence row, a field edge or a creek bank, or under trees you keep, budget $1,500 to $2,500 per acre. That is the kudzu and bottomland row on our Metropolis, IL pricing page, and every Illinois market prices its understory row in the same band. Vines that have buried a stand of saplings price as forestry mulching, $1,500 to $4,000 an acre, and taking a whole tract to an agreed finish is land clearing, up to $4,500.

Kudzu work	Price	How it is counted
Vines over grass, brush or a fence row	$1,500 – $2,500 per acre	A strip by the share of an acre it covers
Vines over a stand of young trees	$1,500 – $4,000 per acre	The forestry mulching band
One corner or a single short row	Minimum charge of about $1,500	Where small jobs start; charged in place of an acre rate, never added to one
Regrowth cuts in later summers	Priced per visit	Each on its own line, yours to accept or skip
Herbicide	Set by the applicator	Booked by you with a licensed applicator

Our mulching grinds brush, small trees and stumps into mulch where they stood; stumps finish flush with the ground and nothing is hauled away. Full stump removal below grade and cutting and hauling very large trees are discussed and priced in the quote. Grading and build pads are not part of our price: we clear to the ground so a builder can grade.

Within a band, the depth of the mat, what is buried under it, wet ground and the route in decide the figure. For other clearing across the state, see the Illinois land clearing cost guide.

Kudzu Around Illinois’s Markets

Metropolis, Massac County and the Paducah Side

The far south is where Illinois kudzu lives. It has been recorded in Massac County and around it, in Pope, Alexander, Pulaski and Johnson counties. On bottom ground near the Ohio, the first pass is booked for firm soil, and the summer cuts follow. Across the river, kudzu grows on forest edges, rights-of-way, old homesteads and stream banks, and Kentucky’s rules, not Illinois’s, apply there. Our Metropolis, IL land clearing page lists the towns on both banks, from Vienna and Cairo to Paducah, Benton, KY and Mayfield.

Peoria and the Illinois River Valley

Kudzu has been rare this far north, but it has turned up. Small patches have been recorded in Peoria and Tazewell counties. Bush honeysuckle is the more usual job in the river bluff timber; our Illinois bush honeysuckle removal guide covers it, and our Peoria land clearing page covers the area.

Gilberts and the Fox Valley

It is rare this far north, though a patch has turned up as far north as Evanston. A vine in the Fox Valley is worth identifying carefully before anything is cleared. Buckthorn is the shrub that fills woods there, and our Illinois buckthorn removal guide and Gilberts land clearing page cover it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is kudzu illegal in Illinois?

It is unlawful to buy, sell, distribute or plant it without an IDNR permit, because it is a listed exotic weed. It is also a listed noxious weed, and the Noxious Weed Law says every person shall control its spread on land they own or control.

Does an Illinois winter kill kudzu?

No. Frost kills the leaves, but the roots survive, and woody stems in Illinois can carry seven years of growth.

How many years does kudzu removal take?

Several. Cutting close to the ground takes several summers, and herbicide programs run three or more years. Large, old patches take longest.

What does kudzu removal cost per acre in Illinois?

Most fence row and field edge work falls between $1,500 and $2,500 an acre, and vines over young trees between $1,500 and $4,000. Small jobs start at a minimum charge of about $1,500, and each later regrowth visit is quoted separately.

Get Your Kudzu on a Schedule

Request a free quote and we’ll contact you to discuss your property, access and the clearing you need. Our crew plans kudzu over several seasons: mapped after frost, mulched on firm ground, then cut back each summer until the roots give out.