I think crops of cowpeas and/or fava beans would be safer for your purpose, maybe grown in rotation according to season because the cowpeas need heat and the favas need cold. I would buy dried peas and beans by the pound bag from the grocery store for seed. If not quite so productive as kudzu, this is still a pretty effective way of producing green manure.

I would be afraid the chopped kudzu vines would take root in your compost, your garden and anywhere they landed.

Jim

Kudzu is a rampant grower, but it is very easy to control in a cultivated area. you can cut it back, mow it, dig it up. It only grows wild when you leave it alone. That why you see it strangling trees alonside roads and fence rows. You will not see it in a pasture or farmed field. It is not a good green manure crop, and there are lots of greens more palatable. It is edible, but you can't pay most folks to eat it.

How is the taste compared to a dandelion? Because dandelion is the most bitter thing I have tasted (and it was after blooming to make it worse). On top of that, I generally don't like eating greens anyway. Except for a few herbs, I usually don't eat fresh greens.

I've read from different online sources that it's good for composting. I would be careful about something taking root in my pile; I could always tear out anything that started growing.

Just out of curiosity, I might try to root a couple cuttings and keep them in small containers till they outgrow them. Then compost the foliage.

The only part of the kudzu that will root is the vines themselves. The leaves won't root and can be used for a good source of green manure. I have a book that talks about using it. Cows also love it; which is why you don't find it in fields used for pasture. The deep roots of kudzu also draw up a lot of nutrients from the soil. Buuuuut you do need to be careful if you're gonna grow it.

Abby

You want to grow kudzu just to make compost? Yes, that sounds crazy. You want pesticide free? No problem. Nobody sprays insecticides on kudzu (yeah, gotta make sure the bugs don't eat the lovely kudzu), so all you need to do is harvest some 10 or 20 feet off the highway, where they might spray herbicide now and then.

If by "nutritional" you mean you want to eat some, best grow it in a pot.

I have to defend catman's idea. It's not crazy to look for a rampant growing plant to produce a large volume of compost. I think kudzu may not be the best choice, but catman's reasoning makes sense.

Jim

Catman, you may want to find out if your state/county has a noxious weed control board that enforces the eradication of invasives. Not all of them do, but if they do, and they spot it on your property, they will ask you (nicely)to remove it. They can, depending on local regulations, fine you if you don't remove it within a certain time period. They're not just trying to tell you what to do on your own property, but some plants are so bad that there are(long standing)state/county programs for eradication in progress that the public is not aware of.
I'm not criticizing you at all for wanting to grow kudzu, and there are quite a few invasives I'd be tempted to grow, but having worked for a weed board in the past, guilt takes over and I don't do it. I do, however, resist pulling any up that I see growing if I particularly like it and it's not being enforced(cringing with guilt).

If I was going to grow it, I would think a large pot with drain holes inside a larger metal pot sitting off the ground would do it.

I am planing on growing velvet beans and iron clay peas to make compost and also to use as a green manure. A field of velvet beans looks a lot like kudzu