Herbicide method and apparatus

An apparatus for applying helium gas to the roots of a Kudzu vine comprising a metal tube with opposite ends and having a hollow interior and a plurality of perforations in said tube to establish communication for the helium gas between said hollow tube interior and the Kudzu vine roots, a drill shank in one of said tube ends, a drill bit in said opposite tube end, a nipple on said tube near said drill shank to enable the helium to flow into said hollow tube interior, a ball valve coupled to said nipple to selectively control the helium flow to said nipple, a helium canister, and a flexible conduit for coupling the helium within said canister to said ball valve.

An apparatus for applying helium gas as an herbicide to the roots of a Kudzu vine comprising, a steel tube having a length of about 82 cm, an outside diameter of 1.8 cm and an interior diameter of 1.6 cm, said tube having first and second sets of perforations, each perforation in said sets having a diameter of 0.16 cm, said perforations penetrating from the outside of said tube to said tube interior, said perforations being aligned with said tube length, said first and second sets being formed respectively on opposite sides of said tube, said perforations in said first set being separated from adjacent perforations in said first set by 7.6 cm, and said second perforations set being similarly separated from adjacent perforations in said second, said second set perforations also being separated relative to said corresponding perforations in said first set perforations each by a distance of 3.8 cm along said tube length from said adjacent corresponding first set perforations, a ball valve having an inside diameter of 0.6 cm for selectively enabling the helium to flow into said tube interior and from said tube interior through said perforations to the Kudzu vine roots, a canister for the helium and a flexible conduit coupling said canister to said ball valve to enable the helium gas to flow into said tube interior.

A process for applying helium gas as a herbicide to Kudzu vine roots comprising the steps of attaching a drill to a drill shank protruding from one end of a hollow tube having a plurality of perforations, pressing the drill bit protruding from the other end of the tube against the ground near the Kudzu vine roots, activating the drill to enable the drill bit and the perforated tube to bore into the earth near the Kudzu vine roots, deactivating the drill when all of the tube perforations are below ground, attaching a helium gas supply to a valve mounted on the tube, opening the valve to enable the helium gas to flow from the supply into the hollow tube and out of the hollow tube through the perforations to the Kudzu vine roots, continuing to permit the helium to flow out of the tube until about 0.5 cubic meters of helium at standard atmosphere pressure and temperature have been applied to the Kudzu vine roots, removing the helium supply from the tube, and activating the drill to extract the tube and the drill bit from the ground.