Rhizomes

We are getting miscanthus rhizomes from my partner company out of Canada, New Energy Farms. they are a great resource on miscanthus and have been producing the rhizomes for several years now. The order was placed after the grant was awarded, but due to spring weather and other shipping requirements, the rhizomes are planned to ship April 25, and they should arrive by that weekend on the 29th. The ground is wet, and getting more soaked by the day. Even snow in the North parts of Iowa. We have had off and on drizzle for the past week. Many farmers around are waiting on the weather as well. A few local row-crops went in during mid-April but nothing substantial due to cold soil temperatures and wet conditions. Soil temperature as of April 18 was 42 Degrees F, which is warm enough for miscanthus to go Iowa State Soil Temps. We are now waiting for things to dry up.

The miscanthus plants are noninvasive, asexual rhizomes of the Illinois clone family. The grass is determined to be the best high yielding biomass plants. The plants are also very efficient. They use deep roots to access water reserves, and use the above ground foliage to soak nutrients from the atmosphere. When the plant goes dormant in the late fall, the nutrients return to the roots ready for the next season. NEF video

To achieve the 3 population densities that we are planting we will plant double rows for the mid- and high-population densities of 16,000 and 24,000 rhizomes per acre, and single rows for the low population density control of 8,000 rhizomes. Each row will be 40" apart, and the double rows will be between 10" and 20" apart on 40" centers. the high population will be an extremely high density planting every 12" in each row. The mid-range population will be planted every 16" in a row. This is assumed as the best range for optimal growth. Most studies do not dig rhizomes after a single year, and so we hope the high population does well to speed the propagation of rhizomes. High multiplication of rhizomes is critical to our farm establishing a large plot of miscanthus. The low population plot will be planted every 16"-18" in the single row. This can be seen as risky due to the likelihood of some of the plants not growing as desired. This will leave large blank spots in the field of no-growth. The low population plot is designed to mimic establishment plots, not propagation plots, and will not be dug up. It will rather be monitored for the full two years to see how well the plants spread and fill in over each growing season.

Planter test

More to come. 1st field test without rhizomes. New reconfigured 2 row planter.

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Land and a Planter

We found the right piece of ground for our miscanhtus trial. We needed a one acre patch, which is bigger that what one might think. Any of the the yard area was too small, and any large patch was already in CRP. We did find one area on a North side-hill that is between 2 terraces. The area is a little over one acre. We wanted to avoid critical tile lines to protect the remaining farm ground, and wanted a relatively good area of ground that won't dry out too quickly.
We do not irrigate and have clay-loam soils. this is great for growing corn, but makes the soil somewhat heavy and dense for planting and digging rhizomes. We will give it a shot either way.

We picked up a planter to lease for planting rhizomes. It is a two row Ferguson Lister planter. The Lister planter cuts a deep furrow and is designed to plant corn in the furrow. We will modify the planting mechanism so that we can manually feed rhizomes from a seat mounted on the packer wheels. The photo from an online owner's manual is attached. http://www.ntractorclub.com/forums/manuals/messages/5409.html

The planter has 40" rows which should work great for our needs. we will plant double passes so 20" centers when completed, but 40" gives us room to work between the rows.
It is also recommended to double up rows to make next season digging go more smoothly. We may keep 40" centers, and plant double rows 12" apart for each 40" row. this will help us when digging up the rhizomes next year.

For the low population plot, 40" centers and 40" between plants will be how it is spaced. For the medium population plot we will have double rows 40" apart and plants every 20" in each row. This is to double the plant density from 8,000 to 16,000 rhizomes per acre. The high population plot will simulate 24,000 rhizomes per acre. This will have double rows on 40" centers planted 12" apart in each row. We will have to see how fast we can plant and how slow the tractor can go to achieve this. I assume a lot of work, but for a great reward.