Harvesting rhizomes

In late March we attempted to harvest rhizomes of some of the miscanthus plot. A patch of miscanthus was dug up in order to investigate the complexity, yield, and process of harvesting the rhizomes. Since this was a small scale effort, a Bobcat was used with a tine tooth bucket to dig a shallow trench along a row of miscanthus grass. The root balls fell out of the tines very easily. The effort was minimal thanks to the machinery used. Some were dug by hand and was a much more physical task that would be unreasonable in a large plot.

One small 10x10 foot area cleared for rhizome harvest

An example of a plant to be harvested. This was done in early spring but this past winter and spring have been very warm compared to normal and some growth has begun.

An area dug up

The tool used to dig up rhizomes

A rhizome pulled from the ground

All harvested rhizomes set out from where they were dug from

A collection of rhizomes dug up

Same group of rhizomes washed off.

Early spring

The spring season has started and it has been very unseasonably warm in western Iowa. As of March 30, new growth is visible above ground on many plants.

New growth on a plant as of March 30, 2012

A smaller plant beginning to grow again.

The total field at the start of spring

The total amount of biomass was not large enough to justify a harvest. The dormant biomass form the field will be left in the field as cover.

Small harvest

A small harvest was made in late winter of the miscanthus grass for analysis. There was a significant difference between the stem and the leaf portion of the grass. The stem was very stiff and long.The leaves were similar to more traditional grass and was loose and stringy. Harvesting the stems is most desirable, but might prove to be difficult.

The two pictures above are the harvested miscanthus stems

This container has the leaf portion of the harvested miscanthus