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.