Early Summer year 2

It has been very hot and fairly dry over the last month. Any kind of rain is becoming very important for all crops in the area. From June 1 to July 11, 2012, a total of 4.5" of precipitation was recorded which has been enough to keep everything going so far. There are a lot of worse off areas in Iowa. The extreme high temperatures have taken care of what rain we did receive. On July 7, 2012 I was able to go out and take some more pictures. The grass is continuing to grow, but seems slowed by the lack of adequate moisture. The volunteer grass is also filling in and it will be in competition with the miscanthus until the miscanthus can hopefully grow over it. Much of the good standing miscanthus is chest high (4'-5') which is significantly better than July last year. The grass is at a height comparable to late August of last year.

The sun was beginning to set, but this is the same straight on view that I posted for late spring. the increased growth is obvious.

Average Western Iowa precipitation and Iowa temperatures

 
 From NOAA

On a separate topic, a new rhizome digger was acquired for our test plot. It was an old potato planter that we can use to dig up rhizomes this fall. Looking forward to the testing with this old tool.

Late Spring

This post is a recap for late spring. We had a very warm spring and the grass got to a really good start. I was coming up very fast. The picture below was taken on June 1, 2012. Last year we were able to plant the rhizomes on May 18 and had barely began to emerge at this same time last year. It is quite different from bare ground of last spring. Also it appears that practically all of the planted rhizomes came up this spring. Many plants that were either too small or did not come up last fall have started to sprout this spring which is a very good sign. It is very clear that some rows are doing far better than others. This can be tracked to the variable of boxes that were used for each set of rows. Some boxes had great rhizomes while others did not. It is suspected that this is the cause of low population rows. We will continue to monitor population through the year.

Late spring stand of rhizomes

Soil samples were taken and submitted to Iowa State Soil Analysis Laboratory. The ground was not too dry, but was beginning to dry out in areas. There has been a total of 11" of precipitation from January to June 1, 2012.

A single giant miscanthus plant.

Another group of healthy plants

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

A small harvest

Back in November we were able to attend and present at the Small Farm Trade Show and Conference in Columbia, Missouri. This was a great experience and we were able to make an initial presentation on our project so far. We were able to also meet some very interesting people who are very concerned with the environment as well. I learned quite a bit about raised bed gardens and using humus to enhance soil. It really got me in the mood for making biochar. Then I met a researcher at the conference who was doing just that. John Topic had also won a grant through SARE and was researching improving soil by the use of biochar. Very interesting stuff and we hope to collaborate someday.

Following that not much to do on the farm but wait for the grass to dry out and drop the leaves. On December 28, 2011 I was able to go out to the field and try to hand harvest some of the plants. It was an unusually warm winter thus far, and not much had changed with the field since October.

Miscanthus field in late December

I used a rake to remove the weed grass that had now laid down nicely to reveal the miscanthus grass that was still standing tall.I got a spot about 15'x15' cleared out so I could harvest neatly without contamination of the other grasses.

Small cleared patch.

I used a corn knife to hand cut the miscanthus just above ground level. I took the plants whole in a bag back home. The biomass will need analysis for mineral and energy content.

Harvested bunch of miscanthus - single plant, first year

After I was complete, that left a fairly bare patch in the field.

So I raked the grass back into the spot to help prevent any soil erosion during next spring.

What I really found interesting with the miscanthus plants is the very different physical properties of the plant stems versus the leaves. The stems separated very easily from the rest of the plant. I assume this is what should happen after winter with leaves have fully dropped from the plants. We will have to wait to see what winter brings us in terms of snow to see if that is true or not in the spring. Also, this field is first year growth that is practically an unharvestable quantity. We will have to wait until next fall to determine the final weight and volume percentage of the harvested grass is leaves compared to stems.

Mid October

This post is for the end of season pictures I was able to get in mid October. Miscanthus is easy to spot as the foxtail had all died out. Many of the plants were doing really well, but the population of miscanthus plants was not what we had hoped it would be. This first season was a great learning experience. Basically no biomass to harvest this year, we hope to see a tremendous regrowth in the spring.