Anyone had miscanthus long enough to see it die off?

[loshonhora]

From what I've read, miscanthus will live for about 20 years. Has anyone here had it growing on their property long enough to see die off from old age?
I'm thinking of mixing clumps into spruce screen plantings and letting the miscanthus die off as the spruces grow and fill in.

 

[Tree Spud]

My is going on 10 years and doesn't show any signs of breakdown. The clumps keep getting larger and have actually had some areas where I thought the plants had died that have come back.

 

[loshonhora]

I have a screen that's about 8 years old and it keeps getting thicker.

 

[Bill]

I'm over 13 years on some plants and they keep going strong. An evergreen backup is probably good idea. I'm just hoping that the number 20 years has more to do with actual yield than life span. Most of the research is on MG as a biofuel and like any other crop yield is what drives usefulness.

Also if you can cut a rhizome of a 15 year old plant and grow a new plant for another 20 years why couldn't you heavily disk or even run a plow or middle buster through the root system and get new rhizomes right where they were? (Pure speculation)

I've also noted on some small trials that burning eliminates center die off. Maybe a good fire now and then would help with longevity. (Again Pure Speculation)

Here is an article published in 2019. https://farm-energy.extension.org/miscanthus-miscanthus-x-giganteus-for-biofuel-production/

The author states this about it spreading or becoming invasive.

"The oldest research stands in Europe were planted in the late 1980s and have only moved approximately 3 feet from their original location (Uffe Jorgensen, personal communication). Trials are currently under way in Illinois to evaluate risk of spread to and from agricultural lands."

If it was planted in the 80's and has only moved 3 feet by 2018 or 19 those plants are over 30 years old.

 

[willy]

Also if you can cut a rhizome of a 15 year old plant and grow a new plant for another 20 years why couldn't you heavily disk or even run a plow or middle buster through the root system and get new rhizomes right where they were? (Pure speculation)

I shred a certain section of my miscanthus down yearly and then plow it up and use it for a rhizome source. It looks just like the rest of the miscanthus that same year that didn't get plowed up. I believe the life expectancy is way more than twenty years.

 

[OakSeeds]

I,ve seen estimates of 15-30 years..we have some at 12 years but that doesn't help you. This is pretty good info on planting and maintenance (weed control and eradication).
https://store.extension.iastate.edu/product/Giant-Miscanthus-Establishment