Miscanthus Giaganteus propagation from cuttings.

[Bill]

Man, these are both looking amazing.....

How old are these plantings and how densely planted?


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Mine were planted in the spring of 2014 so this is summer 4. I think Spiider has an extra year on mine?? No 100% sure though, we may have planted the same year.
It's two rows about 4 feet apart wit plant spacing of about 24 inches.

 

[Spiider]

Mine are on their 4th year now as well, planted in 14. Similar spacing on mine except I went 3' between the rows and then 3' between the plants. These are worthwhile in every sense. Easy to plant, easy to maintain, fast growth, quick perennial screening for roads, access to blinds, etc...

 

[IkemanTx]

If someone was to plant a wide double row, to walk between... how wide would you go to leave a decent path between the rows? 7-8 feet? I am thinking this could make for a perfect entry screening.


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[Spiider]

If someone was to plant a wide double row, to walk between... how wide would you go to leave a decent path between the rows? 7-8 feet? I am thinking this could make for a perfect entry screening.


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That sounds about right. I'd just want room to get my mower, ATV/UTV through.

 

[KDdid]

Giving this a bump, since it’s almost time to start cuttings. Now that this process is a few years old, is there a settled “best practice “ for getting good results?


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[Da U.P. 'eh]

Giving this a bump, since it’s almost time to start cuttings. Now that this process is a few years old, is there a settled “best practice “ for getting good results?


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I'm glad this came up again. I'm in zone 4b and I am having great success with MG I think this is the 5th year for my oldest plantings. I generally get about 9 to 10 feet in height and they make great screens.

A couple of weeks ago, just before they started to show new growth, I decided to try some propagation. I dug up 1 clump approximately 24" in diameter (with the FEL) washed most of the soil off, then broke up, and cut up, the mass. I ended up with 130 rhysomes which I put back in the ground the next day.

I have found MG to be the easiest thing to plant and there is little or no preparation necessary, and no real maintenance required. The best part is, the deer don't eat it, as they do manage to eat almost everything else.

Love the stuff!

 

[Bill]

Giving this a bump, since it’s almost time to start cuttings. Now that this process is a few years old, is there a settled “best practice “ for getting good results?


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Hopefully J-bird chimes in. He planted cuttings last summer. It's been a while for me. The best way I've found is take 2 node cuttings from the bottom of the stalk. Put them in a jar of water with the bottom node submerged. Leave them there a few weeks until they have a good root system started then pot them. J-bird planted his at the end of the summer last year. I'm curious about the survival rate. Hopefully it's high...

I'm glad this came up again. I'm in zone 4b and I am having great success with MG I think this is the 5th year for my oldest plantings. I generally get about 9 to 10 feet in height and they make great screens.

A couple of weeks ago, just before they started to show new growth, I decided to try some propagation. I dug up 1 clump approximately 24" in diameter (with the FEL) washed most of the soil off, then broke up, and cut up, the mass. I ended up with 130 rhysomes which I put back in the ground the next day.

I have found MG to be the easiest thing to plant and there is little or no preparation necessary, and no real maintenance required. The best part is, the deer don't eat it, as they do manage to eat almost everything else.

Love the stuff!

In mid May I used I used a sawzall to cut 6" X 6" blocks of rhizomes and planted those. I'll be interested to see how they do. They had already broken dormancy and had stalks so I don't if it will be to much stress. Particularly since its been dry. I'll know when I get back out there. But from my experience an established plant is pretty drought tolerant.

 

[scott44]

MG is also pretty resilient too, 2 years in a row 2016 and 2017 this patch of MG was weed whacked by my boys trimming up the yard, I noticed the other day they are doing pretty well this year.

Aug. of 2014 I planted these just off our yard. I started them in RM-18's.

2014

This year, they are already taller than they got last year.

After the initial weed barrier and watering there was nothing done to these.

 

[KDdid]

Cool stuff. Here’s my story: After noticing that a friend had several clumps on MG growing I asked to divide some, which he agreed to. In early April I dug some dormant rhizomes from his yard, and brought them home. I was able to divide out about 35 starts, and planted 28 in a row just beyond my garden, put some in pots, and planted a clump near an old stump by my driveway. I only had 4that failed to sprout, and several are almost 3 feet tall. This stuff flat out wants to grow! So now I’m thinking about returning to my friends house for some stalks, since digging and dividing them with an axe isn’t my idea of fun. I planted my row on 3 foot centers, and I’d like to cut that in half with the ones I start from cuttings. I think I’ll overwinter these in pots in my unheated basement.


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[KDdid]

The first row. This will provide a little privacy to the garden, on the right.

Two pots near the barn. I’m hoping to divide them in half by fall, if not sooner.


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[j-bird]

Bill sent me cutting last summer and they did great. I think he sent me roughly 30 cuttings and I simply let them soak in water in a container to cover about 1/2 the cutting outside in the sun. After a few weeks these little green "horns" started to form as well as the little white roots. I waited a few more weeks with them still in water to get a better root system developed and the "horns" started to become the grass shoots. I then bought small 1 gallon size pots and just basic potting soil and moved the cuttings into the potting soil. The entire time they stay in full sun and I would water at least every other day. Some of them grew as much as 3 feet tall or so. I then waited until I felt we would start moving out of summer and into fall and regular rains and planted them in the ground. They mostly came back this spring (I say mostly because they are planted in a grass area and I was an idiot and didn't flag the location of them). I tried to outline my process on my land tour thread, so if you are concerned about timing and what everything looked like - feel free to go dig there. I have never planted the rhizomes before so I can't speak to that. I will add that Bill cut the cuttings with a square end and a pointed end to mark orientation which is important. Bills cutting where two "nodes" as you call them and they did great for me. And I had never done it before. I think I had one cutting that didn't actually grow into roots and grass.....out of 30. I thought that was pretty good. I will say when they came up this spring they didn't come up from the same "stalk" as they grew last year but from another new one.

I think they will grow if you just put them in the ground, but it was much, much easier for me to care for them on the back deck vs watering them out in the field. Keeping them watered (but not too much) is the key in my opinion.....the rest pretty much happens on it's own as long as you stay out of the way.

 

[Rit]

So I have 1100’ that I would like to screen and if my 7 acres of CIR fails I may go nuts with this stuff. How cool would a 7 acre field look all screened in and clumps of this stuff with natural vegetation and fruit trees?

However the math isn’t super friendly to purchase that many rhizomes to create 2 rows with 18” spacing so realistically if I was to purchase some rhizomes and grow my own how long would it take before I could start getting my own cuttings and or rhizomes from them?

New Energy Farms has Miscanthus CEEDs as they are called but they won’t sell in North America. Those would be easy street for planting these things.

 

[j-bird]

So I have 1100’ that I would like to screen and if my 7 acres of CIR fails I may go nuts with this stuff. How cool would a 7 acre field look all screened in and clumps of this stuff with natural vegetation and fruit trees?

However the math isn’t super friendly to purchase that many rhizomes to create 2 rows with 18” spacing so realistically if I was to purchase some rhizomes and grow my own how long would it take before I could start getting my own cuttings and or rhizomes from them?

New Energy Farms has Miscanthus CEEDs as they are called but they won’t sell in North America. Those would be easy street for planting these things.

Rome wasn't built in a day! Honestly - do what your budget allows and expand every year. I don't have near the stretch you do and started with just 30 cuttings. I figure it will be a project of a few years. I too have plans to use a few clumps to help add some cover in some tall grasses and native plants. Based on what I have seen thus far with my plants I think it will take a few years before each clump is robust enough to take cuttings without affecting it's screening abilities. But, I am still very early in this project, so maybe I will be surprised. I will say the cuttings process isn't for everyone and I can see where rhizomes would be far easier for larger projects.

 

[scott44]

So I have 1100’ that I would like to screen and if my 7 acres of CIR fails I may go nuts with this stuff. How cool would a 7 acre field look all screened in and clumps of this stuff with natural vegetation and fruit trees?

However the math isn’t super friendly to purchase that many rhizomes to create 2 rows with 18” spacing so realistically if I was to purchase some rhizomes and grow my own how long would it take before I could start getting my own cuttings and or rhizomes from them?

New Energy Farms has Miscanthus CEEDs as they are called but they won’t sell in North America. Those would be easy street for planting these things.

You could take cuttings the second year and divide them after 3-4 years I have some that are 5 years old and are about 3' across that I would like to try and divide,maybe next spring. MG makes good screens and it's fun to play around with.

 

[Rit]

You could take cuttings the second year and divide them after 3-4 years I have some that are 5 years old and are about 3' across that I would like to try and divide,maybe next spring. MG makes good screens and it's fun to play around with.

I ordered 25 Rhizomes from Don a few years back but I got lazy and planted them late during a drought. They all died or were dug up.

I noticed they now sell 3 year old 5 gallon potted plants. For those of you that have 3 year old plants how many cuttings could I get from a 3 year old plant assuming it was healthy and normal sized?

I have a 60x30 enclosed area I plant cuttings and trees I want to plant later. It’s near the house so it’s easy to water and keep an eye on. I could see getting 10 or so of these 3 year old potted MG pots and planting them in there. I could then use them to start creating my screen.

Reading through this thread it sounds like some of you take cuttings this time of year, soak them for a few weeks until they root then put them in a pots. Has any one noticed a difference between fall planting those cuttings or waiting until the spring?

 

[scott44]

I ordered 25 Rhizomes from Don a few years back but I got lazy and planted them late during a drought. They all died or were dug up.

I noticed they now sell 3 year old 5 gallon potted plants. For those of you that have 3 year old plants how many cuttings could I get from a 3 year old plant assuming it was healthy and normal sized?

I have a 60x30 enclosed area I plant cuttings and trees I want to plant later. It’s near the house so it’s easy to water and keep an eye on. I could see getting 10 or so of these 3 year old potted MG pots and planting them in there. I could then use them to start creating my screen.

Reading through this thread it sounds like some of you take cuttings this time of year, soak them for a few weeks until they root then put them in a pots. Has any one noticed a difference between fall planting those cuttings or waiting until the spring?

I do not know what everyone else does but my personal rule of thumb on taking cuttings is I don't take more than a couple stalks off any one plant but out of that one stalk you can get 4-5 cuttings. I have never taken too many stalks off one plant that I know of one plant reason is I have a couple hundred yds of screen to take cutting from and that's where I came up with a couple from each plant, no hard facts but I believe you could take up to 50% stalks and not hurt the rhizome cluster. As to keeping them over the winter I haven't had good success overwintering them in pots. I've tried it a couple times and both times they never woke up in the spring I'm thinking they froze in the polebarn if you try this good luck to you.

 

[mikmaze]

some of those shots look great, the one withthe four wheeler in it is amazing, my biggest trouble with trying to screen my one plot from the highway is the roadway is higher than the plot, leaving a clear view over the top of an mg screen. mg being a grass I bet would respond great to side dress with a good high N fert.

 

[scott44]

some of those shots look great, the one withthe four wheeler in it is amazing, my biggest trouble with trying to screen my one plot from the highway is the roadway is higher than the plot, leaving a clear view over the top of an mg screen. mg being a grass I bet would respond great to side dress with a good high N fert.

Yes it responds well to N, I usually give mine a shot of Urea.

 

[j-bird]

I ordered 25 Rhizomes from Don a few years back but I got lazy and planted them late during a drought. They all died or were dug up.

I noticed they now sell 3 year old 5 gallon potted plants. For those of you that have 3 year old plants how many cuttings could I get from a 3 year old plant assuming it was healthy and normal sized?

I have a 60x30 enclosed area I plant cuttings and trees I want to plant later. It’s near the house so it’s easy to water and keep an eye on. I could see getting 10 or so of these 3 year old potted MG pots and planting them in there. I could then use them to start creating my screen.

Reading through this thread it sounds like some of you take cuttings this time of year, soak them for a few weeks until they root then put them in a pots. Has any one noticed a difference between fall planting those cuttings or waiting until the spring?

I have only planted them in the fall..... My thinking was that they stood a better chance of survival here if I could get them actually into the soil. I feared the small gallon pots I had them in would easily dry out or freeze solid and kill them over the winter.

A quick trip down the path I took last year....
About this time last year Bill sent me a ziplock bag of roughly 30 cuttings. I simply kept them orientated properly and stuck them in water out on the back deck. In a few weeks I started to get some signs of life with roots and "horns".


Early july the roots had developed enough to be put into gallon pots. I just used basic potting soil like we use for flowers around the house. It looked like I planted sticks! I watered weekly to every other day depending on weather.


They quickly grew and by early Sept I felt they would have enough time to take some root and the fall rains and cooler temps should be enough to keep them alive. Once in the ground I never watered them since.

 

[j-bird]

I went out tonight and checked my MG and most of it is 3 feet tall while some is closer to 4......but it's only a stalk or two.....but....it's only mid June as well and last year at this time they were green sticks soaking in water.....so I guess I can't complain.