Rit
5 year old buck +
Thanks JB. It sounds like it has worked well for you.
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Miscanthus Giaganteus propagation from cuttings.
- Thread starter Bill
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- miscanthus
j-bird
Moderator
As you can see my exp with it is limited but I tend to not baby stuff so if I can do it pretty much anybody can. I had a lot of help from Bill and others here walking me thru the process. The cutting where just easier for me to nurture into an actual plant at the house vs trying to do the same out in their final home. I figure they will thicken up and get taller with age and I hope someday to be getting my own cuttings or digging my own rhizomes for other projects.....until then, I just work with what I have and do a little at a time...... I am sure if I babied them they would be doing better, but I prefer a plant that can hack it on it's own.
j-bird
Moderator
I used 1 gal pots that are 6 1/2" deep (I actually just went and measured them) and they where not filled to the very top but they had a good 5 to 6" of soil in them. That doesn't mean you have to, but you can see (post 419) that even with mine the roots started to circle and the like. But I started mine in standing water as well. I just figure more soil means less likely to dry out, without having to dig huge holes later. This year will be my first attempt in trying to grow a few directly put into soil. I think shallow soil is fine as long as you can keep damp enough to get roots to form and stay damp enough to encourage growth, but not too wet to stunt growth. As I understand MG once rooted doesn't like standing water or real wet feet.
j-bird
Moderator
A tote should work as long as you can keep the soil from drying out (don't forget to put holes in the bottom to drain excess water). I bought my 1 gallon pots at Menards for $0.80 ea I think.....the smaller size just made it easier to move them around and transport when the time came. I just dug a hole and planted like you would a "plug" when they went to their final home. I'm not saying you have to do it the way I did....it just seemed to work for me. There is always more than one way to do anything. Do what works well for you.
Bill
Administrator
Single node cutting will work. Scott did a bunch of them a few years ago. I've found that the 2 node cuttings just respond faster. Maybe something about 1 under water and 1 above.
You will find results much like J-bird. A cutting rooted this summer will act like planting a rhizome next summer. Just a few shoots with more coming on as the summer progresses. After that it's game on and it was free...
I took a few 6"X6" blocks of roots from existing plants and transplanted them in the spring. Their holding on but not thriving. In their defense we have been extremely dry. I'm actually surprised thier alive.
j-bird
Moderator
That is great. Once they have roots you should see them start to develop a green "horn" - this is where they will actually start growing the "grass" from. Once the green horn starts to "open" is when I put mine into the pots. I think you have a "horn" starting in the lowest one in your pic. Right at the node where the roots are (left side).
Davewp
5 year old buck +
i potted them if they had roots that had secondary root fibers. getting them into a more nitrogen rich medium seemed logical thing to do.
scott44
5 year old buck +
I can't remember for sure but I think it was the 5th or 6th node up before you started to see a decrease in germination. The first time I tried cuttings I segregated them into nodes but after that I just throw them all in a mason jar and call it good.
Cool. I should be good to go then. I recounted what cuttings I got, I must be bad at estimating-there’s 44
I also snapped a pic of the row I started from rhizomes this April-this stuff grows like crazy!
My friend, who has 5 clumps of miscanthus has recently purchased a stump ripper for his Bobcat- he told me that next spring he’d be willing to give me an entire clump (about 5’ in diameter) and set it on my tailgate. I said “Thank you sir, may I have another?!”
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Bill
Administrator
The new MG we put in this spring for road screen is growing well. It is about a foot taller than the orchard grasses and is taking off.
Can’t wait to see that in three years.
The neighbors will wonder what the heck that is. :)
H20fwler
5 year old buck +
I know!
I'm really looking forward to seeing how well it does, going to put some more in next spring to continue the line of it along road.
Davewp
5 year old buck +
weekly update. several more have rooted. Potted 8 last week. 2 have already broke surface and doing well. a 3rd is growing from the top of the cutting. as you can see in picture, 3rd and 4th from left doing great and were hence potted. Anticipate that 1,2,5,6 may still root out. Not much hope for the others.
In this pic, the 5 to the right have started to root out, only one to the far right was potted.
Only the 2 node cuttings have set any roots. and to that point, the single node cuttings have done poorly. To the extent on far left, have rotted out above the single node. the only other observation is that the larger the cutting (and hence lower / closer to the ground), the quicker and better the root set. Unable to determine why some were so ready to grow new shoots (even before roots grew) vs others growing roots and no new shoot.
In this pic, the 5 to the right have started to root out, only one to the far right was potted.
Only the 2 node cuttings have set any roots. and to that point, the single node cuttings have done poorly. To the extent on far left, have rotted out above the single node. the only other observation is that the larger the cutting (and hence lower / closer to the ground), the quicker and better the root set. Unable to determine why some were so ready to grow new shoots (even before roots grew) vs others growing roots and no new shoot.
Bill
Administrator
Dave,
don't be afraid to let them really get a bunch of roots going before potting them. Also don't give up on the slow ones. In my experiments the higher the node is above the ground the longer it takes to respond and grow roots. I'm to the point where I only take cuttings from the bottom and toss the rest of the stalk. Not that they won't grow just that the first 2 node cuttings respond faster. I've had some take weeks and weeks to respond.
don't be afraid to let them really get a bunch of roots going before potting them. Also don't give up on the slow ones. In my experiments the higher the node is above the ground the longer it takes to respond and grow roots. I'm to the point where I only take cuttings from the bottom and toss the rest of the stalk. Not that they won't grow just that the first 2 node cuttings respond faster. I've had some take weeks and weeks to respond.
