Giant Miscanthus Grass

Specifically Miscanthus x giganteus.



A quick summary of information about miscanthus giganteus grass from Wikipedia

Miscanthus × giganteus' perennial nature, its ability to grow on marginal land, its water efficiency, non-invasiveness, low fertilizer needs, significant carbon sequestration and high yield have sparked significant interest among researchers,[d] with some arguing that it has "ideal" energy crop properties.[e] Some argue that it can provide negative emissions, while others highlight its water cleaning and soil enhancing qualities. There are practical and economic challenges related to its use in the existing, fossil based combustion infrastructure, however. Torrefaction and other fuel upgrading techniques are being explored as countermeasures to this problem.

This species is touted to be a sterile biomass producing grass that is similar to bamboo without the worry of it running. I'm very interested in its ability to be both a visual break and a perennial biomass generator. I have limited space on my homestead but I am planning on ordering from Edible Acres, a nearby nursery that sells the grass.



Does anybody have experience with this plant? Pros and cons?

A significant amount of information that I have found has been through the lens of farmers and outdoorsmen. It appears that it is utilized a lot to create wind/vision breaks as well as habitat for wildlife. It seems there is roughly a three year timeline to make sure the plant is fully established.

A recommendation for how to plant is to follow a similar plan as corn. Make sure its watered, weeded, and spaced appropriately. I think I will go with a three row system with 18" spacing to get a nice screen going.

I bought 100 rhizomes of giant miscanthus and planted them on my perimeter. They are definitely miscanthus and the root ball gets bigger every year, but it doesn't reach and run. They are truly lovely,  10ft tall, woody finger thick stakes, they rustle on the wind, and stay visually interesting once dry throughout the winter. They are able to be bushhogged or scythed and tolerate drought. Not sure you could ever get them out once in though.

This sounds very interesting. I wonder if they are cold hardy or not? Would be nice if they could handle my Alaska winters.

Our property came with several clusters of miscanthus. 2 are on either side of the main patio area and we have decided to try moving them this spring since they just crowd the whole place out. Very striking to look at but a bit overwhelming where they are.
Thoughts and prayers welcome since I'm not sure we're going to be able to even cut up the root clusters to get them out in parts, and we don't have a backhoe.

They are striped type and easily cleared 8'+ so the true giants must be enormous.

I want to use them as a visual screen to help block off the view into our main growing area. Eventually, I hope to have elderberries all along that side but for now, we just have 3 big spruces along one side of the property. If we can move the grasses to in between them, we can reduce the mowing work and really increase the privacy.

So far, I've just been using the cut stalks for rough mulch but I hope to do more basketry in the future and they seem like they could be used in a few ways.

Vickey McDonald wrote:This sounds very interesting. I wonder if they are cold hardy or not? Would be nice if they could handle my Alaska winters.

Interestingly Miscanthus is among the most cold hardy of the C4 photosynthesis plants. However it is still a C4 aka warm season plant so it thrives in high temperatures, I'm not sure it would do better than a productive C3 plant anywhere in Alaska.

Thank you. Will look into those.

Nate Davis wrote:

Vickey McDonald wrote:This sounds very interesting. I wonder if they are cold hardy or not? Would be nice if they could handle my Alaska winters.

Interestingly Miscanthus is among the most cold hardy of the C4 photosynthesis plants. However it is still a C4 aka warm season plant so it thrives in high temperatures, I'm not sure it would do better than a productive C3 plant anywhere in Alaska.

Oh. I like that! I've been looking for something tall to screen my house from the road but not something that would spread outwards and maybe to the neighbours- don't think they'd thank me.
I also wanted to stack functions so edibility (humans and chickens, maybe dogs) was a plus but biomass would be just as good to enrich my patch to grow food.
I have looked at creepers- malabar spinach and erm, another that I forget. Haven't tried either yet as the one I cant remember is spread by birds and I've only just bought the malabar seeds.
I tried purple sugar cane, even with our brief (2 month) frost period it died.
Drought hardy, heat tolerant- just what I am looking for!
Hopefully Miscanthus tolerates wind? I have tried growing peas, runner beans,lima beans around my veranda to provide summer shade but the wind is so bad it dessicates the plants before they have time to establish.

Has anyone tried this in High Desert areas? How much water is minimally needed to keep it growing? What is its USDA zone?

When we moved to this 3 acre property in Virginia (zone 7b), the previous owner had planted a TON of Miscanthus x sinensis (Chinese Silvergrass) maybe a year or two before. It is impressive how much all the clumps have grown. I love their beauty and their ability to make a ton of biomass, despite other people's distain of their invasiveness. The leaves I give to my meat rabbits in the winter (for nest material and food). They tend to not gobble it up in the warm months but after a few months of winter, they eagerly it. The stalks are thicker and harder to cut and my neighbor once got a piece embedded for months in this foot and had to have surgery to remove it. I cut the grass wearing gloves with a hand sickle and add to my compost piles 2-3 times a year. In the largest clumps, my nature school students often hide or play baby birds...it's super adorable.

My order from Edible Acres has arrived and I am very pleased with the results.

I ordered a number of roots, they were shipped promptly and packaged securely.





I can't wait to get these into the dirt.