Hi, I live in Austria and I planted 100 Miscanthus plants a couple of years ago, and I can confirm that this is a really practical multi-purpose plant. I use it mostly for garden paths, but also for animal bedding (ducks) and heating. It's a really good mulch, but I've noticed that bushes aren't too pleased with it, either because it suffocates the ground too much, or because it attracts certain weeds. Voles and mice on the other hand love it, probably because of its excellent insulating properties. I put heaps of Miscanthus (or Elefantengras as it's called in German) around a young walnut and apple tree, and the mice said thank you for the winter warmth and destroyed the roots.
But anyway, one downside for me as a non-farmer, is that it's a lot of (dusty) work to shred the reeds into small bits. I use a Makita UD2500 electric shredder that uses rotation gears (rather than knives). About a third of the reeds I put in, are transformed into nice small bits, but the rest consists of long stems that the shredder didn't quite manage to cut. It makes the work rather cumbersome, as I have to do extra rounds for those half-cut stems/sausages, and it actually works best when the machine is almost jammed, which is why I only empty half of the container below the shredder.
I now use those half-cut stems to get my wood over fire going (it burns great). 100 plants is more than enough for my needs, and I'm actually planning to find different uses for the yearly harvest (they get really high, like 3-4 metres), such as biochar or basket weaving.
If anyone has any tips on how to shred Miscanthus faster, I'm all ears. Just wanted to share my experiences.
