Monitoring the growth of a miscanthus crop in the garden

[Gregconstruct]

You could have avoided putting yourself naked !!!

[Christophe]

It’s off for the 2nd year!

Photo taken 10 minutes ago:


Despite the lack of water it seems to me that it is growing faster than last year (logical in a sense since it was the year of planting ...).

On the photo we see the last shoot of last year that I left as a "witness" ...

If it continues on this path, I think it will hit 3m this year !!

In this regard I would like to be able to make long-term recordings (style 1 image per h) ... I will create a subject!

[Ahmed]

I had made fairly negative judgments about the real potential of miscanthus G.
However, it seemed to me that the interest lay in natural drying on a stand. However, grinding tests in the forage harvester show that the drying is superficial and that a lot of moisture persists in the central layers and the nucleus (the marrow).

The humidity does not seem to drop below 30/35%, which makes it a poor fuel in terms of yield.

I add that due to the low density and the shape of the comminuted material, it is very difficult to convey in a boiler supply system other than an industrial size model.

I intend to use it in mulch, earthworms will be very happy!

[Christophe]

Ah it's clear that the density is crappy! It is absolutely necessary to transform it into pellets!

Humidity issue: a freshly cut tree is often much more humid than the 30%, right?

In addition I think that the work of crushing the Miscanthus necessary is less than with wood residues ... (we do not make pellets only from sawdust)

Finally the real and real interest of Mis. G. is above all its productivity in DM per ha and per year! The best woods (willow) make 30 to 40% DM in the best cases and the willow is a "little" (euphemism) of shit to burn ...

[Ahmed]

It's true, green wood is very wet but dries naturally quite easily, whether in logs or chips.

Question productivity / ha, it seems to me that if you want the miscanthus to be really giganteus, you have to season it with a little fertilizer ... (or even irrigate it in the station or a little dry year [you, you cheats by planting it at the top of a stream; o)!]).

In addition, to produce pellets, you must first extract the humidity (at least a good part), which degrades the energy balance accordingly ...

[Christophe]

Despite the lack of water, the miscanthus has grown well this year, I'm making a photo ASAP (it's raining there).

[Ahmed]

In the same genre, it seems that there would be projects starting from Japanese knotweed, an ultra-perennial classified as invasive ...
I do not recommend growing (easy, too easy!) This plant in your garden!

[Christophe]

You're going to laugh Ahmed but ... We also have some in the garden but on the other side! Fortunately it is on a wall of the house so we manage to confine it.

I even did a subject at the time because I didn't know what it was: https://www.econologie.com/forums/plante-a-c ... t3582.html

Here some banks of the Semois are "infested" with knotweed, there are entire ha which are covered with knotweed ... maybe it had been planted for "good reason" (soil stabilization?)

[Ahmed]

According to some uncertain sources, it was for the stabilization of the railway banks that this plant was introduced.
According to others, more likely, it would be for the decorative side and the forage use.

Date of introduction to Europe: 1823, according to http://www.cps-skew.ch/francais/inva_reyn_jap_f.pdf

[Christophe]

I agree with stabilization. The roots look very solid and above all are perennial ...