A sustainable alternative for plastic products in automotive, building and construction industries

Speaking about the species of the miscanthus genus (also known as elephant grass or Chinese silver grass), we usually mean quick-growing, winter-resistant leafless turf-forming grasses.

Due to its ability to strongly spread out at minimal inputs and small nutrients drainage (C4 plant), also known as E-grass, quick-growing hybrid miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis giganteus) provides ideal conditions for its being used as a highly valuable renewable raw material, for example, in automotive or construction industry. Besides, due to its huge field capacity, miscanthus is a practical alternative for firewood or fuel oil (1 hectare substitutes about 6,000 to 7,000 liters of fuel oil!). Other purposes of using Miscanthus giganteus are single or grouped plantations, or as an alternative green fence in landscape gardening. For this purpose, we can also deliver two/three-year-old seedlings at your request, which can already provide an outstanding visual protection starting from their first year.

• Bedding: April to May
• up to 2 ha can be well planted manually, it is recommended to use a slightly rebuilt potato planter (dropping distance 15-20 cm!)
• set the rootstocks to the depth of 8-10 cm and then stamp down and firm well
• the distance of plants must be 1 x 1 m
• use water-bearing vegetable earth, ideally in maize fields
• the yearly average temperature of +7 C, precipitation of above 700 mm and good rainfall distribution during vegetation season would be preferable
• sandy soils, water retention and torrid summers cause reduction in yields

• careful weeding is recommended for the first year after planting
• mechanical methods of weeding (e.g., hacking, harrowing) would be very effective

• minimal fertilizer requirement
• no fertilizers within the first year after planting!
• applying ash fertilizers is possible and reasonable
• liquid manuring is not recommended

• use husker-sheller (row-free Kemper head) or baling press in April- May
• one-year saplings should be harvested the next year after frost or dry season
• water content should be under 20%
• chopping length 2-3 cm
• cutting depth 10-15 cm
• field capacity: 1 h/ha for optimal field forms
• uprooting and ploughing after 20-25 years of usage, sowing a meadow, multiple mowing and, if necessary, cultivation

• 17.000 kg/ha of dry matter as average capability when used on well water-bearing humus brown soil for over 20 years
• year 1 produces no yield (height of about 1 m)
• year 2 produces the first partly yield (height of about 2 m)
• year 3 produces the first full yield (height of about 3-4 m)

• rhizomes (rootstocks), cut and packed, €0.182 each (net of 12% VAT), ex farm
• manually sorted, large rhizomes with at least four (in average) viable sprouts from young plants, packed as 300 pieces per dung sack (= minimal ordering quantity)
• €2.000 - 2.500 planting costs (tilling, purchasing rhizomes, tractor, planting machine, plant protection, and labor inputs)