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Blog Post – April 2013

The past month has been characterised mainly by the severity of the drought that has affected most parts of the North Island and some of the South Island. We have Miscanthus growing in enough different places to begin to get a good picture of how well it handles drought. I find the results somewhat surprising because it is proving to be much more resilient than might be expected.The earliest plantings in Hawke’s Bay – now two years and two months from the day they were planted – are thrivi...

Project Update March 2013

With no rain at all recorded at Karetu farm last month, this season has proved to be difficult for establishing MxG plants in areas without irrigation....

Blog Post – March 2013

his is the inaugural issue of what will be a monthly update of activity in the world of Miscanthus New Zealand Limited. Our first two and a half years have been very busy as we move from having 34 plants that we imported in tissue culture, to supplying several hundred thousand plants to landowners who were keen to grow Miscanthus.Along the way, we have learnt a lot about what works well and where problems are likely to arise. Our systems have improved so that problems and risks are minimised and...

Project Update February 2013

This month has seen a continuation of last month’s dry and hot weather causing very dry conditions. This is being reflected in the occurrence of two severe bush fires near two of the farms where Miscanthus giganteus (MxG) has been planted. Fortunately at Aylesbury farm where all MxG plantings are irrigated this hot weather has produced ideal growing conditions....

Project Update January 2013

There are now three dairy farms planted with Miscanthus giganteus (MxG) with a total of 10 paddocks being used to firstly investigate the growth potential of the plant itself and also to monitor its effectiveness in providing ecosystem services to dairy farms. There may also be potential to plant further paddocks next season....

Project Update December 2012

Planting of Miscanthus giganteus (MxG) in the first four paddocks took place on the 13th and 14th of November at Aylesbury Road farm. The existing grass was first sprayed with Roundup and then left for two weeks before being cultivated the day before planting.Thank you Mark for organising this and to those who carried out the work. Also thanks to all my farms for giving me the chance to test the potential of what hopefully will prove to be a very interesting plant....

Project Update November 2012

My research proposal has been approved subject to two adjustments. One of these was to narrow the scope of the research, as it was felt that too broad an area was being considered and the other was that I needed more paddocks planted with Miscanthus to provide a robust trial that would give statistically valid data....