Most of mine are along road, so they cant really get on to neighbors. The rest of the spots I also planted trees, so when trees get big enough, I can just terminate the MG. If you have a rototiller or small disc id just use that yearly to stop the spread in the direction you don't want it to go. That being said, plant far enough away so it is spreading in both directions to form the quickest screen. If you planted 10' off the property line you don't have to worry about this for well over a decade.
18" spacing, rows 24" apart, offset the plantings between the rows.
risto2351
Well-Known Member
Goatman,
With the aggressive growing you are saying it is choking out the middle? What spacing did you start with and did you do a double row or a single row? Could you somehow trim out an area for a blind if you wanted to?
"Thinking two rows would just do the same and just grow on the outsides of both rows without wider spacing. Think mine is around 10 years old and is 6' wide now"
Would you just put the rhizomes back to back in a single row?
Two rows will gain depth quicker as they will be converging towards each other at 6" each per year. This will make a quicker, thicker, screen wall. If you don't care about time, single row is fine.
risto2351
Well-Known Member
True. Thank you. Can you carve an area out to stand in their or put a chair for hunting? I assume you could.
Sure. Not that much different than hunting in a ground blind in standing corn, which has become quite popular.
risto2351
Well-Known Member
Thank you for all the insight and suggestions guys. I have 800 coming tomorrow and its go time. I just wish that stuff would stay where you put it and grew to 14' every year on its own. I am debating on throwing some EW on one side of it but didn't know how that would work.
EW and MG both want the same thing... water and nitrogen. I wouldn't plant them too close. If planted a little bit apart it is a great idea. MG wont be a screen for a few years. EW will provide that for you.
risto2351
Well-Known Member
Just planted 800 rhizomes this past weekend. Getting its first rain today. I wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions and answering all my questions. It was a hot one but hopefully it all goes well and enhances the hunting and frees up time not having to plant EW every year.
Went and checked the miscanthus that I planted last spring over the weekend. I can see where I planted them from last year as I can see the stalks. From the looks of it, I would say less than 50% has any new growth in the second growing season. Anyone else experience this in th first few growing years? I had about 90% survival rate the first year. Was hoping I could see some real progress in the screen this year but it doesn’t look good so far.
hillrunner
PMA Member
I had a similar result on the miscanthus I planted last year. We had a long cold winter, I'm guessing it was too much for some of them.
MG likes water. The drought was less than ideal for first year plants long term viability.
Fortunately I can’t blame it on a lack of moisture. It grew well last year during its first season. I have no clue but I’m guessing winter kill? About half of the plants that were alive last fall, are growing this spring. A real bummer.
risto2351
Well-Known Member
Well we finally received about 2" of rain Friday and Saturday. How long does it usually take to see if they are going to sprout or not? It has been two weeks and only a few have made it out of the ground so far. Most did not have any sprouting off the rhizome when I received them and they went directly into the ground 4 days later.