Biomass Experimental Grow Outs in VT & NH

[awildseedvt]

Hello everyone. I was given this link by a friend on IDigMyGarden. For my first post I will quote myself... 

Up in the northeast we have a limited set of crops that are considered standard/normal, or reliable for that matter. Fortunately more and more folks are looking to expand their crop variety for monetary and self sufficiency reasons.
A few years back I spoke with a few land owners in Vermont & New Hampshire who are interested in experimenting with growing 'alternative' crops, specifically for the uses of Garden Mulch & Animal Bedding, two expensive and very common product types in our region. This year, we are ready to grow

The goals are to;
Find easy low-to-no input biomass crops that will perform as bedding in place of expensive wood shavings,
Find low-to-no input crops to perform as mulch instead of Hay/straw which is increasing in price every year - even rotten old mulch hay fetches $2.5/bale which is ludicrous.
Grow these crops in various soil types and micro climates to study performance
Consider the viability of the crop in our northern climate - for example, can we produce our own seed or does it have to be bought? Is it perennial? Does it need to be mulched to over winter?

This year we are working with the following plants;

[/i], local 6-9' variety... could be an extra large canadensis but I have my doubts.
Joe Pye Weed - E. purpureum, A local 8' variety
Guarijio Grain Amaranth - A. hypochondriachus x A. hybridus. , landrace white seeded from the Rio Mayo in Sonora, Mexico
Amaranth hybrid - "Giant x Tidal Marsh" from pandpseed.com
Giant Sunflower - German x Craven also from pandpseed
Giant Pearl Millet - pandpseed
Tall Purple Millet - pandpseed
Tall Sorghum - unknown type labelled as 12-14' tall
Black African Sorghum - from sand hill preservation, the earliest maturing I've been able to find
VTWild Jerusalem Artichoke - Helianthus tuberosus
Riverside Comfrey - Symphytum officinale, a seed producing population found by a local river
Tall Stinging Nettles, NH strain and hopefully Washington Great (thanks Romy!)
Takinogawa Burdock
[/ul]
We are Very Open To Suggestions - please feel free to discuss.

...We want to grow these Especially - Please Help Us Source Seed;

[/i]
Tidal Marsh Amaranth - Amaranthus cannabinus
Giant Joe Pye Weed - E. fistulosum
Giant Lambsquarters - Chenopodium giganteum
Silphium perfoliatum (Cup Plant)
Big Bluestem - Adropogon gerardii [/ul]
I figured there's bound to be some folks on this site who have some useful knowledge or experiences. Also I'll occasionally update with photos, it should be a fun and interesting show for all 

Feel free to comment, ask questions, anything,

Thanks every one!

[MikeH]

Miscanthus 'Giganteus' edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ag297

[awildseedvt]

Interesting, thank you MikeH! It's encouraging to see a response so quickly

Unfortunately it gets well below -10F here, the record I've personally seen is -35 though more recently -25 has been the coldest, so it would have to grow in one season.
According to that link you gave "Crops can be harvested two years after planting. Maximum yields should be obtained on ratoon crops within 3 years on fertile sites"
And it's a sterile hybrid, so cuttings and root dividing is mandatory.
If you look at the map, Vermont & New Hampshire are noted as non growers. Strange, considering NY and ME are both apparently growers of it.

Perhaps intense mulching (from its own cut growth?)could allow it to overwinter.  Strategic placement is also an option.

[oxbowfarm]

I was going to suggest Miscanthus too. In the sorghum areas I note you are looking for giant types, you might instead consider some of the sudangrass cultivars like Piper that tiller prolifically and will regrow rapidly from mowing, multiple cuttings of shorter plant vs single cutting of a giant plant. It would be worth trialing both in order to compare total biomass yield. I have grown piper and it is a major biomass producer.

I would also think more in terms of perennial grasses like Reed Canary and the warm-season C4 grasses like switchgrass, Indiangrass, Big Bluestem, and especially Eastern Gamagrass. With the perennials you are harvesting biomass while sequestering carbon in the soil at the same time, with annual cropping systems you may be harvesting above ground biomass, but tillage will be reducing soil OM levels or at least preventing carbon storage/sequestration.

I have had good experiences with Ernst Seeds.

[awildseedvt]

Thank you oxbow, I agree that perennial is ideal. I am looking up the Eastern Gamagrass now and will continue to research the others you've mentioned.
Big Bluestem actually slipped the list somehow, need to correct that.
Edit; I've never heard of Ernst, looks to be a great resource, thanks.

[flowerweaver]

I have Chenopodium giganteum seed. It is definitely self-seeding if your season allows it to mature. I could see the dry stalks being used as bedding. It's really a delicious green, and very attractive plant. Although I'm in a totally different growing situation (desert Southwest) my self-sown seedlings have withstood some of the harsher recent freezes (15F for three days at a time) to which we are unaccustomed. PM me if interested in trading.

BTW straw and hay sell for $12/bale where I live! Makes wood shavings seem like a bargain.

[MikeH]

Someone is growing it in Kingston, NH - davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1598/#b and a nursery in Grand Rapids is selling it - www.romencegardens.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/typeID/8/plant_id/3318

[awildseedvt]

Wow thank you two

[hortusbrambonii]

Chenopodium giganteum does very well here in Belgium, and does indeed produce a lot of biomass, and if it gets to seed you won't get rid of it, it self-seeds and forms a seedbank.

It is a very tasty spinach, and it does look interesting even with the 'magenta' powder.

[kevin8715]

Glad to see you here.

[greenpond]

I work in the landscaping industry and as a result I am very familiar with miscanthus or "maiden grass" and would not suggest it for your application. It is perrenial and while it can does reseed its primary form of propigation is through rhizomes. It grows in clumps which are very dense at the base. So dense you would beat up any equipment trying to harvest it (imagine trying to drive across a field littered with boulders). Like oxbow suggested I would look into sudan grass. Not sure if its perrenial or not but I have seen it grow close to 20 feet tall in a season.

[trixtrax]

You can get Silphium perfoliatum (Cup Plant) from Peace Seeds. Watch out for some of your wanted Amaranths, they can be extremely aggressively weedy like Amaranthus australis, which is why I think we don't see the seeds around more.

Oikos Tree Crops offers some crazy rampant Helianthus tubers.

Black locust can be coppiced to create a lot of woody debris every year. English Laurel creates tons of longterm biomass, too. Paulownia and their various hybrids, when coppiced, can produce a good mulch with a nice carbon to nitrogen ratio when chipped.

Never underestimate alders, when coppiced, to produce a lot of biomass every year. I sometimes coppice the native, Alnus rubra here. Alders also fix nitrogen fungally.

In aquatic systems, cattails produce huge biomass, as does tule sedge (Schoenoplectus spp). However, try not to introduce non-natives into waterways, because they can cause serious problems to control. I would scout your wetlands and find species that thrive in your area, I'm sure you have both cattail and Tule Sedge species though.

One more thing I wanted to say, is if you want to produce a lot of biomass, think about using the plants together in guilds. One such guild that produced tons of biomass here was a mixture of willow, elderberry, comfrey, and Lathyrus japonicus. You could insert another perennial vining pea that would work in your climate. Another guild that I am still gathering mulch from at one of my gardens is a "biodynamic" guild including comfrey, valerian, applemint, tree mallow (there a bunch of tree growing mallows that work in the temperate regions, this one is a Lavatera hybrid), lemon catnip, horseradish, and roman chamomile. I figured that chamomile, comfrey, valerian, horsetail, etc are used in various biodynamic preparations, that I'd build a "in situ" cluster of them in a guild, well valerian and comfrey work really well together.

[awildseedvt]

thanks hortus, duly noted.

hey kevin

greenpond, thanks for the headsup - that could be a potential issue for sure.

WOW I haven't been to the Oikos site in way too long, I'm baffled by some of their additions (since my last visit), thanks for the reminder and other really good suggestions trixtrax.
I mean seriously... 2 more excellent candidates...
www.oikostreecrops.com/Perennials/Flowering-Perennials/Giant-Sunflower/p-62-90-604/
www.oikostreecrops.com/Perennial-Vegetables/Sunchokes/Wild-PJ%E2%80%99s-Sunchoke/p-156-167-897/
And I still need to get those plums... ahh I could easily spend $1000 on the oikos website...self control, self control

[trixtrax]

I have been wanting to try Hypernova from Oikos as a biomass plant.

Will Bonsall of Scatterseed project has a huge sunchoke collection, probably the largest in the US. He has a type that he listed in SSE yearbook a few years back that he touted as a particularly vigorous biomass generating plant. www.gardeningplaces.com/scatterseed.htm

[nicollas]

Damn Hypernova is a sunchoke x sunflower hybrid ! If only i was in the sunchoke x sunflower breeding project before i ordered from them...