If you are looking for beautiful plants that provide texture and are decorative in the garden, provide a privacy screen and are also quite easy to care for, look no further than miscanthus (Miscanthus) a wonderful choice. The hardy ornamental grass decorates the garden all year round, although it impresses with its strong growth and is therefore only suitable for pots to a limited extent. Caring for elephant grass also includes cutting it back. How often and when you should cut elephant grass and how exactly you should do it is summarized in our detailed information.
The perfect cut – this is how you can achieve it
When it comes to cutting, the plant is a little more demanding. It is not only necessary for lush growth, but also serves as protection against disease. However, you shouldn't cut into it indiscriminately. The timing and manner play an important role in ensuring that the plant is not weakened. Here's how to proceed when cutting elephant grass:
Important protective measure:The stalks have quite sharp edges that could injure you when cutting Chinese grass. In addition, elephant grass is poisonous under certain conditions and can cause skin irritation. For this reason, you should wear gloves while pruning.
Miscanthus – When is the best time to cut the ornamental grass?
Cut elephant grass once a year. But the big question now is: Will the Miscanthus in the...Wintershortened or better yetspring. How the two cuts differ and why choosing the right time is so important:
TheCutting of ornamental grassimLate autumn or winterseems tempting for many hobby gardeners. Now that a number of garden plants are being trimmed and shaped anyway, it's quite practical to get on with the miscanthus. After all, the stalks are just drying out anyway. However, this is a very bad time because cut blades of grass are open at the top. This leads to that
- water gets into them.
- the water in them freezes and causes frost damage.
- If there is prolonged moisture, rot occurs.
Uncut blades of elephant grass are much more cold tolerant and therefore better protected. Therefore, avoid pruning this season. The only disadvantage is the dry blades of grass that fall and fly around the garden in the wind (another reason why many people mistakenly choose autumn pruning). But you can easily avoid this by tying the elephant grass together in good time. They also keep a nice oneEye-catcher for the cold winterif you leave the elephant grass in the garden.
However, if youSpringchoose to cut elephant grass, you are making exactly the right decision. More specifically, April, when the grass is nearing the end of its winter dormancy, is optimal. If you miss the right time and new shoots are already visible, that's not a big problem. Then only the cutting depth changes, as we will explain below.
Cutting elephant grass – radical cutting or maintenance cutting?
The radical cut once a year
Since the stalks have already dried up and will not be brought back to life in the spring, they are simply unnecessary. This means you can remove everything without worry and in this way yourCaring for miscanthus. You can simplify this step by first tying the bush tightly together, but not the whole thing, as in autumn, but into individual parts that can be easily cut through.
You can then shorten each section parallel to the ground to a height of 8 to 12 centimeters. There are exceptions if new shoots have already appeared, which can happen in milder winters. In this case, focus on these shoots: Trim the old grass down to their height without injuring them, because damaged blades of grass develop unsightly, brown edges.
Cutting elephant grass – exceptional cuts for diseases
In some cases it is a good idea or even necessary to carry out a maintenance cut outside of the actual cutting time. If you notice a disease on some stalks, you should remove it as quickly as possible to prevent it from spreading to the entire plant. You don't need to limit yourself to the 8 centimeters mentioned, but cut down to the ground.
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Important note before cutting elephant grass!
Before you cut back miscanthus in spring, it's important to take a look inside. The dense but loose stalks provide ideal conditions for various animals to hibernate there. If you were to cut straight away, you would not only break your hibernation early, but could even cause life-threatening injuries. This doesn't just mean the obvious hedgehog and the odd harvest mouse. Beneficial insects such as ladybirds and lacewings also like to make themselves comfortable there.
If you notice the presence of these animals, please postpone the pruning!
Did you know?
Elephant grass is used for heating and is offered in the form of pellets for this purpose. You can chop the dry clippings from the garden into small pieces and then use them instead of the usual straw and hay for rodents such as guinea pigs and rabbits by lining the cages with them.
