Giant cutgrass initiates growth in the spring. Lush vegetative growth is evident in early March 

 with seed stalk emergence beginning by mid-April. Seed heads continue to be produced through 

 September. As seed stalks are formed, they will lodge and become decumbent stems provided 

 there is adequate open space around the parent plant These decumbent stems will initiate new 

 growth at the nodes. Vegetative growth initiating from the nodes takes on the characteristics of 

 a new plant being developed. Often the root system on this new growth is floating in water. The 

 new plant will anchor itself if water levels are low, or fluctuating at or near the soil surface. It will 

 also produce a seedhead, whether the new plant is rooted to the soil or floating. 



METHODS AND MATERIALS 



Giant citgrass can be vegetatively propagated by dividing clumps of plants and transplanting 

 them. It can also be propagated by cuttings. Cuttings can be made when the seed stalk becomes 

 decumbent. There should be two nodes per cutting. These cuttings are then put in potting soil 

 with one node below the surface of the potting medium and the other above the surface. The 

 pot used to propagate cuttings should be at least 15.3 cm wide and 20.4 cm deep. This gives 

 adequate room for root development. Potting medium is maintained in a moist condition. Bottom 

 watering of the pot, saturated to a 5.1 cm height, provides constant moisture in the lower portion 

 of the pot and allows the surface to have adequate air space for plant growth. 



Field trials to ascertain planting methodology for giant cutgrass have been conducted on several 

 sites: a saturated Kenner muck soil, a Kenner muck soil with fluctuating water levels, and at the 

 Louisiana Marshlands Plant Materials Laboratory at Golden Meadow, LA, both an organic 

 (Allemands muck) soil and a mineral (Sharkey clay) soil. 



Plantings were made using pieces dug from mature stands of giant cutgrass and from potted 

 cuttings. Pieces from existing stands were divided and one or two main stems were planted at or 

 slightly lower than the elevation they had originally grown. Plantings using pieces from cuttings 

 were also divided into one or two main stems. These plantings were planted at or slightly above 

 the elevation at which they had originally grown. One trial involved making two floats, each 

 consisting of 4-6 stems of common reed (Phragmites australis) banded together. The two floats 

 were banded together and three small clumps of giant cutgrass, spaced about 0.3 m apart, were 

 placed between them. Nylon pull-through fasteners were used as bands. 



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



Potential sites for vegetatively establishing giant cutgrass need to be selected carefully. While 

 giant cutgrass can grow in soils that are at or near the saturation point, there is a high mortality 

 for transplants. Transplants must have adequate air space in the upper reaches of the root zone 

 in order to become established. 



Sites with native transplants on saturated soils had no survival. Native transplants on soils with 

 fluctuating water levels had about 50% survival. Cuttings had about 50% survival. The poor 

 survival on sites with water over the soil surface or those with constantly saturated soils is 

 attributed to the inability of newly planted plants to conduct the carbon dioxide-oxygen gas 

 exchange in the root zone. The amount of available oxygen in the root zone may indirectly reduce 

 photosynthesis by reducing the movement of water and minerals into the roots and on the leaves 

 (Ferry and Ward 1959). Some plants have the ability to conduct this exchange through the leaves 



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