Growing Napier Grass from Root Slips

Growing Napier Grass from Root Slips

One of the most promising crops in the future of sustainable agriculture is a grass that grows wild and needs very little maintenance to produce big time results.

Napier Grass, sometimes referred to as “Elephant Grass”, is being viewed by many ecologists and expert agriculturists as the future of everything from sustaining small dairy farms to a potential biofuel source for cars. Found mainly in the areas of North Africa and parts of India, it is incredibly drought resistant and needs very little water or fertilizer to grow. It’s high yielding, incredibly pest resistant, and stabilizes the soil due to its deep, nutrient rich root system.

One of the few potential challenges that Napier grass presents is growing crops fast enough to meet the ever-growing demands. To meet this challenge, special hybrid versions of Napier grass have been developed to grow rapidly. For instance, Napier grass CO BN 5 can grow up to 3 meters tall in as many months. One issue with cultivating some of the hybrid versions is their lack of seeds, resulting in the need to find other ways to plant and develop new fields.

Planting with the Slip Technique

Agriculture experts have found that the most effective way to develop new elephant grass fields is to use the “slip” technique. A slip is a cutting from the root of the plant that is rich in nutrients. This technique is one of the preferred methods for growing new fields of Napier grass because it doesn’t take long for the grass to multiply from this process, and typically becomes established more quickly. 

This approach is used frequently in the “push-pull” method of sustainable farming. In the push-pull method, several different types of crops are planted with each other in the same field (called “inter-cropping”). Elephant grass is planted around the perimeter of the field in an effort to protect the valuable interior crops from pests. The elephant grass attracts or “pulls” pests to it through alluring chemicals it emits that is attractive to many forms of crop-killing pests. Once these pests land on the elephant grass, the grass actually secretes a sticky substance that literally “traps” the pests, preventing them from feeding off of the crops in the inner ring of the land.

Benefits of Planting with the Slip Method

Agriculturally speaking, there are significant benefits to using the slip method to propagate an ideal crop. Slips from hybrid plants like the Napier grass Co BN 5 carry with it all of the idealistic characteristics that were bred into the original crop.  Additional benefits include:

• Resistance to pests and disease. The root slip carries with it all of the original plants’ built-up immunity to bacteria, virus, and pests and does so in an organic way, without the use of pesticides to prevent damage or infestation, which is a major focus of sustainable farming.
• Anatomical Improvement. Planting the root slip from a healthy, mature, hybrid plant provides what is called “root vigor,” meaning that the root slip will provide strength and health to the growing plant. It allows the plant to avoid some of the factors that can damage or destroy a plant growing from a seedling because it is naturally stronger.
• Increased Productivity. The root slip provides an added strength and tolerance to negative factors and also demonstrates slower cellular aging due to root vigor. It also puts the young plant at a more advanced stage of reproductive maturity, allowing for it to be propagated that much faster.

The Slip Planting Process

The process of using slips to plant is relatively straight forward. The slips are harvested, typically from a Napier grass plantation, by using the following method:

• The slips are cut at ground level, typically with little to no growth included on them.
• The root structure is dug up with the slip.
• The slips are then typically cut to 2 inches long.
• The slips are then planted in a new plantation field in small pre-tilled holes, typically 2-3 feet apart to accommodate their future growth.
• The root structure is then covered with soil, leaving the stem open to the air for growth.

For locations that don’t have ready access to wild growing Napier grass or are not nearby a plantation that grows the hybrid plants, there are now many online distributors who sell the slips directly to consumers and farmers looking to promote sustainable agriculture.

With the significant role that Napier grass is slated to play in the future of sustainable farming, finding the best method to grow large quantities of the crop is essential. Planting slips allows for a highly successful and natural way to produce the needed supply of this needed biomass product.