NC State University Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist Dr. Ron Gehl and graduate student Stephanie Haines visited energy canes research plots across the state in late March 2010, including plots at the Biofuels Campus in Oxford. 

Energy canes represent grasses in the “sugarcane complex” and include sugarcanes, miscanthus, and their hybrids.  The perennial, cold-hardy species in this complex have considerable potential as biomass crops in North Carolina. 

With the unusually harsh winter of 2009, that cold-hardiness has been put to the test, so Gehl and Haines will be watching closely as new growth begins appearing this spring.  Gehl and his colleagues also began fertilizer trials to assess nitrogen needs of the seven different species and subspecies of energy canes. 

This project was funded by the Biofuels Center as part of its 2009 Statewide Biofuels Development Grants program.