Will my Miscanthus recover?

[GalensOyster]

I've done a bit of a clear out in the garden and discovered that there was a lot of dead stuff in my clumps of Miscanthus. It didn't do at all well last year so I thought maybe I should do a clear out.

The resulting clumps are extremely thin with bald areas in the middle. I was very gentle with the thinning, only removing stuff that was definitely dead.

Will it recover? Can I help it somehow? The plants are 9 years old and I have very little enthusiasm for digging them up.

Yes they do go dead in the centres as they get older,I'm afraid I think they need digging up & splitting,or replacing with new.
You could wait & see how they get on this yr,mine are only just starting to shoot so it's early days to say how they will fare.
If you go down the splitting road,you will need your 3 weetabix to dig them up,think of it as a workout,I use an old saw to cut them up,much better than using a spade,good luck.

Thanks Gooner. I was hoping for a magic remedy so this is not really what I wanted to hear but thanks.. Ah well.

Do you think I should have a go at digging up and dividing this year? None of them have started sprouting very much and some clumps are really really thin. I have lots of Miscanthus - probably about 20 large clumps so I need to think about staggering this over time.

Yes you can do it now,may is the best time to split miscanthus,perhaps just do a few of the worst looking ones for this yr,or get a local Gardner to come in & do it for you it will save your back.