A south easterly facing sloped site of mineral sandy loam, exposed to a westerly wind. Vegetation is historically OSR and S barley. Planting of Miscanthus, willow, poplar and Eucalyptus was undertaken during spring 2023. The plans below show the layout of the trial plots at this hub site and the updates will keep you informed of their progress and performance throughout the trials.
At the Edinburgh Demonstrator Hub site, the biomass crops are progressing well overall, with many species like SRF Alder, Eucalyptus, and SRC Willow showing healthy growth and good canopy development. However, some issues such as rust on SRF Alder and SRC Willow, as well as weed pressures in Miscanthus and Sida plots, indicate a need for continued management efforts.
The first soil dataset from across the eight Biomass Connect Demonstrator Hub sites has now been published. This dataset contains the baseline measurements of key soil properties, including carbon, bulk density and pH, which are critical to assess the impacts of biomass crops on soils through future repeat sampling.
Inter-row spraying and gapping up have been the main activities at the SRUC Boghall Demonstrator Hub in Edinburgh this May. The plots are looking good.
Gapping up and replanting have been the main activities at the SRUC Boghall Demonstrator Hub in Scotland this April. The plots are beginning to show some good signs of growth, but the weeds are growing in some too.
The Boghall Demonstrator Hub has been very windy throughout March. The ground is still soft but is just about OK for machinery to access the land once again. Buds are appearing on many of the crops and most things are under control and ready for a flurry of activity once the weather improves and planting materials are received.
Scotland experienced some well-documented extreme weather at the beginning of the year with both of our SRUC demonstrator hubs suffering from Storm Henk and Isha. Despite the damage there are now signs of hope in most plots and work has commenced with spraying and planning for 2024.
With Winter on its way, growth has all but stopped at the hub sites. So, rather than have an individual update for each Hub Site we have a quick round-up below along with some photos. Starting in the North and working our way south.
Tree Planting Technique
04/12/2023
Added: 4th Dec. 2023
Tree planting techniques by Bryan Elliot, filmed at the Biomass Connect SRUC demo event.
October 2023 – Hub Site Update The SRUC Edinburgh site was very wet, windy, and cold in October. There was a mild start to the month but it turned cold […]
Boghall Farm, Edinburgh Demo Event
08/11/2023
Added: 8th Nov. 2023
The weather may not have been great but our demo event at Boghall Farm near Edinburgh was enjoyed by all.
Biomass Connect together with Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) successfully hosted two demonstration events at SRUC hub sites in Ayrshire and Edinburgh, Scotland. The events were attended by a diverse group of land managers, consultants, biomass processors, policy makers, and researchers.
September 2023 – Hub Site Update The SRUC Edinburgh site experienced something of a heatwave at the beginning of September but it turned colder later in the month. The electric […]
Willow Growth at Boghall, Edinburgh
19/10/2023
Added: 19th Oct. 2023
Another quick assessment of willow growth by Kevin Lindegaard, this time from our Boghall Hub Site in Edinburgh.
Once again establishment and growth have been very good indeed. The crops are doing well seeing as they were only planted 5-6 months previously.
August 2023 – Hub Site Update It has been quite a wet August, warm and very very windy. Observations from the different plant plots The SRF Alder is growing well. […]
July 2023 – Hub Site Update 10th July 2023: Sida rhizomes were sent from RRes Harpenden to SRUC at the Boghall site. Received the following day. 14th July 2023: Electric […]
June 2023 – Hub Site Update The Willow variety trial was planted on 13th & 14th June by the Rothamsted Research team and team members from SRUC. Conditions were hot […]
April and May 2023 – Hub Site Update Glyphosate spraying of the plots for planting was undertaken and weed die-off is evident. This was followed by spot spraying some of […]
March 2023 – Overview of progress to date Remedial ground-work The arable site was in good condition. Baseline sampling took place after the spring OSR harvest and no specific remedial […]
January 2023 Risk Assessments for grazing, browsing and crop damage threats were undertaken. Snow and very low temperatures recently. However, this is normal for January. Expect field to be workable […]
December 2022 Summer weed control, cultivation and drilling complete. A winter wheat cover crop has been drilled on all wood crops plots but not on those due to have miscanthus […]
Base line soil samples have been taken, ploughing is in progress, Hopefully planting wheat cover crop week beginning 24 Oct 2022.
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55.873875-3.207468
Boghall Farm, Edinburgh, UK
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