July 2023 – Hub Site Update
- Like all sites, the month of July has seen much more rainfall after the extreme dry weather that June brought to Mid-Wales.
- Ongoing weed control is the order of the day when conditions allow. The small mower has been used within the inter rows of the SRF tree demo plots.
- No significant problems have been observed with plant establishment, although staff did observe that the woody species looked slightly smaller than those at the NIAB Hub site, however the Eucalyptus was comparable with how the IBERS plants were doing.
- Poor emergence of European Willow Breeding (EWB) cuttings in the willow variety trial has been noted.
- Some gaps have been observed in the SRC willow 0.5 ha area
- The site is looking into purchasing a Micron herbidome.
- Electric Fences were received on the 17th of July. The IBERS site is split over three fields, so three fence solutions were needed. The field containing the commercially planted Miscanthus was identified as a priority for erecting first as rabbit damage had been observed. This was erected on the week beginning 24th of July.
- The plan is to erect the other electric fencing over the next week or two when conditions and time allow.
Read more about the Biomass Connect IBERS Aberystwyth Hub Site
