Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC)

Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) – Edinburgh

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.

Address	Boghall, Biggar Road, Edinburgh, EH10 7DX.
Latitude, longitude	55°52’44.5″N 3°12’11.4″W (55.87903486587691, -3.2031666746901992)
Grid ref	NT 24951 65863
What 3 words ref for entrance	///lifts.keen.confronts

Site Plans

Characteristics

Mean Annual Precipitation (mm)	690 mm
Mean Annual Temperature (°C)	12.1 ◦C
Altitude	197 m
Exposure	Westerly wind.
Topography	Slope.
Aspect	S.E facing.
Soil type	Mineral sandy loam.
Current vegetation coverage	OSR, S.Barley.
Other relevant site info

Project plans/actions

Which biomass crops	Planted (as of August 2023) SRC willow (6-way mixture) (~0.5 ha) Miscanthus giganteus – Miscanthus Nurseries (~0.5 ha) Miscanthus ‘Athena’ – Terravesta (~0.5 ha) SRC Poplar (0.137 ha) SRF Poplar (0.125 ha) SRF Eucalyptus (0.114 ha) SRF Alder (0.028 ha) Black Locust Turbo (0.034 ha) Black Locust Turbo Obelisk (0.031 ha) Sida hermaphrodita (10.5 m x 7.7 m, 0.008 ha) To be planted: Reed Canary Grass 10 m x 25m 0.025ha Switch Grass (upland ecotype) 10 m x 25m 0.025ha Switch Grass (lowland ecotype) 10 m x 25m 0.025ha Variety trials planted (as of August 2023): SRC willow (2023) Miscanthus (2023) Variety trials to be planted: Grasses (2024)
Planting goals/aim	Spring 2023 (& 2024).
Agronomic dates (planting, harvesting schedule)	Planting: Spring 2023 (except 2024 trials) Harvest: Jan/Feb 2024.
Management methodology (spray off, nutrient additions, ploughing, site prep, others)	– Ploughing/site prep Oct 2022 (Winter wheat cover – except on Miscanthus plots) + Glyphosate (early spring 2023). – Pendimethalin pre-ems (spring 2023). – Graminicide 3-6 weeks post planting. – Dow Shield 3-6 weeks post planting (if required). – Interrow weeding/spot spraying when required (spring/summer).
Machinery to be used	TBC.

General Info

Field management history

2022 OSR.

2017-2022 Spring barley.

Other site detail of note

Updates

Hub Site Update – SRUC Edinburgh – July 2023

26/08/2023

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 […]

Hub Site Update – SRUC Edinburgh – June 2023

16/08/2023

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 […]

Hub Site Update – SRUC Edinburgh – May 2023

13/07/2023

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 […]

Hub Site Update – SRUC Edinburgh – March 2023

04/05/2023

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 […]

Hub Site Update – SRUC Edinburgh – February 2023

26/04/2023

February 2023 The weather has been quite wet, but the site isn’t too boggy. We expect to be able to get on to spray in the next couple of weeks. […]

Hub Site Update – SRUC Edinburgh – January 2023

02/03/2023

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 […]

Hub Site Update – SRUC Edinburgh

09/01/2023

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.

Gallery

55.873875 -3.207468 Boghall Farm, Edinburgh, UK