A sheltered flat north-south site, with sandy loam and current vegetation of barley stubble. Planting of a winter wheat cover crop took place in 2022, followed by Miscanthus, willow, poplar and Eucalyptus in spring 2023. The plans below show the layout of the trial plots at the hub site and the updates will keep you informed of their progress and performance throughout the trials.
Address
Auchincruive Estate, Ayr.
Latitude, longitude
55°28’30.7″N 4°33’28.8″W (55.475184, -4.557993)
Grid ref
NS 38427 23117
What 3 words ref for entrance
///plotted.improvise.miracles
Site Plans
Characteristics
Mean Annual Precipitation (mm)
820 mm
Mean Annual Temperature (°C)
12.9 °C
Altitude
48 m
Exposure
Sheltered.
Topography
Flat.
Aspect
N-S.
Soil type
Sandy loam.
Previous vegetation coverage
Barley stubble.
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 (~0.5 ha)
Miscanthus ‘Athena’ (~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)
To be planted:
Reed canary grass 10 m x 25m 0.025ha
Switchgrass (upland ecotype) 10 m x 25m 0.025ha
Switchgrass (lowland ecotype) 10 m x 25m 0.025ha.
Planting goals/aim
Agronomic dates (planting, harvesting schedule)
Planting: Spring 2023.
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).
At the Ayrshire Demonstrator Hub site, the biomass crops are generally progressing well, with species like SRF Alder, Poplar, and SRC Willow showing healthy growth and minimal pest or disease issues. However, some challenges such as rust on SRF Alder, insect damage, and weed presence, particularly in Miscanthus and Sida plots, require ongoing management to maintain crop health.
Most things are growing well, including the weeds. June has been a busy month which included a visit from the Rothamsted Research team to plant the sida plug plants and the Italian SRF poplar plot
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.
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 Auchincruive Estate hub site in Ayrshire experienced a very wet, windy, and cold October Operational processes undertaken All plots have been strimmed […]
Auchincruive Estate, Ayrshire – Demo Event
08/11/2023
Added: 8th Nov. 2023
A short video of the successful Biomass Connect demo event at our Ayrshire Hub Site. Be sure to join us on our next event.
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 Scotland experienced something of a heatwave at the beginning of September and then turned cold (and wet) later. Operational processes undertaken The Electric fencing […]
August 2023 – Hub Site Update The weather was a mixed bag for August. Generally warm and wet – very windy on several days. Observations from the different plant plots […]
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 barley harvest and no specific remedial […]
February 2023 It has been extremely wet. So wet, the ground is almost like quick mud. Nearly lost a welly! It will be several weeks before it has a chance […]
January 2023 Risk Assessments for grazing, browsing and crop damage threats were undertaken. Auchincruive has had unusually high volumes of rain in the last couple of weeks, followed by a […]
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
55.4578372-4.6146849
Scotland's Rural College, University Avenue, Ayr, UK
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