WEEKEND BLOG – Mary-Jane and Kayla

Friday, March 7, 2014

What a beautiful sunny day we had to begin our weekend greenhouse practical! With the weather being so cold lately, a sun-shiny, high-of 0 degrees Celsius day almost felt like summer!  This of course, required us to pay special attention to our greenhouse crop, since the weather may have come as a bit of a shock to them. After spot-watering the entire crop in the morning, we had to perform a thorough-watering to the hydrangea crop come mid-afternoon; they were thirsty! We also had to keep an eye on young seedlings as well as freshly-sown seeds, to ensure they stayed hydrated and moist. We did this check every other hour of the day. This was such an important task because the seeds would not have survived had they dried out; they are also the annuals that we grow for our summer clients! (No crop=No business= No good!). Mary-Jane and I added to the collection by sowing some culinary seeds - Oregano, as well as Spearmint. We included these new additions to the Plant Inventory List that we were responsible for updating/reconfiguring.
Come mid-afternoon, we were greeted by some visitors! (Fanshawe Councilors). They excitedly asked for a tour of the greenhouse and we were more than happy to provide them with one. We discussed what we were working on, how things work, and got into detail about a few plants. I’m sure we’ll be seeing them again in April, when we begin our plant sales! That’s all for now, see you tomorrow. 

Saturday, March 08, 2014

We’re back to an overcast day, with an average temperature of -2 degrees Celsius. We started off the day with walking our crop and spot-watering. The plants will not need any more watering until we check tomorrow. From there, we headed straight into production. We began by taking cuttings from 9 of our stock plants. Each cutting was dipped in root hormone, planted into a cell tray, and placed into the propagation chamber for optimum growing conditions. We then added our new friends onto our inventory list and completed all revisions. We also transplanted some older cuttings that were ready for a bigger home (they were placed into 3” round pots and now rest on a bench in the greenhouse). The remainder of the day was spent washing pots and sanitizing the greenhouse. We’ll be back at it tomorrow!

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Today was a day dedicated to catering to our interiorscape plantings (located around the interior of the campus). We were responsible for watering, deadheading, and applying IPM practices to those that needed it. Mary-Jane and I were surprised to discover just how many tropical plants we have situated around the school! This job consumed the majority of our morning. In the afternoon, we were greeted by one of our fellow classmates; she is responsible for taking care of the tropical plants on weekends. We began helping Jessica with the tasks she had set out for the weekend. We started potting some large tropical plants that were to be placed inside the campus. Next, we placed the plants on a cart, wrapped the cart with a protective cloth (since the cold weather would have been too much of a shock), and brought them to their required destinations. After all of this, we were left with the wonderful task of giving the greenhouse a thorough cleaning. Now that the place is spotless, we’ll be on our way. Until next time.