Fanshawe Greenhouse Weekend Duty Blog

October 17-19, 2014

Julia and Reese

The start of the weekend duty was very interesting; I am amazed at all the things that are needed to be monitored and the maintenance that goes into running a greenhouse. The technician that over sees the greenhouse on a daily basis went through the greenhouse protocols that are required for the weekend. Jeff did a spectacular job at explaining all of the different things that we needed to know for the weekend.

We brought in all of the elephant ear plants into the tractor bay in preparation for the winterizing process. While I was doing that my partner was potting some propagated plants that the students in Greenhouse Production course did not complete. After that we filled hanging baskets with media and propagules for our stock plant collection. 

It is surprising how fast a day goes by when you are working hard. I did not realize how difficult it really is to close the black curtain - that was a long process. It has been a very busy day and a confusing one at that.

The cactus collection is watered only once a week which was completed on Friday afternoon.

 

 

Saturday brought us a visitor at the greenhouse by the name of Eric Abram. After that, we re-potted the small cactus. This took a very long time! We finished just before the end of the day. 

 

 

 

 

Sunday started out with the usual check in list. I maintained the College's interior plant scape. As I was doing that, Julia was inspecting the crop and applied culture. Upon further inspection we discovered many fungus gnats and white flies.

The crop is starting to look beautiful as some of the specific cultivars leaves are starting to turn red.

 

 

The afternoon brought lots of cleaning and organizing. 

It was a great experience this weekend in the greenhouse! We have learned so much about technical and practical techniques that are used in our greenhouse every day.