Fanshawe College Greenhouse Practical - Courtney and Brian
Day 1- Friday November 7th 2014
On this cold but clear morning at the college, we met with Jeff and were given the orientation of the greenhouse while in the process we also opening the shade curtains for the plants in the greenhouse. We also misted the PRIVA Box Wet Wick to maintain the accuracy of the greenhouse PRIVA readings, and then checked and recorded the PRIVA readings on the computer program. With the greenhouse opening completed, we then walked the crop for the Poinsettias and groomed them of dead, dying, and/or diseased leaves to dissuade pests and diseases from the plants.
That being said though, the Whitefly problem is quite apparent on the crop with some areas above the plants being filled with hungry juice-sucking Whitefly.
It’s certainly a good thing that the Encarsia have been released to devour the Whiteflies. With that we then began watering the tropicals, cacti, begonias and annuals with a well-balanced 20-20-20 fertilizer at 100 parts per million for good general feeding for health and growth. We took a lunch break and then separated; one back to water the Poinsettia crop after making a new batch of 250 parts per million fertilizer for them, as the weaker fertilizer mix used for the other plants would definitely not give the Poinsettias optimal results with it, and the other went with Mike to one of the Campus’ offices to collect two large Ficus planters for grooming and repotting. Pine bark mulch was brought out to the new garden at M building for the new plants. The collected Ficus and their neighbours were given a spot killing to destroy their mealybug and scale problem and were then sent back in their fresher looking forms.
The new M building gardens were partially watered and mulched, after which time we ran out of time as it was time to close the greenhouse and begin blackout, so we separated to get the tools put away while the other closed the greenhouse.
Despite their excellent colour they are not completely ready, not just because of the Whitefly issue but because not all of the plants are fully coloured enough to be worth selling yet. In a few weeks with repeated blackout however, they will be plenty ready by the time of the sale! The last of the greenhouse data was collected for recording and we then signed out after cleaning up the work area outside of the main greenhouse. That was not the entire end of our adventure though; the key to the greenhouse was bent when we received it for the day, and upon attempting to lock the facility the key snapped clean off into the keyhole! With that issue needing resolving we called security to help in locking the greenhouse.
Day 2- Saturday November 8th 2014
An opposite feeling to the previous day, Saturday has been a cold drizzly one, giving off a dull miserable feeling to the outdoors. Regardless of this though, there is still no rest for the hard working! Bonus being that the rain will at least help charge the evergreens and other plantings a little bit for winter. With the key still broken, assistance was needed through the campus security to get into the greenhouse, which lead to quite the comedic sight of the tallest of us being lifted up to get access to the only operable door and lock. We must say that the security has been quite helpful and kind despite the inconvenience. The officer was even helpful enough to give us a heads up about a plant clean up that had to be dealt with over in the F building. With the doors free for use for the day, we separated to first open the greenhouse, and then separated further with one of us walking the crop as the other went to F building to deal with the plant clean up that the security officer spoke of. The whitefly were less active, though plenty were resting under the poinsettia leaves.
From what we were told it seems that a drunkard came in and torn out the plants at their own bemusement. The saying/complaint “this is why we can’t have nice things” comes to mind in this situation. Luckily the plants were just as easy to put in as they were to be ripped out. The annual plants in the one flowerbed beside the greenhouse was then cleaned out, with the finishing touches of leaf removal and soil raking saved for a little later as we were then regrouped to quickly water the handful of Poinsettias that appeared to have not have gotten any water from the drip lines as well as place potatoes among a few selected planters in the greenhouse for pest testing. With a little confusion at the start, we found the proper hoses and brought out the hose and sprinkler to start supercharging the newly planted evergreens. With the drying winter winds coming around soon, the evergreens can use all the water plumping up they can get. Once the sprinkler was properly placed, we then took a lunch break. After the break was finished, we then completed the finishing touches of the cleaned out annual flowerbed. We were then brought aside by Michael to be shown what other evergreens and plants had to be watered for winter preparation. After the show through, we then went to K building to move around the displayed houseplants per Mike’s previous instruction. Time soon came flying to a close, so we then separated so that one could put the tools together for washing while the other did finished touches on irrigation for the day. Blackout was done smoothly, and we signed out and called security for assistance with locking up the greenhouse for the night.
Day 3- Sunday November 9th 2014
Not unlike Friday, Sunday has been a cold but nice day, with the occasional appearance of the sun between the overcast clouds. The day started with the security helping us into the greenhouse once again, and then we signed in and set to work. We both worked together to open the greenhouse deftly and smoothly. The irrigation was started again and the evergreens were given a much more thorough autumn drink of water, as did the new evergreen that we planted. The poinsettia crop with walked and the Whiteflies once again began apparent as they were on Friday, but with just a less of them flying in the air. The irrigation was moved to our partially mulched garden to water the mulched plants as we took our early lunch break.
Nearing the end of the break, we checked the potatoes that we placed last night to see what invaded the delicious tubers. We surprisingly found not a lot of insects on the tubers but we did find a handful of mites and thrips.
With break then over we set to work to finish up mulching the remaining bare gardenbeds by M building. With the sun peeking out and heating up the greenhouse, one of us went back to check on the poinsettias. Although on the surface they appeared dry, the roots below were plenty moist so they weren’t watered. After the mulching was completed and the closing of the greenhouse started, we also began on cleaning up the work areas for the weekend closing. From the floors of the Greenhouse hallway, to the tools in the tool and tractor bays, as well as the propagation space, we did sweepings, vacuuming, and finally a hose down throughout much of them to make it cleaner than it was when we originally arrived on Friday. Even the propagation chamber was at the mercy of cleaning, with the algae on its walls thoroughly scrubbed with bleach mix.
With the Poinsettias shaded for another weekend night, we left the greenhouse after signing out and leaving security to lock up the door.
Day 1- Friday November 7th 2014
On this cold but clear morning at the college, we met with Jeff and were given the orientation of the greenhouse while in the process we also opening the shade curtains for the plants in the greenhouse. We also misted the PRIVA Box Wet Wick to maintain the accuracy of the greenhouse PRIVA readings, and then checked and recorded the PRIVA readings on the computer program. With the greenhouse opening completed, we then walked the crop for the Poinsettias and groomed them of dead, dying, and/or diseased leaves to dissuade pests and diseases from the plants.
That being said though, the Whitefly problem is quite apparent on the crop with some areas above the plants being filled with hungry juice-sucking Whitefly.
It’s certainly a good thing that the Encarsia have been released to devour the Whiteflies. With that we then began watering the tropicals, cacti, begonias and annuals with a well-balanced 20-20-20 fertilizer at 100 parts per million for good general feeding for health and growth. We took a lunch break and then separated; one back to water the Poinsettia crop after making a new batch of 250 parts per million fertilizer for them, as the weaker fertilizer mix used for the other plants would definitely not give the Poinsettias optimal results with it, and the other went with Mike to one of the Campus’ offices to collect two large Ficus planters for grooming and repotting. Pine bark mulch was brought out to the new garden at M building for the new plants. The collected Ficus and their neighbours were given a spot killing to destroy their mealybug and scale problem and were then sent back in their fresher looking forms.
The new M building gardens were partially watered and mulched, after which time we ran out of time as it was time to close the greenhouse and begin blackout, so we separated to get the tools put away while the other closed the greenhouse.
Despite their excellent colour they are not completely ready, not just because of the Whitefly issue but because not all of the plants are fully coloured enough to be worth selling yet. In a few weeks with repeated blackout however, they will be plenty ready by the time of the sale! The last of the greenhouse data was collected for recording and we then signed out after cleaning up the work area outside of the main greenhouse. That was not the entire end of our adventure though; the key to the greenhouse was bent when we received it for the day, and upon attempting to lock the facility the key snapped clean off into the keyhole! With that issue needing resolving we called security to help in locking the greenhouse.
Day 2- Saturday November 8th 2014
An opposite feeling to the previous day, Saturday has been a cold drizzly one, giving off a dull miserable feeling to the outdoors. Regardless of this though, there is still no rest for the hard working! Bonus being that the rain will at least help charge the evergreens and other plantings a little bit for winter. With the key still broken, assistance was needed through the campus security to get into the greenhouse, which lead to quite the comedic sight of the tallest of us being lifted up to get access to the only operable door and lock. We must say that the security has been quite helpful and kind despite the inconvenience. The officer was even helpful enough to give us a heads up about a plant clean up that had to be dealt with over in the F building. With the doors free for use for the day, we separated to first open the greenhouse, and then separated further with one of us walking the crop as the other went to F building to deal with the plant clean up that the security officer spoke of. The whitefly were less active, though plenty were resting under the poinsettia leaves.
From what we were told it seems that a drunkard came in and torn out the plants at their own bemusement. The saying/complaint “this is why we can’t have nice things” comes to mind in this situation. Luckily the plants were just as easy to put in as they were to be ripped out. The annual plants in the one flowerbed beside the greenhouse was then cleaned out, with the finishing touches of leaf removal and soil raking saved for a little later as we were then regrouped to quickly water the handful of Poinsettias that appeared to have not have gotten any water from the drip lines as well as place potatoes among a few selected planters in the greenhouse for pest testing. With a little confusion at the start, we found the proper hoses and brought out the hose and sprinkler to start supercharging the newly planted evergreens. With the drying winter winds coming around soon, the evergreens can use all the water plumping up they can get. Once the sprinkler was properly placed, we then took a lunch break. After the break was finished, we then completed the finishing touches of the cleaned out annual flowerbed. We were then brought aside by Michael to be shown what other evergreens and plants had to be watered for winter preparation. After the show through, we then went to K building to move around the displayed houseplants per Mike’s previous instruction. Time soon came flying to a close, so we then separated so that one could put the tools together for washing while the other did finished touches on irrigation for the day. Blackout was done smoothly, and we signed out and called security for assistance with locking up the greenhouse for the night.
Day 3- Sunday November 9th 2014
Not unlike Friday, Sunday has been a cold but nice day, with the occasional appearance of the sun between the overcast clouds. The day started with the security helping us into the greenhouse once again, and then we signed in and set to work. We both worked together to open the greenhouse deftly and smoothly. The irrigation was started again and the evergreens were given a much more thorough autumn drink of water, as did the new evergreen that we planted. The poinsettia crop with walked and the Whiteflies once again began apparent as they were on Friday, but with just a less of them flying in the air. The irrigation was moved to our partially mulched garden to water the mulched plants as we took our early lunch break.
Nearing the end of the break, we checked the potatoes that we placed last night to see what invaded the delicious tubers. We surprisingly found not a lot of insects on the tubers but we did find a handful of mites and thrips.
With break then over we set to work to finish up mulching the remaining bare gardenbeds by M building. With the sun peeking out and heating up the greenhouse, one of us went back to check on the poinsettias. Although on the surface they appeared dry, the roots below were plenty moist so they weren’t watered. After the mulching was completed and the closing of the greenhouse started, we also began on cleaning up the work areas for the weekend closing. From the floors of the Greenhouse hallway, to the tools in the tool and tractor bays, as well as the propagation space, we did sweepings, vacuuming, and finally a hose down throughout much of them to make it cleaner than it was when we originally arrived on Friday. Even the propagation chamber was at the mercy of cleaning, with the algae on its walls thoroughly scrubbed with bleach mix.
With the Poinsettias shaded for another weekend night, we left the greenhouse after signing out and leaving security to lock up the door.
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