Friday Febuary 13/2015

Upon arriving at the greenhouse in fidget winter temperatures, Jeff gave us a brief walk through on the tasks that we had to complete this weekend. We started our day by walking the crop removing dead foliage from the Hydrangea’s, checking that everything was properly functioning and in good working order. After a thorough check Rob re-watered six of the pots as they were bone dry and moved them to different emitters. We then started propagating some plants by taking cuttings from Salviaelegans (fruity sage), Fushsia magellanica (Tricolor), Solenostemon (electric limon) and Olea eurpaeea (common olive).

For the first three plants we used hormone 1 root developer and for the olive tree we used hormone 2 root developer. This allows the cuttings to establish good rooting systems while in the propagation chamber. The poor Fuchsia plant looks like it has nothing left. After lunch we mixed up some 21-7-7 fertilizer for next week’s fertilization for our Hydrangea crop. This just makes it a little easier for next week’s class. The rest of the afternoon was spent germinating seeds.

This is preparing our stock crop for future spring clients. By working together we managed to seed 18 pans. As the end of the day near we did our closing requirements and prep for day two in the greenhouse.

Saturday February 14/2015

This morning arrival was a difficult one as we were in the midst of a nice snow storm, but we made it safe and sound. Today’s day started with our daily prep. This includes making sure that all systems are properly functioning that the temperature is set correct and our brains of the greenhouse (our Priva system) are running accordingly. After walking thoroughly threw the plants we noticed that the media was a little on the dry side so we gave the hydrangea’s a drink (without fertilizer as they only get fertilized once a week) .

The cacti needed all the dead foliage removed and the poor Wollemia pine hadn’t been watered for a very long time so he enjoyed a good shower.

Next we removed the soil and dead foliage from the Colocasia to prep them for re-potting.

We ran into a tiny problem taking the compost out as there was a four foot snow bank blockage that task will need to be done another day. As the day grew to and end we did our closing requirements and called it a day.

Sunday February 15/ 2015

This morning’s temperature is very cold -40 below. Upon doing our morning routine there was a notice on the Priva greenhouse monitor that the temp was below average. With that being noted all that means is that our lovely greenhouse is trying to compete with the outside temperatures .After walking the crop Rob and Chantdell started to pot some canna’s and managed to pot 29 to add to our stock.

After lunch we did a thorough clean and made sure everything was organized and sanitized for this upcoming week. We gave our lovely hydrangea’s a good water and discovered that two emitter lines were sliced and made note of the problem for immediate repair. Rob was able to dispose of the compost in C building until our compost heap is accessible. Closing time came quickly today and we have had a very successful weekend.