The House of Green – Part II

Thomas Lauzon and Josh (Eros) Medeiros

February 19 – 21, 2016

March of the Seeds – Feb. 19

The morning began with Thomas and Eros (Josh) meeting with Jeff at the House of Green. Jeff quickly reiterated general procedures. The opening checklist was completed and the two boys thoroughly surveyed the cuttings, seed flats and mature plants and watered or misted as needed.

Soon, Sue came in to inform and show the work partners how to use the device called an inferred thermometer, which uses a laser to measure the air temperature just above the crop. After, Jeff gave them what duties were required that weekend. Furthermore, he demonstrated how to sow the particular seeds that were ordered. Later, Jeff, Thomas and Eros met at the B-wing atrium. The students were told which planters needed to be rearranged and/or added to, staked and moved. They sauntered over to the T-wing interior plants which some had bare, unattractive media. Back at the House of Green, the pair began preparing seed flats by filling a set of three flats for each unique seed species/cultivar with Promix PGX media. We used this media for the reason that each pod of the flat was rather small and it had minute particles sizes giving young roots space to grow. Next, we meticulously aimed to get a single seed into a single pod. In succession, we covered the plant embryos with sprinkle of vermiculite as each needed, labelled the flats, moved them out and misted. This was done for New Day Rose Stripe Gazania, Kiss Orange Flame Frosty Gazania, Fresh Look Mix Celosia and Sparkler White Cleome.

With more general scanning and spot watering of the plants, along with ensuring everything was in order by way of the closing checklist, Thomas and Eros locked up and returned the keys to security.

Tropical Paroxysm (The March Continues…) – Feb. 20

As young men of the House of Green it was customary to go through the checklist of the morning following the captured of the keys. Misting and spot watering transpired, of course, since the plants had transpirated.

Thomas and Eros carried on with sowing. At least, seventy-three flats of Lady First African Marigolds were required by order. A table was emptied to have enough room, the resident plants moved to appropriate places. As a team, assisting each other where possible, they organized an efficient method to put together the flats, fill them with Pro Mix HP Mycorrhizae, move them to the table, water them all once, prod holes into every pod, insert one marigold seed into the holes, seal the holes gently and water them again. And so, they did. On this day the Sun was revealed and the temperature rose out and in the House of Green. By the afternoon, the temperature inside reached a maximum of thirty-four degrees Celsius, coupled with the humidity it felt as if the Amazon had come to Fanshawe. The two of them were concerned as they were told that when the temperature rose too high that the blinds would close and the vents would open; neither occurred. As a result, much more watering and analyzing of the plants and data of the Priva system was a must. This anomaly was reported swiftly. The cuttings in their special chamber were counted.

Due to all the media preparation and sowing the floor was blanketed, ergo, both swept around and under their work tables. This preceded the routine closing checklist and return of the keys.

Interior Alignment – Feb. 21

Like those before them, including themselves, the green lads attained the keys, went through the opening checklist and checked the flora, watering/misting as they saw fit.

The pair gathered lots of Devil’s Ivy, Epipremnum aureum (which is highly invasive in tropical regions), on a cart with a dust pan, brooms and bamboo. They meandered to the B-wing atrium where they moved Codiaeums and Epipremnums about, creating an even and aesthetically pleasing arrangement. Bamboo was used as stakes to support ficuses. As Thomas began moving the planters to good spots, Eros cleaned the debris from their work then helped move the remaining planters as well. Together in the front hall of the T-wing, more Devil’s Ivy was planted around the college’s Fiddle Leaf Ficuses. Afterward, they also, removed seeds from the fridge that were due. A search commenced for plants with mealybugs. With some time left of their day they got down to purifying the House of Green, sweeping, washing and putting everything. Before their end day procedures started, Thomas noticed some Hydrangeas beginning to bloom with a tiny hint of blue developing.

As per usual, they double-checked all on the closing checklist, looked over the plants giving water to dried and drying plants, locked the doors and said farewell to it with the deposition of the keys of the House of Green.

Das Ende

Greenhouse Weekend Duty Blog

Feb 12-14, 2016

Jordan Maurice and Karima Hassan

Friday

The day started off with Jordan and I realizing winter had officially made its mark. We walked into the warmth of the greenhouse out of the bitter winter cold and started our day off. For the start of our day we went through our opening checklist to check some of the following such as temperature that was within the limits, checking the propagation chamber was working correctly and checked off the remainder items.  Next we moved on to walking the crop and watering the plants that needed it. The Cacti, Pink Hydrangeas, Stock baskets, Ornamental Vegetable seeds, Canna Lilies, the tropical plants, etc. all got a good watering for the day. After watering, Jeff came into the greenhouse and went over the checklist for the weekend to make sure we were clear on what to complete and explain the jobs we didn’t know the plan for or how to complete it. Our next move then was to drench the blue hydrangeas with Aluminum Sulphate at 7g/L of water. The reason why they were drenched is to encourage the deep blue colored flowers by changing the soil, using amendments such as Aluminum Sulphate. Jordan mixed the Aluminum Sulphate into water jugs and I went along the blue hydrangeas and gave them a good drench.

Before we went on afternoon break, we updated the hydrangea chart with what was completed, which was the drench.  After our break Jeff went over what he would like to see in B-Caf. There was a shipment of tropicals delivered the Thursday day and he wanted them to be laid simply in the empty planters and as under planting with the existing plants. The plans he wanted were simple, reuse the sansevieria already there in rectangle planters, replant the croton and include pathos as the under planting for the majority of square planters. Due to the fact that it was Friday and the school was full of students, we made the executive decision to put off this job until Saturday. I checked the temperature in the greenhouse and it was maintaining a consistency of 16 degrees which is in the desired range. Jeff then showed us how to operate the manual seeder and Jordan started off seeding 2 Dusty Miller trays. While he completed 2 out of the four Dusty Miller trays, I walked the crop to see if any plants needed water. Then I completed sowing the remaining two Dusty Miller seed trays. Once we placed them in the greenhouse on the heated bench, Jeff told us to lay a thin layer of vermiculite on the tray and then mist it.  Now that the vermiculite was on the seeds and they were watered, a cover was placed on top of them.

Before

 

After

The last bit of seeding completed between Jordan and I were the four Salvia trays. Jordan pitched six succulents in red pots that were dead into the compost. I started making cacti mix with 2/3 Pro mix HP and 1/3 turface because we had to pot the four trays in the green house that were a mixture of starfish cactus, prickly pear cactus and polka dot. After that was done we started completing the closing checklist by checking the greenhouse plants;to see if water was needed and finished off the rest of the list such as checking the temperature in the priva system.

Saturday

Today we got blown into the greenhouse from the heavy snow squall. We walked in and began our morning checklist by checking for anything broken in the greenhouse like a broken window, checked the plants and propagation chamber, etc.  Due to the good watering the crop received yesterday we only needed to spot water the hydrangeas. Next we went off to B-caf in the school with 10 pothos and secateurs. Once we got into B-caf, we went around and took out the crotons and planted them in a couple of the planters. The sansevierias were taken out and placed in rectangle planters with one cultivar instead of the way they were, which was two cultivars blended. Once the majority of the crotons and sansevierias were replanted, we used the pothos and spread them out as under planting amongst the ficuses’. We then went back and got a second load of plants, the dosatron and cleaning supplies. The remaining planters of the Weeping Figs were moved into better locations and spaced out, along with having new under plantings of pothos.

I then went around and gave each planter a good drink of water and applied culture where needed with the dosatron. Jordan went around giving the area with each planter a good sweep. Back at the greenhouse we had to use up the leftover sansevieria and crotons (because no one wants to waste good plants) and placed them in the greenhouse. After we had lunch I completed the last 3 trays of salvia seeds and placed a thin layer of vermiculite on each. Then they promptly went into the greenhouse and had a delicious drink of water. The next task on our list was to pot up the last trays of begonias in propagation chamber and we did the 2 trays efficiently and were done in no time.

 Last item of the day completed was all four cacti trays were potted up into the orange pots. We then closed up shop for the night by completing the closing list, checking on the plants if water was needed and checking the temperature for the end of the day, etc.

Sunday

The weather today was still cold but you forgot about the cold with the beauty of the sunlight engulfing the greenhouse in a warm hug.

For our last we started off the day as usual with a morning checklist. Next while Jordan spot watered the hydrangeas I went along and collected the dead foliage on the hydrangea plant. We moved over to stock basket tables and cleaned them of the dead foliage and cut back several plants to encourage new growth. I then potted up three begonias in a stock basket to replace the diseased one before that was in another basket. The staghorn fern was then cleaned of scale to the best of our abilities and the leaves were cleaned with dish soap to add a shine to it.

 We put away the boxes that were in the greenhouse from the tropical plants order and placed them in the tractor. Next up was washing the misting system up and down, which we did until it gleamed like a mirror. Once we had lunch we spent the entire afternoon cleaning. Jordan worked in the greenhouse, washing the floor and I worked in the potting room washing the floor. After the floors were cleaned so well you could eat a meal off of them (although I wouldn`t recommend it) we closed up shop for the night by completing our last closing checklist.

What a terrific experience to have in an awesome learning environment such as the greenhouse where we gain new knowledge each time we are in there, whether it be for a weekend practical or a class.  It was another great weekend in the greenhouse for us both.

Greenhouse Weekend Duty Blog

Myles Roach & Emily Weber

Feb 5-7 2016

Friday:

     Another greenhouse weekend is upon us. Once we arrived at 8am we went through our checklist that every weekend group has to go through, which involves checking the inside and outside temperatures humidity as well as other important environmental factors, especially those crucial to the hydrangea crop.  Around 9am Jeff went over the weekend tasks with us giving us a few additional items to be completed throughout our 3 days at the greenhouse. The three of us sorted through some perennial geraniums that were in the bed of one of the RTV’s-last weekend’s group mistakenly took them for compost and put them with the rest of the dead plant material-then put them aside for potting later on. Emily and Myles then put the emphasis on the plants in the greenhouse, particularly the hydrangeas. We walked the crop, noting any pests or environmental damage. We decided to spot water any particularly dry Hydrangeas and decided to give them a healthy drink tomorrow. Emily then went through the stock basket plants pulling out dead foliage, scrapping mold and algae off the soil surfaces and monitoring for any pests. We found a number of mealy bugs on several of the stock plants, as well as a lot of aphids. The aphid population was reported in higher numbers the previous few weeks, so judging by past data the number of them seem to be still declining. While Emily continued to tend to the stock baskets (also re-organizing them by genus and or physical characteristics) Myles mixed fertilizer for the next few days. Around 10:30, after we took morning break, we potted up 76 Pennisetum plugs that came in recently. They will be for sale down the road. After that Emily fertilized them with some granular fertilizer and went through the Cacti and pulled out any dead foliage, then re-organized the calla lilies by colour (green and red separated) while Myles tended to things on the heat mats.

 There’s some ornamental peppers and other seedlings there that need to be constantly moist to make sure they don’t dry out. After lunch at 1:30, Jeff went with the two of us up to T-building where we re-potted two indoor Ficus trees and cleaned some mealy bug off another. T-building is at the front of the school and for obvious reasons we’ like these plants looking nice, so it was an enjoyable experience. This took about an hour, as we made quite a mess doing so which had to be cleaned. We were going to cut down an indoor dragon tree as well, but decided to come back tomorrow. After we wheeled ourselves back to the greenhouse Jeff showed me how to use the laminator so I could print off a sign for some plants in the greenhouse. Jeff left at 3pm, then we took break and re-organized the Pothos and begonias that were on the heat mat beside the seed pans. 

The begonias are for sale so they went on the sale bench while the Pothos were just in the unorganized. By the time we had that looking wonderful, we started cleaning up from our activities throughout the day. Things like washing the pots from the Ficus trees (big pots for interior trees), disposing of waste soil and sweeping the whole place. We left feeling satisfied and accomplished. Another two days ahead of us.

Saturday:

     Emily arrived around 740 and unlocked the greenhouse, Myles showed up at 750.  We went over our checklist, looked through the Priva system on the computer then walked the crop. The first time we did this last semester the greenhouse environment seemed unfamiliar, a bit foreign, but after some experience the full picture becomes much clearer and we can confidently walk in there and know what can be done to help promote a successful life for every plant were looking after. After going over our checklists we walked the hydrangea crop then watered them. 10 minutes seemed to do the trick. Myles hand watered the Pennisetum grasses we potted yesterday with the fertilizer also mixed yesterday. The seed pans and anything dry looking on the heat mats got watered also. Emily hand watered and tended to the poinsettia standards, and put turface in some cacti and succulent pots that were lacking ground cover. After break Myles potted up the geraniums we grabbed out of the RTV yesterday, then put clear plastic covers on them (to retain moisture) and put them on the heat mat. During that Emily was cleaning the staghorn fern and a bay leaf tree. They both had some scale on them as well as a fine layer of dust. Before lunch we pulled out the microscope and looked at some of the scale under the lens. Fascinating. The mother ‘scale’ morphs into a cocoon like structure to protect her young (this is what the scale appears to our eyes as) which live underneath. If the scale is pried open under the microscope, one can see how many babies are crawling under it. At first glance scale appears to be a plain stationary non harmful inanimate object, however upon investigation it’s a pretty creepy pest. After the bug viewing we were hungry, so we took lunch. After lunch we planned on taking the compost out back in the RTV and then around to the front where we still had work to do in T-building, but could not find the keys, so we wheeled our supplies up to T-building. We added more soil media to the two Ficus (Fig) trees we repotted yesterday then cleaned them free of mealy bug and dust. We also cut down an Indoor Dragon Tree that had a huge scale infestation and brought the healthy foliage back to the greenhouse (any foliage with scale stayed outside and went to the compost pile at the back of the property). Upon investigation we determined the keys were in Jeff’s office, so we made phone calls to him and M. Pascoe but to no avail. We had two RTV’s full of compost, so while we waited for a response Myles went and did more re-organization and cleaning in the greenhouse while Emily was in the tractor bay cleaning and putting away miscellaneous pots. Then around 3pm Jeff showed up and gave us the RTV keys, so we took the RTV to the back and dropped off the compost. After we got back Emily washed pots from the pennisetums and other random pots that were laying around while Myles attempted to print labels for the repotted plants. The label printer wasn’t lined up with the labels so Myles gave up printing labels for the day. We then did research on how to propagate an Ice Plant’s as the one we have has mealy bug present so we took some cuttings and tossed the mother plant. 

With about an hour left we went outside to complete another task which involved cutting down some tall grasses at the front of the greenhouse. We got the shears out tied them up and cut them down. I guess Jeff is taking them, so we put them out on the back patio. We spent the last half hour of our day cleaning up and going over the end of the day checklist.

Sunday:

     After calling in at 8, we checked the environmental settings in the greenhouse and went through the Priva system as usual. Everything looked good so we went into the greenhouse and decided to clean. There was a fair amount of soil and debris under all the rolling benches, so we climbed underneath and swept the entire floor, every inch under all the benches and out of all the corners and the nooks and crannies’. Emily cleaned along the window sills while Myles kept sweeping under the rolling tables. This was a time consuming event as it took us up to 10 o’clock. At this point we watered the Hydrangeas and any seed pans or pots on the heat mat that looked dry. Myles then went outside and finished cleaning up the garden in front of the greenhouse while Emily leaned up algae on the walls inside the greenhouse. After break Emily drove the smaller RTV out to the compost pile and dropped off the remaining compost. Driving these things is so fun. When we got back to the greenhouse we pulled out the other RTV and cleaned out the tractor bay. We swept then washed the floor as there was lots of dried salt on the floor, oh winter. Afterwards Emily organized the back patio while Myles repotted a Haworthia and a Crown Of Jewels, a succulent and a cacti. Myles then joined Emily and we moved some crates around on the back patio. It was now 12, time for food! After lunch we put all our efforts into cleaning. Myles wet and cleaned the floor in the greenhouse then squeegeed it into the drains. Every time the plants get watered, or the benches even get moved, dirt falls on the floor. The floor was spotless this morning but after watering it was loosely covered in dirt again, not to mention dead plant foliage from the benches bumping into each other, so another quick clean was in order. Emily concentrated on cleaning the potting room, as the floor was dirty in there. After a wash down we let it dry, then once dry Emily swept the remaining amount of dirt. After cleaning we organized some interior plants, organized the begonias again and did a final check of all stock basket plants.

Myles then watered the callas that are sitting in crates while Emily went and printed off a sign for the interior plants that are being grown. After a final cleanup we went through our final checklist and closed up shop for the weekend. It was another awesome experience for the both of us. This greenhouse is a wonderful place to learn in, there’s endless amounts of opportunity to experiment and grow in (pun intended) with the huge variety of plant species that we come in contact with. Even spending a few minutes aimless staring at the plants, something will be discovered. College is great, let’s hope others can share the same experience.

Greenhouse Weekend Duty 

Sebastian and Jamieson

January 29, 2016

It was a crisp fine Friday morning. The day started off with the regular opening checklist of the greenhouse - checking of the temperatures, recording the Priva graphs etc., All of this took a short period of time.  Jeff gave us a list of verbal instructions of what to do for the weekend and we took notes and were left to our own fate. Only time will tell if we nailed it. Our first objective for operation “weekend duty” was to adjust the rollers that the benches sit on in the greenhouse. Starting with bench one, Jim went to the far end and I stayed on the other end. With rubber mallets we slowly adjusted the rollers to the correct places. Once we finished the first we moved on to the next one until all the benches were adjusted. The first objective was completed so it was on to the second mission. A lesson in sowing seed by Jeff. Filling 2 trays of 288 cell trays with ProMix PGX plug mix and compacting it to a firm level we were ready to sow. Using our trusty high tech tool the vibrating seeder, we distributed 200 seeds each of Ornamental Pepper for a total of 400 seeds. Babying them right we should end up with a 99% success rate with light cover and a nice soaking of the trays we placed them on the heating tray and placed on plastic covers to retain moisture.

After this was completed, I figured with Jeff leaving soon it would be a good idea to gain access to the chemical storage locker. The CHERRY SPARKLER FOUNTAIN GRASS wasn’t rooting fast enough so I made up some fertilizer batches of one tablespoon of 10-52-10 in 4L in the watering cans and watered the CHERRY SPARKLER FOUNTAIN GRASS. While I was accomplishing this task Jim was cleaning the propagation chamber ridding it of an algae infestation. To our surprise we were once again on to the next task. So we teamed up and took on a whole new evil - the stock basket pull down and sort by genus. So Jim using the pull down tool which in my opinion looks like an over sized plunger brought them down as I placed them on the rolling benches. Once those were down we started sorting the stock baskets and hanging baskets by genus alphabetically. Once this task was near completion the day was nearing its end. So we starting doing or ending of the day check list and called it a day.

January 30, 2016

I was on my way in to grab the keys off the security office and the power goes out for a total of what seemed two milliseconds shortly after that the vending machines started going all haywire and the things were literally possessed and retrieving and delivering ghost orders. When coming upon the security office they were in a frenzy and the office was understaffed and they were busy trying to get back online and operational. The office said that the alarm might go off and trigger the system because of the little power failure so the security guard said he’d come disarm it. As we exited the college to go to the greenhouse he asked “are you driving” reluctantly I said “no I’m still riding the heel toe express” he chuckled and said “well here at Fanshawe we have technology and pointed to his campus security car. Upon arriving at the greenhouse security let us in and disarmed the alarm I said “thank you” and he left to do his duties. The first objective for operation ‘weekend duty’ was to sort through the cannas and group them accordingly while taking inventory of what was there. When we were done with the sorting of the cannas we moved on to evenly spacing the hydrangeas and pruning out what needed to be pruned.

With this out of the way I started placing plastic with double sided tape to hold in heat from underneath of the far back bench. When I was done Jim consolidated all the standard poinsettias on the far back bench. We emptied the hydroponics tub and consolidated those water plants into some big pots. Feeling well accomplished we started labeling and making a sign for the succulents and little pot for sale in the greenhouse.

With all this work being accomplished we lost track of time and soon enough it was time for close up and end of the day checklist and such.

January 31, 2016

Upon arriving on our final day we felt a sense of mourning. Our last day of greenhouse duty had struck a chord in the hearts of these horticulture students. First thing on the list was opening checklist. This day was reserved for the cleaning aspect of the greenhouse and writing and preparing of the blog. The cleaning of the greenhouse consisted of the sweeping and washing of the floors, cleaning the windowsills, picking dead foliage from the benches and cleaning out of the dirt catchers. After all the hard core cleaning of the greenhouse we tended to the more soft core cleaning of wiping down the tables, shelves and computer area and cleaning of the fridge. The task being well accomplished we started the preparation of our blog paper. After completion of the blog we did our end of the day checklist.