Morwyn and Dan's greenhouse weekend practical

Friday, February 7^th, 2014

The students arrived fresh faced and bushy tailed Friday morning, despite weather that would freeze the paws off a polar bear.  Dan and Morwyn retrieved the greenhouse keys from Fanshawe security and began with the day’s opening checklist, which included everything from facility inspection to analyzing hydrangea culture.  Jeff Rowley, resident horticulture technician and endlessly strong mentor, discussed the weekend’s various responsibilities and expectations, along with any tasks that could be accomplished if we found ourselves lacking things to do (this never happens).  After roughly an hour long debriefing, the students sauntered over to D building to retrieve a sleeve of petree dishes and paper filters for an experimental germination test.  The next undertaking was to prune and revive a somewhat sad looking Podocarpus that had undergone considerable environmental stress after being used in the 2014 Landscape Ontario Congress Trade Show.  While Morwyn was working on the plant, she noticed a sizeable but localized mealy bug infestation on the foliage.  Without a moment’s delay she ran to the chemical cabinet for the 50:50 isopropyl alcohol solution and generously doused the besieged plant with a fine spray.  Meanwhile, Lucas Michielsen arrived bearing gifts from Cuddy Gardens in Strathroy.  The students were instructed to take cuttings of the new plant material and attempt to propagate them in their new home.  After cooperatively hosing down the temporarily hospitalized Podocarpus, Dan and Morwyn began the painstakingly slow operation of separating bunches of Dichondra and dipping them into N.1 rooting hormone before plugging them in to flats filled with Pro Mix HP.  Number 1 rooting hormone is used on softwood and fleshy plants to promote root growth for fresh cuttings.  The same process was applied to the three other plant species that Lucas brought, which occupied most of the afternoon.  At some point, another horticulture technician student stopped by to deliver three enormous agave from Parkway Gardens, which were to be repotted and cleaned up before joining their plant siblings in the greenhouse.  All in all a productive day in the office!

                                  

 

Saturday, February 8^th, 2014

The first order of business Saturday morning was to assess the watering situation in the greenhouse.  Our hydrangeas were looking a little thirsty so the Dosatron was put into action; any pots missing drip lines were located and moved to accommodate the emitter spacing.  While the irrigation system did what it does best, Dan and Morwyn hand watered a few things and enjoyed the morning calm.  Next, the students began the prickly task of transplanting the donated agave from their horribly rootbound pots into larger clay vessels.  Equipped with thick gloves and trusted safety glasses, the students carefully cut away the plastic and released the agaves from their potbound prison.  Time flew by, with the blissful greenhouse quiet broken only by the intermittent hiss of the propagation chamber.  Happy in their stylishly comfortable clay pots, the agave were thoroughly inspected for scale and any other pests before being watered and placed on the bench.  After a well-deserved lunch break, we broke open the sleeve of petree dishes and embarked on Mike Pascoe’s latest germination experiment.   A diverse selection of seed was sown, ranging from basil and beans to gazanias and impatiens.  The paper filters were dampened and placed at the bottom of each petree dish to ensure a comfortably humid environment for the little guys.  After careful, meticulous seed sowing, the students moved on to the much anticipated organization and rearrangement of the cacti collection.  Knowing full well the job was too vast to finish in the few hours that were left, Dan and Morwyn laid out and documented which succulents required labels.  Unfortunately, the label maker was being a pain so tags had to be hand written.  A good start was made on the project, and the students left the greenhouse Saturday satisfied.

 

                      

   

Sunday, February 09, 2014

Last day of practical!  Morwyn was a little late due to inclement weather and traffic, but that didn’t stop Dan from spearheading the opening duties with vigor.  Around 9am, the duo plowed through the remaining cactus work and were delighted to be finished by lunch.  The cactus collection is now completely tidy, arranged by genus and family with largest plants on the top shelf and at the back of the bottom bench.  After lunch, the two collectively shifted a large fig at the back of the greenhouse out of the way of the emergency exit doors.  While back there, they noticed a staghorn fern sagging in its metal basket and decided to investigate.  One stepladder trip later, they were astonished and disgusted with what they saw.  Not only was the staghorn horribly underwatered and chlorotic, but it was infested with scale insect.  Thus, the students diligently and lovingly wiped the plant down with the same alcohol solution earlier implemented on Friday’s Podocarpus.  It was then promptly hosed down and given a long overdue hydrating before being returned to its spot at the back of the greenhouse.  Hopefully the scale stays away!  Realizing they were running out of time, Dan and Morwyn made the difficult decision to leave one of their tasks incomplete in order to give the facilities a most thorough clean (prioritizing how they thought Mike Pascoe would have wanted).  It took a little over an hour to bring the greenhouse back to its former, spotless glory, but it was undoubtedly worth it in the end.  The students were gleefully busy this weekend, and look forward to their landscape maintenance weekend practical at the end of April.  Stay tuned to more from the Spriet Family Greenhouse at Fanshawe College!