Eric Stacey

Weekend practical: March 21 – March 23

 

So spring is finally here! Always an exciting time in the plant world with fresh new blooms of colour soon to come! Upon arriving on the sunny Friday morning with a delicious double-double in hand, I proceeded to work through opening procedures; walking the crop and checking over our testy seedlings being sure they are well hydrated. Seeding, seeding, and seeding! It proved to be a tedious Friday with nothing but seeding going on. After filling roughly 17 seed trays (288’s), I tried my best at updating the sowing spreadsheet.

 

Saturday was the big day. Open House! Arriving on the chilly Saturday morning I was ready to sell our program to potential future Hort Techs with enthusiasm. While walking the crop I realized that the hydrangea needed a drink. With sweet music of the Dosatron in the background, I began to pay some attention to the Colacasia and their friends. It’s party-time for some aphids that have taking a liking to the fleshy green of the Elephant ears. With a glimmer of hope I did my best to eradicate the little pests using Safer's insecticidal soap. The clock strikes ten and guests are arriving so I had to put cultural control on hold to greet and meet with eager candidates. I was truly amazed to see the similarities of interests and passion in horticulture and it was very rewarding to speak so well of this awesome program! Throughout the day I had managed to finish up some leftover seeding from Friday.

 

Sunday started cool and breezy as I reviewed what was to be done for the day. Fellow Classmate J Ro showed up to tackle the gigantic load of tropicals that we have tucked away in the tractor bay thanks to a generous donation that was received on Wednesday. After the initial opening procedures I started on catching up on some overdue interiorscape. Only to find that our Aquamate is in need of maintenance! Thanks to the Jr. Aquamate, I managed to feed some thirsty plants throughout the main areas of the school. The afternoon was productive. After helping J Ro pot up some tropicals for the day I finished some culture and one last seed tray. Time for the Sunday sweep and clean. Hoping my efforts to suppress our aphid friends will help, I was finished my practical weekend and ready to start another wishful week. The days of spring are here! Freshen up with horticulture!