Friday began bright and early, sun shining and temperate for this time of year. As we entered the greenhouse, we were greeted by Jeff who was ready to explain in great detail the tasks and responsibilities for the weekend ahead. Such tasks included completing our first greenhouse circle check list sheet. We continued our day with cleaning up the cuttings and their trays in the propagation chamber then rotating them so the bottom heat was evenly distributed throughout the whole cutting tray. As the day progressed we then rescued a pallet of soon to be disposed of pavers and moved them to their new home in the compound.

Jeff then masterfully explained and demonstrated how to properly mix fertilizer for the incredibly important poinsettia crop. This is done to provide the much needed nutrients to help them grow. Due to extreme heat levels, not typical for September, much spot watering was needed throughout the afternoon to keep our poinsettias happy; so whenever needed they received a hug from us with water. Spot watering is required because it is not necessary to water all plants as overwatered plants can suffer root rot and/or algae. This is especially important as we noted that one plant had already succumb to root rot while others had algae on the soil surface. As the day came closer to an end we managed to re-crate some of the Canna’s to ensure they successfully overwinter. We also attempted to fix some of the poinsettia water emitters; however, our efforts were unsuccessful, and as a result hand watering is required until the system can be corrected. Finally we finished our Friday with the closing checklist and locked up for the night, until tomorrow when we would return to continue finishing our weekend’s assigned tasks.

Saturday arrived at the greenhouse, another sunny, warm, autumn day. On arrival we were greeted with the sound of running water! A pipe became dislodged from the propagation chamber, we quickly determined the source of the pipe and fixed it so Michael’s newly transported cuttings from Cuddy’s wouldn’t parish from thirst. Then it was on to our checklist and insect identification which was very interesting and educational. In order to properly identify the insects, we needed to view them under a microscope. Identification was necessary in order to continue to monitor insect counts. The whitefly and thrip counts continue to increase in the greenhouse while fungus gnat counts decreased from the previous weekends. For a second week in a row, there are new insects in the greenhouse, we found one housefly and four shore flies. Since it was another warm unseasonal day, we checked in on the poinsettias more often and spot watered them as required. Today also required cleaning numerous cacti that arrived from Cuddy’s, including removing debris in the soil and from their spines, as well as sanitizing their pots with a solution of 10% bleach/90% water. This is very important in the greenhouse as it ensures that no insects or diseases are introduced into the greenhouse environment. Unfortunately, the cacti spines pricked Chad a few times while cleaning out the debris! OUCH! As the day came to a close we provided the Canna’s and Elephant Ears a much needed drink of water. And so another day ends of our weekend duty.

The final day arrives and we start off by completing the checklist and arranging Michael’s prized cactus collection in the greenhouse by Genus.

Today again came with a lot of cleaning and sanitizing. This included the floors, benches, pots, trays and sinks. Also included in the sanitizing tasks was the removal of waste potting soil and compost, which was dumped out from the RTV in the back compost area. All four of the floor drains and the sink drain were cleaned out as well to ensure a sanitary environment. With the tractor bay cleaned out, the RTV was happily returned to its home. As the day was coming to an end, we posted the signs that Sharri had printed and laminated the week prior, to let everyone know that we are now entering a blackout period in the greenhouse. At 5pm we started to close the curtains, much to our surprise some of the curtains wouldn’t close; however, with time and perseverance we managed to get them closed so that our poinsettia crop can receive the proper amount of darkness to produce coloured modified leaves (bracts). The blackout period was initiated on schedule to ensure crops are ready for sale mid-November. With the curtains closed it also symbolized the closing of our weekend.   

Weekend maintenance practical blog

September 19-21, 2014

Zach, Justin and Colin

We spent a heavy amount of time on the tree wells that Jeff had us edge and mulch. We went through and edged all the trees then we started on the mulch trips. Edging some of the trees was a challenge because some were very low and that made it hard to get the edge. Some of the trees on the berm were in very sandy soil which made the edge not stay. Then we started putting mulch over the tree well. This helps to moderate the temperature of the soil, keep weeds down and retain water to keep soil moist. After mulching all the tree wells we took a picture, satisfied of our work.

Weeding and pruning are very important maintenance jobs. They are primarily done for cosmetic purposes; basically a garden with weeds and branches sticking out everywhere does not look good. Curb appeal is very crucial for those walking down the sidewalk or driving on the road because it is how the gardens are viewed from the spectator’s point of view. Pruning is also important because it directs the energy by changing the location of the apical meristem of the plant and therefore can be trained to grow in a specific direction. This can be done to keep things looking tidy.

Garden beds living on the edge. A solid edge on a garden bed is crucial in helping maintain the bed. When you have a good edge on your bed, it makes it harder for weeds, grass or any other unwanted plants to invade your garden. It also acts as a barrier for mulch or water run-off. Not only is a good edge essential for maintaining your garden, it’s also huge for adding the final touches to make it look perfect. A nice straight flowing edge will make your garden look crisp.

Greenhouse Duty September 19th - 21st 2014
Greg and Sharri

Friday started with a re-iteration of greenhouse protocol and procedure. Following this we were given a thorough run through of the Priva system and how to access it via the student computer. The Priva system allows for total automation of all the greenhouse systems and is vital for keeping the poinsettia crop in a healthy state. Poinsettias require very specific day and night temperatures for optimal growth. According to Ball, if the nighttime temperature in the greenhouse is lower than 17C and the daytime temperature is lower than 21C the flowering is reduced, as well as affecting the bract size. Conversely, if the nighttime temperature in the greenhouse is greater than 17C and the daytime temperature is greater than 21C the flowering speeds up, bract colouring is reduced, and plant quality suffers. Priva allows the average temperatures in the greenhouse to be kept at optimal. Our day continued with the replacing of the yellow sticky cards hanging 8” above the crop in the greenhouse. Unfortunately, the whitefly counts are increasing but there are some new pests floating about - thrips and fungus gnats! 

The yellow sticky cards allow us to monitor pest situations in the greenhouse and decide when action must be taken against them - this is done by establishing a threshold limit. A threshold limit will vary depending on the crop and why it is being grown. If the crop is being grown more for aesthetics (eg. flowers, bracts) then your threshold limit may be reached much sooner than if it was grown for another reason. Determining an appropriate limit for your crop may be determined by taking a random sampling of plants, counting the pests per plant, and then averaging the pests out over your entire test sampling.
Greg and Jeff proceeded with the installation of the final few blackout curtains, and I printed out and lamenated the greenhouse blackout signs for the greenhouse doors. The blackout period for the poinsettia crop commences September 28th, and ensuring total darkness for them is imperative if their bracts are to properly “colour-up”. Any disruption and the blackout period will have to be re-started, thus delaying the availability of the crop for sale. 

 
Our day ended with some good old fashioned cleaning in the form of scrubbing and sanitizing the fridge and knocking down some pesky cobwebs... Proper cleaning/sanitizing is of course very important to ensure a nice sterile greenhouse environment and prevent any bugs or pathogens from thriving.
After doing our greenhouse check-list and walking the crop, our Saturday travails continued with the digging up of various cultivars of Canna lilies (Cannna indica), Colecacia gigantean (Giant Elephant Ears), and Colecacia esculenta (Elephant Ears) around the campus. Our goal - sort and crate them for storage over the winter as these plants are tropical and could never survive our frigid temperatures. This was no easy task as some of these beauties were rather large in size! After wrangling for an extended period of time with them, we managed to get them all (save some Giant Elephant Ears) cozy for winter in their crates with their Pro-Mix blankets…

A valiant attempt was made at naming the specific Canna indica cultivars, but only a few received monikers.
Sunday September 21st - the final day of greenhouse duty…
Our last day was spent taking care of some loose ends from the previous days. We started by completing the storing of the Elephant Ears by arranging them in a bulb crate, tying them together to make their large leaves more manageable, and packing them tightly with some Pro-mix soil. We also began the preparations for propagation chambers by lining the bottom by weaving a heating cable lengthwise through the box. It was important to make sure the cable was spaced evenly to ensure that an even spread of heat is distributed into the media.
The afternoon consisted primarily of cleaning and other housekeeping duties to prepare for the next group tending to the greenhouse.

September 12-14, 2014 Weekend Greenhouse Blog

Sara and Steve

This weekend has been filled with many different aspects of operating a full working greenhouse that has many profitable crops on at once. We even used the math that was taught to us in class! It is very crucial to keep monitoring the crops throughout the day as things can change quite quickly. Checking that the PRIVA greenhouse controls are working properly are another very important part to keeping the crop thriving.

Our first task we deemed the most important was to finish properly spacing the poinsettias as well as the stock crop we have in the greenhouse.  Space is very important as the plants will soon just grow vertically instead of growing into a full, thick plant.

Our Autumn time crop –the Chrysanthemums- are all set and ready to go, not very far though as they are staying on campus. All the main and major locations of the campus received a freshening up of the planters. Annuals that will shortly die off have been replaced with full Autumn Mums that can handle the first couple of visits by Jack Frost.

We were given a chance to try our hand at interiorscape. We did a transplant from a broken pot to a new pot. Brought a few plants including a large Christmas Cactus to the greenhouse to give them a little T.L.C.

 

 

Along with the work duties we were to keep a close eye on the poinsettia crop. We completed the pest monitoring sheets. This included replacing the sticky trap sheets, walking the crop twice a day checking over every plant. The sticky traps we took down were examined, bugs were counted and identified.

 

 

 

The major problems we saw with the crop this weekend were fertilizer burn and algae growth. The Algae growth is the result of overwatering, this can be a major issue for our crop. The burn was likely due to the fertilizer mixed at 250 ppm, the problem was resolved by a water flush and mixing a new batch of fertilizer to be at 100 ppm. That’s where the math came in.

Grams/litre =  ppm x injector ratio

                    % N(nitrogen) x 10 (constant)   

          All in all it had been a great weekend here in the Campus Greenhouse, filled with laughter and learning.

Weekend Maintenance Practical Blog
September 12-14, 2014

                What a wonderful weekend to start out work on the Friday morning with nothing better than warm and sunny weather. I was a little nervous starting the weekend not knowing what to expect, especially being the first group through. It was nice to have Jeff walk through everything that needed to be done for the weekend in the morning. With this I could prioritize what order things should get done first during the rest of the weekend. Starting off in the Carolinian forest, I was to edge out the previous tree well and expend them to cover most of the drip line. Some of the trees looked like they could use a little tidy up as well. As the day kept proceeding forward it seemed as if the day was passing by rather quickly. It was a good memory booster with the plant id. Testing myself before getting to the tree, thinking what was the botanical and common name of the tree I am coming up to.

 

After edging and weeding all of the tree wells it was time to put mulch down around the freshly edged tree wells. Before being able to lay the mulch down I had to go and get the Kubota tractor from the tractor bay. This allowed me to get practice driving the equipment here at the college and becoming more comfortable driving the heavy machinery. It was good practice having to load the trailer full of mulch with the tractor bucket. Using skills I was taught in previous courses I was able to fill the trailer without having any difficulty or troubles along my way. While working out in the rain on Saturday morning I got to experience what it is like to be in the landscaping field. Not taking time off because of the weather outside and I learned to be prepared to work in any situation. Also with this I learned that you are sometimes forced to work in situations that you do not want to but that comes along with the job title. While all this mulching and edging was going on it gave me a good chance to search for any pest that were within the tree.

 

During this working weekend I was able to improve on some of my work skills and continue to get better on them. Being able to develop these skills and improve on them is going to help me along my way in becoming a horticulture technician. With working by myself all weekend I realize how long some tasks can actually take during the day and that prioritizing your work load can help reduce some of the running around time that is so precious to waste. All and all it was a good weekend of learning and a good experience of gaining hand on knowledge of some aspects in the horticulture industry.