Weekend Greenhouse Practical Blog:

March 27-29, 2015

Ben W and Anina F

We were lucky enough to have been assigned on a very eventful weekend! Our biggest focus was the sales and management of the hydrangeas because the goal is to have them all sold by Easter. Our second biggest commitment was the care and watering of the new seedlings. They are so sensitive and require watering almost every hour! This meant very close attention and lots of watering throughout the days. Since most of the weekend was so sunny, the seedling trays dried out very quickly which kept us busy. Not only was it a busy time of the year for the greenhouse because of the growing season, but also it was a busy time for the college because of spring open house!

Basically most of Friday’s focus, among regular greenhouse duties, was the preparation for Saturday’s big event. This meant lots of cleaning and organizing around the common areas of the greenhouse but also all the ‘nooks and crannies’ so that the greenhouse looked superb! We dusted, whipped, shuffled, organized, and tidied top to bottom. This made for a very busy day, and being the committed students that we are; even stayed behind late in preparation for the big day! Sales were rather good that day, but Saturday was the greatest!

Saturday was the big day! We arrived early, eager to take on some last minute tasks before the future students appeared. Quickly and efficiently, we set out with a fast tracked version of "walking the crop". We watered the hydrangeas, gave the baskets a soak, and checked the seedlings. Then, as the first-year volunteers strolled in to assist with the day's happenings, we gave everything one finishing sweep. Our final prep task involved driving the tractors, trailers, and water tanker over from C Block. Parking them by the greenhouse, our aim was to display our program in full scope for our visitors.

The quiet hum of the greenhouse was soon replaced by voices of curiosity and question. It was a flurry of activities as introductions were made, exciting stories were told, and horticulture advice was exchanged. We proudly walked our newcomers through our facilities, class projects, and practical work. We displayed our bug boxes, design projects, as well as the power equipment and tools. The new turbo seeder demo was also a hit. Everyone was doing their part, whether it was touring, watering, selling, or demonstrating.

As the place finally slowed down, we took advantage of the extra hands and put our first-years to work. This included some catching up on watering, starting some cuttings, and taking care of some necessary cleaning. Although the weather was nippy, the sun was deceiving and the greenhouse swiftly heated up. This led to a rather unpleasant smell at the back of the greenhouse. It was coming from the seedling trays. The trays were situated on a heating mat,followed by a layer of plastic and a final sheet of fabric. However, with the combined efforts of continuous watering and heat, the fabric did not get a chance to dry out. Therefore, we stripped off the fabric and sterilized the plastic and mats with a bleach water solution to minimize the spread of mold and rid it of any possible diseases.

With the greenhouse back to us duty students around 2:00 pm, we gladly welcome the spare moments to reconvene and look over some new tasks. We managed our last few hours proficiently, doing some critical thinking and unexpected problem solving as well with a tractor that wouldn't start and some Priva trouble shooting. To our success, we got things sorted out just in time.

Sunday was much more low key in terms of ‘eventfulness’ around the greenhouse. We only had one sale of two hydrangeas, which we were actually very excited to have achieved even that!

However there was lots of work to still be done. Since open house took away from a lot of our regular duties around the greenhouse, we had to ensure that we collected all our data such as: our EC/pH readings from the geraniums. The pinching of plants (the sweet potato vines) were another requirement, because of the necessity to allow better watering and promote the energy of the plant to form healthy bushy plants.

Propagating was another huge project, which was nice to get started with the first-year students on Saturday, but there was still lots to continue on before the weekend was over, and it is crucial that it being the end of March, that these clippings get a head start. So we combed through the propagation chamber and picked out the most developed of all the propagated clippings and began transferring them to bigger pots, (to be placed in the greenhouse) to make way for the next phase of plants.

It was a very productive weekend, to say the least. While we were relieved to be finished, it was very rewarding to see so many people working together in one weekend. The open house, definitely gave as a moment to reflect on where we were two years ago and how much we've learned up to this point. So if you want our advice for how to succeed in your days as a Fanshawe Hort Tech: Don't be afraid to try new things, work hard, and step out of your comfort zone. This is often times where you learn the most, and gain experiences that will last a lifetime.