Weekend Greenhouse Duty Blog

Todd N. & Joshua D.

November 13, 14, 15, 2015

A Tale of two young men and the desire to learn

Day 1

                On the morning of Friday, November 13, 2015 there was a good feeling in the air. Both Joshua and Todd rose from their beds eager to start their weekend duty in the greenhouse at the London campus of Fanshawe College. When they arrived at the greenhouse Jeff Rowley was there to greet them and provide them with the information the two men needed to be able to successfully manage the greenhouse. He showed them how to open and close the greenhouse and how to monitor the conditions of the grow room using the Priva system. On the Wednesday prior to their weekend duty Todd met with Susan Millar and received a list of things to work on so the two budding horticulturalists would be prepared for their weekend. After Jeff was done with his orientation the two young men got right to work! They started with propagating succulents that were getting two big for their pots. With some careful use of secateurs, rooting hormone, and a steady hand Josh and Todd were able to turn one large plant into dozens of small ones that would be ready for sale in the future.

 They also started organizing pots in the tractor bay of the greenhouse. This proved to be a task that would not be handled easily. The pots put up such a fight that the two young men needed to take a break and rejuvenate their morale. This came at a convenient time because it was getting close to 5 and Josh and Todd needed to start with their greenhouse closing list. Once everything was wiped down, the temperatures all checked, and the curtains closed they discussed the things they had learned and parted ways. Both young men exuberant about what Saturday might bring.

Day 2

            Josh and Todd were both eager to get the day going on Saturday, November 14, 2015. Both of these men have never felt more enthusiastic about horticulture before this moment! When Josh and Todd got into the greenhouse on Saturday morning they got started right away on their list. Josh worked on opening the curtains to allow the light to hit the poinsettias, while Todd checked all of the graphs on the Priva system and made sure that all temperatures were in the correct range.

After the morning duties were finished Josh and Todd got busy working at getting the pots in the tractor bay organized. Big pots, small pots, medium pots, round pots, square pots, clay pots, and everything in between is what the two young men were dealing with. After this was completed they felt such an extremely large sense of accomplishment that it made it all worth it.

For the remainder of the day Josh and Todd did jobs that were not as high of a priority. They potted up a Caster Bean that was becoming too big for the pot it was in before. While this was being done Todd started taking the seeds out of the seed pods and separating them from the waste. In total there was approximately 100 seeds successfully extracted from the plant. He put the seeds into an envelope and labelled it accordingly so it can be dealt with properly on Monday.

They both got busy with closing up the greenhouse and making sure that everything was in its place and cleaned up properly. They both worked on shutting the curtains in the greenhouse to give the poinsettias the correct amount of time to be in the blackout. At the end of the day they went home with heavy hearts. Knowing that tomorrow, Sunday, would be their last day to implement all the skills that they have been learning on the week days in class.

Day 3

Sunday, November 15, 2015 was the final day that Josh and Todd could absorb knowledge about working and maintaining a functioning greenhouse with no supervision. They did not want to waste even a single minuet! The first thing they did was unlock the greenhouse and work on doing their opening list. The curtains in the greenhouse were opened up once again and the poinsettias could start to photosynthesize all the photons that beamed in through the glass panes. Most of the day was devoted to potting Cannas and putting them under the benches. They started with potting the ones that had the cultivar listed on the tag and left the other ones because they need time to grow so they can be identified easier in the future.

While working on the Cannas they were simultaneously making labels for everything in the greenhouse that did not already have a label.

Unfortunately they were not able to finish all of the Cannas because they had to stop and give the greenhouse a good, thorough cleaning. They washed everything. The benches got scrubbed, the floor got swept and moped, they put everything back where it belongs, the compost was taken to the compost, all of the plants in the greenhouse were checked and culture was applied as needed to them, and they made sure that the greenhouse would be in tip top shape for Monday. The story of the weekend that these two boys can be summed up in just a few words: teamwork, integrity, work ethic, attention to detail, and punctuality. Josh and Todd came into this weekend not knowing what to expect and left with a set of skills that they did not have before. They feel much more confident in a greenhouse environment and will be able to bring this with them to their work places after their time here at Fanshawe College is complete.

Greenhouse Weekend Duty Blog

Karima H. and Elizabeth L.

November 6, 7, 8 2015

The glorious weather outside made the weekend inside very bright and happy.

Friday November 6^th, 2015

To start off our day, we met Jeff in the greenhouse at 8 am to go over how to run the greenhouse and our daily duties which we had a checklist with all the details to follow. For the beginning of our day, we started by placing a shelve that had to be corrected by being welded, back on to the shelve section.  This job kept us on our toes, as we stepped onto the bottom shelve that the cactus were resting on to reconnect the shelve section. Afterwards, Elizabeth started walking the poinsettia crop; cleaning away dead foliage from the poinsettias and watering where needed. While Elizabeth tended to the poinsettia crop, I went along the far row and watered the cacti and stock baskets. Around 11, Sue came by and gave us our list of jobs to be completed this weekend. Once Sue left we got started dividing and transplanting the cannas in bulb crates. As we went along, we filled up the bench closest to the greenhouse. When each tray was placed down, we made sure that they all had their labels facing one direction. This created a very neat and professional effect.

Towards the end of the day, we finished with the bulb crate of cannas and then I walked the poinsettia crop and watered the odd plant that needed it. Considering they had just been watered yesterday, they didn’t need much watering. Euphorbia lactea was repotted as it was discovered uprooted from the soil and falling over. Getting closer to five, we started cleaning up the potting room. The floor and table got washed. Then we recorded the end of day temperatures from the Priva system, which is really informative, propagation chamber was checked and everything that the checklist laid out. We also submitted the Overview summary graph for the day. Overall our day was very packed and busy.

Saturday November 7^th, 2015

As I unlocked the doors to our new day in the greenhouse, you could feel the promise of a good day with the sunshine and coolness in the air. We started off our day by going to the computer using the Priva system to record the actual temperature and completed the opening checklist. Next we opened the shade curtains and then Elizabeth walked the crop. I took down each hanging stock basket, watered them and cut back the row of stock baskets. They looked brighter and happier afterwards. While I was paying attention to the stock baskets, Elizabeth reorganized the poinsettias by spacing them out.  Once that was done we continued on with the dividing and transplanting of the cannas. Elizabeth got a start on the cannas and I went on to do Interiorscape (watering the indoor plants) in B and T building. After lunch, I got started on the cannas with Elizabeth and by 330 pm, we had finished with the cannas.

With the cannas behind us, we cut back many of the stock plants and rearranged the plants so the labels faced the front. 

I then walked the crop and watered where needed. Next the shade curtains were closed and we completed our closing checklist.  This day was rather calm and steady with work.

Sunday November 8^th, 2015

We ran into the greenhouse today to escape the cold air and embrace the warmth. Throughout the day the sun came out making the day appear warmer outside.

To begin the day we finished our opening checklist. Once the shade curtains were open I walked the crop and turned on the emitters to water the poinsettias. Also I switched the emitters on for the stock baskets to make sure they got watered. While I walked the crop, Elizabeth cleaned out the water plant bin and cleaned up the water plants. The spent blooms and dead foliage were also cleaned up from the succulents, cacti, poinsettias and stock baskets. Next we continued facing the stock plants so the labels faced the front and finished off cutting them back. Yesterday, I had pointed out to Elizabeth the stunning Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’. It stood out to me due to its stunning blooms. She reminded me about it this morning saying how it was mentioned on a CBC program this morning. I found that interesting considering we just saw it yesterday in the greenhouse.

Afterwards we washed the bulb crates that the cannas had resided in and placed them in the outdoor area. While washing them down, I got a shower in the process. Then I took out the compost to the compost pile and while I did that, Elizabeth spread the waste potting soil into the raised beds attached to the greenhouse. She also picked up the garbage outside of the greenhouse. Once lunch was done we rolled up our sleeves and go to work cleaning the greenhouse until it sparkled. Now this isn’t to say the greenhouse wasn’t clean on Friday. It was. However we made a mess with our weekend duty and rightfully so had to clean it up. We spent a couple of hours cleaning the greenhouse floor, potting room floor, tractor bay, doors and windows. The greenhouse was cleaned up and down and sparkles like a star.

Overall this weekend was phenomenal because of the great weather outside which created a really positive vibe indoors. Plus how could we not have a great weekend with a poinsettia crop that looks this terrific? 

Greenhouse Weekend Duty Blog

Blayne & Thomas 

October 30^th, 31st & Nov 1^st

Friday

Working at the college this summer as a student gardener, I got to experience the best of both worlds; working in the greenhouse and maintaining the campus grounds. It was a great experience and I have to say I am very happy to be back working in the greenhouse this weekend with my partner Thomas. Here in the greenhouse we are gearing up for the Poinsettia sale that is approaching quickly. All of them are colouring fast and there will be a brilliant display of colour in the greenhouse as the sale approaches!  

Today began as a chilly cloudy morning but that did not stop my enthusiasm to get started! The first thing Thomas and I did was sign in and open the curtains for the Poinsettia black out period which is from 5:00 pm – 8:00 am. It is important to open and close them on time so they don't get disturbed while they are still developing colour. Then we did the opening walk through check list to make sure the facility was in tip top shape! This included checking the Priva greenhouse system of the temperatures, humidity, light etc. are at the right levels. After we completed our check list we began to "walk the crop". This is the opportunity to check out the foliage and root systems, which plants need to be watered and to look for any other problems that may be apparent. Until more tasks were assigned to us from Sue later in the morning, Thomas and I headed into the college to water the indoor plants. Around 11:00 am we returned to the greenhouse and met with Sue to go over all the duties we needed to complete this weekend. After a long list of things to complete, we immediately started making room for the grass transplants we were soon to get started on. We did this by moving some of the cacti and succulents over to the right side of the greenhouse along the racks from the greenhouse bench. To do this, we needed to gather some hanging baskets already on the racks, put hangers on them and hang them up along a full drip line system. With this extra room, we moved the remaining cacti and succulents with the rest. We then had enough room to lay the grass transplants along the bench.  For the short amount of time remaining we got a start on the divisions and transplanting of the grasses.

                                    

Saturday

Thomas and I started our day with the same procedure as yesterday morning which included the Priva system and watering, we then got right into finishing the divisions of the Pennisetum grasses. At a fast speed both of us were able to finish 8-10 full crates of grasses in a good amount of time. The grasses were Pennisteum  setaceum ‘Rubrum’, ‘Cherry Sparkler’ and  Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Pennstripe’. As seen in the pictures I was very excited to get going on the greenhouse work that I missed and enjoyed from the summer. These divisions were transplanted into 24 cell packs per tray. In total we completed 11 trays. Once the divisions were completed we worked hard to make the tractor bay and potting room spotless! 

Sunday

Today began with spot watering the Poinsettias, as most of them were already well watered. When most of the Poinsettias are dry the use of emitters make watering a little easier. One emitter is placed in each pot to slowly water the crop. With the use of emitters some become clogged and need to be cleaned or replaced, which is what we did. While I was spot watering, I came upon this beautifully coloured Poinsettia. It’s one of the first examples of the cultivar ‘Premier Jingle Bells’ that caught my eye. As much as everything we did this weekend is important to running a greenhouse, cleanliness of the greenhouse is just as important. Thomas and I spent the morning washing down the greenhouse and tractor bay floors.  For the rest of the day we did little tasks that needed to be done. I made sure that any hand written labels from the greenhouse class on Wednesday were replaced with proper print out labels. This is important so every plant has the details needed for future reference. After I made a quick stop by the compost, Thomas attached Velcro on the blackout curtains and the wall to prevent any openings between the curtains. Exposure of the street lights and the lighting around campus could affect the colour development of the Poinsettias. 

As the sun started to go down, we wrapped up the weekend by completing our closing checklist, blacked out the greenhouse and signed off.  I enjoy greenhouse because there is always so much to do. Second year has been a blast so far! Now that my two weekend practicals are complete for this semester, with the help of a great partner, I have to say, I’m already looking forward to the greenhouse duty next semester.