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.