Green house Blog

            On November 4^th, 2016 Ben McConkey and Brandon Velda showed up at 7:50am to start weekend greenhouse duty. When Ben and Brandon arrived, Jeff was waiting for us to go over the expectations for the weekend of November 4, 5, and 6. Jeff showed us how to open up the greenhouse and what to do when we first arrive. Ben and Brandon started off by taking off the black curtains in the greenhouse to let the sun in. After finishing the curtains, we went and got our next task from Jeff. Jeff told us to do a walk-through of the poinsettias to check and see how moist the soil was and if the plants needed more water. We also picked up any debris that we saw lying on the tables when we did our walk-through. After we did our check, we decided that the plants needed some attention. We checked the poinsettia book to see if the plants need fertilizer or just water. The book told us that it was the fifth cycle which meant the plants just needed water and no fertilizer. We went back into the greenhouse and turned on the emitters to water the poinsettias. As the plants were being watered Jeff went over a couple more important things that had to be done during the weekend. Jeff informed us that the emitters should be on for 12-15 minutes. When it was time to shut the system off, we walked the crop again to make sure every plant was getting water. We would pick the odd plant up and check the roots to make sure the soil was wet and that the plants were getting enough water. If we found a plant that was still a little dry we would get a watering can and water the plants that needed more. Next, we watered the mini poinsettias that were on the shelves. The mini poinsettias need a cup and a half (1.5L) of water per tray. We would fill the cups with water and poor them into the trays of mini poinsettias. After all of the poinsettias were watered, we checked everything else in the greenhouse to see if anything needed to be watered. If so, we watered accordingly. 

When everything in the greenhouse was watered we set up the sticky cards for our IPM assignment that had to be completed over the weekend. One of the tasks we were given over the weekend was to make sure everything had a clear label on it. Ben and I (Brandon) did a walk around the greenhouse to see what labels we needed to make. Whichever plant needed a label we would take the old label out, and use it as a reference for the new label. We wrote down how many of each label we needed. Ben and I asked Jeff if he could show us how to print the labels and what exactly had to be on each label. As Brandon was printing off labels, Jeff took Ben to the second floor of F building to take plants out of the planters and added media to the pots and replanted the under story plants, as well as taking Ficus trees out of existing pots and repotting them.  Also Jeff told ben to bring the Aquamate with him so he could water and treat the plants for mealy bugs. After lunch the internet was available in the greenhouse so Jeff showed us how to do the Priva checks and how to finish the opening check list. At the end of the day, Ben and I did the closing checklist, made sure the floors and tables were clean, and put the blackout curtains back up.

November 5^th, 2016

            Ben and I showed up at 7:50am and called to check in. We then went into the greenhouse and moved the blackout curtains. Before we did anything else we made sure our opening checklist was done. Next we did our walk of the crop to check for debris and if there was anything wrong. After that we knew it was the start of a new cycle so we added fertilizer when we watered the poinsettias. Next we watered the other plants in the greenhouse. Ben and I then did a circle check on the RTV so we could go collect more Pennisetum grasses. We collected the grasses from behind the Fanshawe sign at the front of campus on the corner of Oxford St. We brought the grasses back to the greenhouse and cut them and put them into 4inch pots. We filled 4 trays with 15 cuttings in each tray. We took the extra grasses back that we didn’t need and re planted them where we took them from. We brought water with us to put on the grasses to make sure they didn’t die.

Jeff sent us a message to send him some measurements of the greenhouse so we did that right away. Throughout the day we checked on the plants to make sure everything had been watered and taken care of. We also had to make 2-3 compost runs. Also we collected castor beans and put them on flats with newspaper and put them on the shelf in the sun.

At the end of the day we did our closing checklist, made sure everything was tidy, and closed the curtains for the blackout period. We called Jeff at 5pm to let him know we were done for the day.

November 6^th, 2016

            Ben came in early because he forgot to set his clocks back an hour. By the time I (Brandon) got to the greenhouse, Ben already had the opening checklist done and the curtains opened. Ben called in when he arrived to check in and Brandon did when he arrived also. We did a walk of the crop and watered the poinsettias. We checked all the other plants and watered them also. Next we pulled the RTV out of the garage and did a circle check on it. We then cleaned inside the garage and organized all of the pots and sorted them. Jeff asked us to put some different boxes, flats and pots on the skids that are in the garage so we did. We dusted off the shelves and swept up the floor. After lunch we made sure we completed everything that was assigned to us. Ben and I then swept up the floors and emptied the compost bin. Next we proceeded to do a deep clean inside the greenhouse.  We washed and scrubbed the floors and cleaned all the tables. We collected our IPM cards and recorded our results. At the end of the day we finished the closing checklist and put the curtains back. We called in to let Jeff know that we were done for the weekend.

Ben McConkey and Brandon Velda