Weekend Duty Greenhouse Saturday October 1^st

Brett Blakey and Lexi Drenth

The weekend duty jobs that we were assigned were making sure the shade curtains were being open and closed at the proper times in the day, watering the plants that needed it with the correct fertilizer, walking the crop each day to check for disease and watering issues, taking all of the stock baskets inside and pruning them back for the winter, and general cleanup of the greenhouse and potting area.

Shade Curtains

For the shade curtains we would start the opening of the curtains at 830 in the morning to end the black out period and allow light in to the greenhouse. Poinsettia crops require twelve hours of darkness to allow the bracts to change colour in time for the winter. At the end of the day we went back into the greenhouse at 4 30 to start the black out period before we left for the night. The greenhouse celling however was set to a timer to allow the light to come in or be blocked out at the same time everyday. To open and close the curtains we had to use hooks that were attached to sticks and drag the curtains across the rail that they were attached to as far as we could. We also had to make sure that there were as few gaps in-between the curtains as possible to keep as much of the light out as we could when we were closeting them.

Walking the crop and watering

Each morning after the shade curtains were open we would walk through the entire crop row by row. Doing this let us see if the crop needs water. On Saturday we walked through the poinsettias and decided that the crop did not need to be water at all and could wait until Sunday. We did notice that not all of the emitters were working properly so we decided to only do some spot watering that day to spot water we filled up a watering can with straight water and took it through the aisles and found any that were still dry. There were also the poinsettia minis that needed to be watered as well. The minis were placed in solid trays and filled with 2 liters of water mixed with the mini poinsettia fertilizer that was a mix of 10-52-10. We waited a half hour to see if the minis soaked up the water through the bottom of the pots and up to the top. When we felt that the soil was wet enough we emptied the water out of the trays and placed the plants back inside them. We also watered the mums inside and outside with the hose and wand. We used the mum fertilizer for both the mums inside the greenhouse and outside.

Pruning

For pruning we had to take all of the stock baskets inside from the compound and brought them inside. We checked the tags on them to see if we had any cuttings in the propagation chamber. If we did have cuttings already we pruned the stock baskets all over and cut them back. Then we placed them on a cart in the potting room. We also had to prune the poinsettia standards so that they looked more round and pleasing to the eyes so that costumers would also like them. To do this we looked at the poinsettias and saw where they were not rounded and found the closest not so that we could make it have the rounded look that it should have.

Pot Cleaning and clean up

There were many pots that had to be cleaned and put away. To do this we just filled a sink up with water and dish soap. Then we would place the pots into the water and wash them out. After they were washed we had to let them dry before we were able to put them away. So we placed them on a cart and staked them so the air could still dry them all out. Washing the pots out was important because if they were not any disease that a plant could have had would still be on the pot when we needed them again. We also had to clean up the potting area when we were done for the day this means any clutter and plant matter had to be off the floor and put where they belonged so that it was easer to find these when we needed them again.

Sales and cash

As we were completing our tasks if a customer came into the greenhouse looking to buy some mums it was our job to help them pick some out and have them pay at the front desk. If they needed help bringing them to their car we would bring them over and place, then in the car. On Saturday we were able to sell 2 large mums and 3 pieces of squash. At the end of the day we also had to get the daily sales from the cash register and make sure that the amount we had in the register matched the amount on the report. When we decided that it all matched up we had to count out $100 for the float for Sunday. Then we put the rest of the profits and placed them in an envelope and locked it away in the drawer.   

After all of this was done on Saturday it was time to lock up the greenhouse making sure that all of the RTV keys were back from the maintenance crew and the radios were on the chargers for the next day.

  Sunday Blog

Lexi Drenth & Brett Blakey

                We got asked to do our weekend duty over September 30-October 2 weekend. There was always stuff for us to do. We got back from a field trip on Friday afternoon so we had less time to complete our tasks. We got asked to do things like organizing the Poinsettia crop, organizing the Mini Poinsettia crop, trimming back the stock baskets, taking inventory of things, and many more. So in the end of things, there was always stuff for us to do.

            When we went into the greenhouse on Sunday morning, we were hoping nothing went wrong over the night while we were not there. By problems I mean the temperature in the greenhouse being less than 13 degrees. The boiler was not on school property getting fixed. So when we made it in there, we signed in and got everything unlocked and then we continued with our opening checklist. Our main jobs in the morning is to walk the crop so we can check every single plant to see if there are any problems at all. Since the last four times the crop was with fertilizer, we did just straight water for the crop. After we watered the crop, we walked around the crop again just to make sure all of the emitters were working. I used the Dosatron to water the crop.

            Once we got all of the crop watered, I washed down the first half of the greenhouse floor, I had to do it right in the morning so the humidity would not get to bad. We separated to do different jobs. I was in the greenhouse, I first re-spaced all of the Mini Poinsettia crop. Then I re-organized the Poinsettia crop. While I was in the greenhouse, Brett was cleaning up the potting room by sweeping, washing pots, bleaching the counters. We stayed apart for a bit to get more work accomplished.

            For closing the greenhouse, we had to do the same thing as opening. We had a checklist to do every morning and every night. On the last night of our weekend shift, is kind of stressful. We had to make sure everything was perfect for our professors to see on Monday morning. When we closed on Sunday, we had to close the till even though we had no sales that day. We closed the curtains and we tried to put more clips on the curtains to fully blackout the greenhouse. We cleaned as much as we could and we made sure everything was watered and organized so the professors wouldn’t come in to a mess. We prioritized our work so we finished all of the important things first.