Greenhouse Weekend Duty Blog - February 16-18, 2018

Taylor Shpak & Chris MacDonald

This weekend at the greenhouse, we prepared for spring! On Friday, we potted up mixed
plantings for hanging baskets, featuring begonias, petunias, coleus, and asparagus fern, that
promise to fill out into some of the best-looking arrangements we have put together yet!

We also received a shipment of Alocasia seedlings. These were the ‘Calidora’ cultivar, which
usually reach heights of 5-7 feet at maturity, and boast large, showy foliage.

The main focus at this time of year in the greenhouse is our Hydrangea crop. The cultivars on
selection this year include Early Blue, Vanilla Sky, Rosa, and Chique. In order to achieve the
stunning blue colour of Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Early Blue’, special attention must be paid to
keep the pH of the soil acidic for the plant to produce blue sepals.
Horticulturists have been using aluminum sulphate for years to increase the acidity of their
growing media in order to produce blue hydrangeas, but did you know that the hydrangea
evolved this reaction as a survival tactic? Many plants are unable to grow in soils with a high
aluminum content, but the molecule anthocyanin -- the presence of which makes the sepals
pink or red by default -- is able to bond at the molecular level with the aluminum in the soil,
negating the damaging effects a high aluminum content usually has on a plant (Kimlicka, 2014).
A great example of nature’s resiliency, with a colourful side effect! We look forward to seeing the
results of our work in the coming weeks as the hydrangeas mature.

On Saturday, we turned our attention to making sure all plants in the greenhouse were at their
best. Walking the crops and spot-watering the places that are often overlooked during the
course of a busy week is important to make sure there are no neglected plants that could be
wilting, or otherwise damaged. Here is some Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' that we spent time
cleaning up on Saturday.

Continuing with the theme of spring preparation, on Sunday, we planted Colocasia corms.
Colocasia esculenta, also known as Elephant’s Ear, is a tropical plant that reproduces via thick
underground root systems, similar to a bulb or tuber, known as corms. Elephant’s Ear corms are
edible, and used across the globe in many cuisines-- sometimes prepared similarly to potatoes,
and even used in sweet desserts & drinks like bubble tea!
Overall, our weekend in the greenhouse went smoothly and provided us with a unique
opportunity to learn how incredible plants are at adapting to their environment, as well as some
interesting insight into how they function at a molecular level.

Symposium, queens tears, Valentine’s Day succulents and problems

Sara and Nicole – February 9-11, 2018

To begin this weekend, on Friday Nicole and I attended the Plant Symposium. We got to stay for 2 presentations. The first one was given by the head gardener of the Toronto Botanical Garden. The topic of his presentation was pollinators, and how we can incorporate more native plants/how we can create our gardens to better suit them. Something interesting about his speech was that he does not care for aesthetics, he cares about the creatures that are present in the garden. He has a different opinion on gardening practices, for example he is against deadheading flower heads so that birds may come and collect the seeds. Additionally, his front and back yard are covered in plant material, because he believes that turf is the worst monoculture today and we should use the space that we have wisely. The second presentation was about edible native plants. We learned a lot a lot of new plant material, such as Wood Betony (Stachys officinalis), Hickory (Carya), Wild Leek (Allium tricoccum), and Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium). The Fireweed is particularly interesting because it grows in places where a fire has occurred, amending the soil. This plant is important for pollinators, and the young shoots and leaves can be substituted for asparagus. Overall, the Symposium was enjoyable and an interesting learning experience. We returned to the greenhouse at 1:00 to commence our duties.

Our first task was creating Valentine’s Day planters in heart shaped containers using succulents, decorative gravel, Pro-mix HP and moss. Some of the succulents used were Echeveria, Aloe, and Kalanchoe varieties. We planted them in groupings of 3, each with different textures/colours to make them pop. These will be sold in the greenhouse throughout the course of the week.

Matt M. brought in a beautiful plant to be taken care of. Queen’s Tears (Billbergia nutans) is an epiphytic plant meaning that in its native environment it grows on trees without any soil. This is also the growing habit of orchids and air plants. This plant is part of the Bromeliaceae family, which is a family we are familiar with from Tropical Plant Identification. It grows similar to a spider plant, the leaves are dark green, glossy and have jagged teeth along the margin which is why we had to wear gloves and long sleeves when we divided it. The root system is very fibrous and strong. We had to use knives to be able to penetrate through. Queen’s Tears is native to Brazil, and its flowers are stunning. Protected by bright pink sepals, the flowers dangle from the plant in a panicle of 3 petaled flowers, with a purple margin and bright green in the middle. This plant can survive heavy neglect, as Matt said he hadn’t watered it in 3 months. Bright indirect light is recommended to keep this plant happy.

Over the course of the weekend, we experienced a few issues in the greenhouse. On Saturday, it was very cold outside, but the interior of the greenhouse was warm, so the vents opened. Unfortunately, what happened was once they opened during the day it slowly froze and the vent was unable to close because of the ice. Jeff visited the greenhouse and chipped the ice off so that they could close. If this problem hadn’t been resolved, the entire crop could have been compromised. Another issue we had was that the water would not run from the hoses at all, just from the sink. We realized that the lever on the Dosatron hadn’t been turned completely and then the issue was resolved. An incident in the bay occurred, a mouse had been caught in the trap and I had to remove it so that the trap could be re used. This was unanticipated and gross but we got it done.

Overall the weekend went smoothly, it turned out to be very educational.

Weekend Duty Feb. 2-4, 2018

By: Jennifer H. and Colton G.

Friday

Colton and I arrived at the Greenhouse for the morning and met Jeff for 8 am sharp. It had snowed the night before so it was nice to walk into the warmth of the greenhouse that morning. We were given a few extra tasks but otherwise it promised to be a laidback weekend. We have our new crop of Hydrangeas and lots of young cuttings from our stock baskets, or ‘residents’, to watch over. We got many of our specific tasks done today with watering the Canna Lilies, lying dormant under our benches, making sure the Priva bulb was wet (it measures the relative humidity in the greenhouse for us), and switching over our wrapping from the Poinsettias to the new ones for the Hydrangeas. We walked the Hydrangeas to make sure they were all watered and looked healthy. Right now they are growing their flower buds and focussing on growing bigger. Since they all looked well we started to inventory our stock baskets and cuttings. Over the last few weeks the students have been furiously creating new cuttings, for some of our customers and to help rejuvenate our hardworking baskets. Colton and I went through and counted and checked all the baskets, 4” pots, and cuttings to make sure our inventory was right. Colton took any cuttings that were well rooted and created a few new stock baskets with them. We also printed out new labels for baskets that didn’t have any and had to I.D. a few plants. Overall it was a pretty productive day.

Saturday

It was a nice clear winter morning when we arrived today. Colton picked up the keys this morning and then we checked in for the day. We were greeted by some alarm notifications on our Priva system when we did the opening checks. It looked like something happened within the system and it restarted itself at 4:21 am. Fortunately whatever was wrong was righted when it restarted and everything went on as scheduled. If the temperature went too cold in the night it would have been dangerous for our Hydrangeas: they like the temperature between 14 to 15 degrees.  Today we focussed on doing some more stock basket management and some extra interiorscaping. We took some more cuttings and even did about 24 cuttings of the Pothos Ivy from Fanshawes Library. We took the Aquamate and took care of a few hallways of plants in the school, pruning, watering, and dusting. One was very low in soil so we topped it up. When we walked the Hydrangeas, they still looked well so we left them alone for the day. There were a few baskets that had some pests from past weeks, they were treated but unfortunately were still infested, so we treated them again and left them in quarantine (image below is how we identify any pests and our poor plants in quarantine). Lastly we did some cleaning, wiped down the heat mats and reduced some clutter around the greenhouse. We headed home after the closing checklist and locking up.

 Sunday

The weather was cold and blizzardly outside this morning, so the Greenhouse felt like our own warm, private, summer oasis. We had a quiet morning, after completing the opening checks we did some extra cleaning. Keeping a clean, uncluttered greenhouse is important because it helps to remove any ideal places for pests and disease to live, keeps things safe and easier to work with, and helps to reduce the transfer of any diseases (first image below shows Colton sanitizing his secateurs). Greenhouses are the perfect habitat for most pests so you have to do everything you can to deter them. We fully swept the floors under the benches and then watered the Hydrangeas. Colton had put up yellow sticky cards on Friday to monitor for pests and today he took them down and analyzed them. He found very few insects, maybe a few Fungus Gnats, but otherwise it looked pretty clear. About an hour after we watered (Colton below is turning on all the valves for watering), we brought in a few Hydrangeas and checked their EC (Electrical Conductivity) and pH levels. We accidently moved the dials on the probe so we needed to re-calibrate it before using it. The results were all relatively normal except for the Blue Hydrangeas which had high pH levels (it was at 6 when we needed under 5.5). They have just started being fertilized so this should correct itself soon. At the end of the day we again did some more cleaning, completed our closing tasks and finished our last Greenhouse Duty for the year!

January 26- January 28, 2018
Matt and Stephanie

                This weekend we had the opportunity to help set-up a small hydroponics station for tomatoes. We began by setting the timer on the pump that circulates water between the two stations (large plastic containers). From there, we soaked small cubes of rock wool which is used as the substrate for the plants. We then placed the saturated cubes into small propagation chambers where the seeds should germinate within a few days. There is going to be a combination of cherry and beefsteak tomatoes. If successful, we can try growing additional plants using hydroponics. In addition, we adjusted the pH of the water to make it more alkaline by adding Phosphoric acid.  

Some advantages of using hydroponics include: higher yields, water efficiency, and continuous production. Commercial crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, strawberry, and leafy greens can be grown using hydroponic technology. One study done on lettuce grown in Arizona showed that hydroponic production of lettuce had about 11 times greater yield per area than lettuce that was grown conventionally. Although on a large scale, hydroponics systems are very demanding in terms of energy use. The system also showed greater efficiency in terms of water use.

Sources:

Barbosa, G.L., Gadelha, F.D.A., Kublik, N., Proctor, A., Reichelm, L., Weissinger, E., Wohlleb, et al.                                             Comparison of Land, Water, and Energy Requirements of Lettuce Grown Using Hydroponics vs.                                Conventional Agricultural Methods. Int J Environ Res Public Health,  12(6). Retrieved from                            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4483736/

 Potted Hydrangea macrophylla care:

From Fanshawe’s greenhouse to caring for them in your home 

So you’ve just purchased your beautiful new Hydrangea from Fanshawe’s horticulture technician program, and now it’s time take it on the rest of its journey: depending on the level of knowledge you already have this may come easily or not. So the second topic of today’s blog I think naturally should pertain to some basic general care tips and facts on Hydrangea macrophylla.

Firstly I would like to express the difficulty of growing Hydrangea macrophylla; it is by any means not a challenging shrub, generally the rule goes for any plant right plant right spot. That’s our first objective for the proper care of this plant, we need to also consider the conditions of which it will grow either outdoors or indoors. How will the plants cultural requirements on reflect those conditions for example, florist hydrangeas are not bred for cold hardiness and instead their bloom structure, color, longevity…etc.  so they are different fundamentally from the hydrangeas sold at nursery’s which are cold tolerant such hydrangea serrata which can hold up fine in zone 4 to 5 leaving hydrangea macrophylla (the potted hydrangeas we sell i.e. florist Hydrangeas.) are only hardy to zone 6, which borders or own climate zone (6b)

Making Florist hydrangeas marginally hardy to our area, meaning with protection and a moderately average winter they will overwinter outdoors. Growing your florist’s hydrangea indoor on the other hand will be more challenging due to the cultural requirements they have when it comes to bright morning sun and bright indirect lighting. Which is a challenge in the winter due to low light intensity and general cloudy weather, an ideal spot to grow a hydrangea indoor is bright windowsill which receives bright morning sun and indirect afternoon sun.  Also avoid placement near heat registers due to excessive water loss from the leaves and soil (Big leaf hydrangeas don’t fare well with excessive water loss via transpiration in the leaves because they can get so big.)

Secondly, watering Hydrangea macrophylla is key factor to your plant success indoors or out. These are thirsty shrubs and do not tolerate drought though on the bright side due to this high need for water your plant will tell you when it is time for you to give it a drink and droop like its dying! Luckily they are just attention seeking divas and this should be seen as more a positive than a negative.  During active growth Hydrangea macrophylla should be fed up to three times in early spring to early summer for the easiest results for the home gardener buy a pre mixed hydrangea fertilizer. Hydrangea fertilizers can also contain a very important component: aluminum sulphate, the key freely changing the color of your hydrangeas bloom.

In Closing, if planted outside the florist’s hydrangea will perform marginally, as long as protection is applied and it is planted in spot that receives morning sun only and the soil is moisture retentive and rich in nutrients, all is golden. Though they will not likely bloom again, as they only bloom off old wood and in most cases the old wood will die back to the ground from being marginally hard. To re-bloom your plant it would be best to keep your plant potted outdoors and bring it inside to an unheated garage or dark cool room for the winter, to avoid loss of stems and branches.

Bibliography:

Christopher Brickell. C.B. (2011). ENCYLOPEDIA OF PLANTS & FLOWERS REVISED AND UPDATED. London, England: Dorling Kindersley.

Brickell, C. B. Cole, T. C. (2009) Canadian Encyclopedia Of Gardening. London, England: Dorling Kinsley.

Weekend Duty (Jan 12-Jan 14) Sara and Rebecca

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12

On Friday, we met with Jeff at 8, and began to do some post-congress clean up. Together, we unloaded the program trailer and organized all the tools and equipment we had brought with us to Toronto. We unloaded all the plant material in the greenhouse that we had taken with us. After everything was put back in its place and everything was back to normal, Becca and I met with Jeff and he informed us of all our tasks to do for the weekend.

We began our tasks with completing our opening checklist. Unfortunately, the PRIVA system on the computer was not working this weekend, so Jeff said we were exempt from completing this component of our duty. Instead, we began a large clean up in the greenhouse. We removed any leftover mulch in the stock basket pots, put hangers back onto the pots, and inserted drip lines. We also pruned the Pennisetum grasses, removing any dead foliage within the plants. After this, we did a compost run with the RTV in the snow and hail.

Our next big task was transplanting all the ‘Chique’ hydrangeas from their small green pots to the bigger black ones. These hydrangeas were becoming pot bound, so while transplanting, we tickled the root system to encourage new root growth in their new homes. We did not complete all of the transplanting on Friday, because we were running close to quitting time. We soaked the floor in the greenhouse and squeegeed all the excess water and called it a day.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 13

We arrived at the greenhouse at 7:50 and begin our day. We start by completing our morning checklist, and then finished up transplanting the ‘Chique’ hydrangeas. The plants in the greenhouse all looked a little thirsty, so we decided to begin watering and fertilizing. First, we fertilized the blue hydrangeas by turning all the valves that were not directed towards our target so that they didn’t get fed the wrong solution. Then, we switched the Dosatron’s supply of fertilizer to the mix specifically for the blue variety. Once these plants had been fed, we fertilized the pink/white hydrangeas with their specific mix, turning off the valves accordingly so that every plant received their proper nutrients. Finally, we hit all the perennials and the stock baskets with 20/20/20 fertilizer to put a pep in their step because they looked sad from congress.

Next, we were tasked to plant leftover tulips in the large planters inside the school, by the bookstore. There was lots of garbage in these planters, so we cleaned them up, pruned any dead out and planted the tulips in their pots into these planters.  We took the Aqua mate and fertilized/watered these planters afterwards along with the 3 planters that were in the library. The ramp was steeper than expected. Once finished this, we returned the Aqua mate back to its home in the tool room and headed back into the greenhouse.

We placed the sticky traps in the greenhouse. We left them on for 4 hours due to the hatching of the parasitic wasp. The traps caught 2 fungus gnats. There were lots of pots that needed to be washed and it was becoming overwhelming so we decided to tackle that next. I (Sara) washed the pots while Becca cleaned the floors because we had created a small mess.  Once we had a clean work area, we began to take cuttings for the order of the purple and variegated inch plants as well as the gold dipped coleus. Upon working on this, we swept, cleaned and locked up for the night.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 14

On Sunday morning we completed our checklist and got to work. We finished taking cuttings for the order, potted them up and moved on to the next task. We walked the crop, finished washing the pots, swept underneath all the benches in the greenhouse, spot watered anything that looked dry.  We flooded the floors and did a final cleanup of everything.  We completed the blog I am currently writing and did another compost run. I am about to work on our IPM discussion post. To finish, we transplanted the Electric Lemon Coleus and refilled the Pro-mix container.

Overall, I learned a lot from this weekend duty. Using the Dosatron was a new skill I learned as well as getting some more experience on the RTV. It was a very enjoyable weekend, we had lots of fun!

-Sara and Becca