Weekend Duty Sutherland & Nicolai

February 23-25, 2018

Friday we began by getting a brief chat from Jeff outlining the duties assigned for the weekend, performed a quick yet thorough circle check of the greenhouse and crop, followed by a bit of spot watering and the planting of the purple fountain grasses.

We harvested cuttings from succulents and placed them in a container on the heating mats. 

A small number of petunias had not yet been transferred into hanging baskets so we placed them in baskets and placed them on the greenhouse bench for petunias.

We seeded Dusty Miller seeds and placed them in the germination chamber (making sure the water was full and at the proper temperature). After a lunch break the hydrangeas were in need of water and fertilization so we changed the dosatron pump to get the correct fertilizer for each type of hydrangea. Perhaps the longest and most tedious job of the entire weekend; alphabetizing the stock baskets, 

a simple job nonetheless but a constant up and down on a ladder and back and forth looking for the proper plant for the proper place (nice begonias by the way). A circle check of the 2- seater RTV was completed as well as a compost run.  A delivery of cannas had arrived at 12:50 and had to be transplanted into 5.5 inch square green pots until the end of the day.

Saturday we carefully went through the entire crop and checked for pests, and treated what we did find, which was minimal. After going through the crop we spot watered the plants that were dry, and then continued on the alphabetizing of the stock baskets, and the propagation of the cannas.

Earlier this week we got our first shipments of petunias in, quite a few varieties for us to grow. Most of them will be grown and sent out to clients like Clintar and the Western Fair Grounds in the springtime. However, we do have 20 hanging baskets for our own use that we will sell in the greenhouse once they are properly established. Aside from those, we have quite a few in 4” pots that we will use around the campus in the planters there. Petunias originally came from South America, where the Incas believed they helped chase away evil spirits. They are very heat tolerant but require a decent amount of water in hotter conditions. Petunias are insect pollinated, and use intense bright colours to attract them, which happens to attract the avid gardener and botanist to propagate this beautiful plant!