Weekend Blog: Greenhouse Duty April 6^th to April 8^th 2018

Jensen Maunder and Austin Marshall

This weekend was very busy for us as we had lots and lots of transplanting to do. It was expected to have about 1000 annual plugs to arrive and we were to transplant them into 4” pots. However, there was closer to 2500 to 3000 plants to be transplanted. With only the two of us we had a tough time getting through them all and most of our time was spend transplanting. On Friday, we started with watering and removing dead foliage. After this we organized flowers on a diagonal angle to ensure there would be enough space for each plant to grow and receive more light. Following this, we started our transplanting journey.  To name a few of the annuals that were transplanted: Coleus, Salvia, Soprano, and Superbell.

Coleus ‘Henna’:

Comes from the family of Lamiaceae, and originated from South East Asia through to Australia. It can be used for different landscape applications such as in hanging baskets, mass plantings and border edging. This annual is relatively low maintenance and requires full sun and partial shade.

Salvia ‘Farinacae’:

Salvia Farinacae is also know as Mealy Sage and originated from Mexico. It can be used for different landscape varieties as it plants well in large formats. This annual requires part sun to sun.

Soprano:

This Soprano comes from the Osteospermum family and originated from Africa. This annual requires part sun to sun and can be used in hanging baskets.

Superbell ‘Calibrachoa’:

This annual belongs to the Solanaceae family and originates from across South America. It is used as an ornamental plant and requires part sun to sun.

Geraniums:

This annual originates from the tropics and can be used for herbaceous uses to treat anxiety and acne as well as being a really pretty plant to grow. It requires full sun and a PH of 5.8 through to 6.5. For the EC it is recommended for the optimal range of 1.5 to 2.5 mS/cm.

On Saturday, we started with watering and removing more dead foliage as well as checking the hanging baskets for pests and if they were in need of watering.  Following all this we then began to transplant hour after hour. One challenge we overcame was when we ran out of trays to place the pots on, so to be time efficient we got a 4X4 large tray and then put as many pots with the transplanted annuals on it and as a team carried it over to the greenhouse.

 On Sunday, we did our daily morning routine of watering and then continued on with transplanting. Who would have thought we would have ever finished all those plants, but our transplanting journey finally ended. Following the transplanting we planted Castor Bean seeds, and finished off the day with a large watering session of all the newly transplanted annuals and did a major cleanup to start the week off right.