Weekend Duty Blog - Michael Easton & Andy Nguyen

Day 1 – September 21st 2018

Andy and I began the day with a walk through of weekend procedures with Jeff. Our first independent task was to bring the tractor over to the greenhouse.  This gave us the opportunity to practice completing circle checks on the tractor. After bringing the tractor over to the greenhouse Jeff ran through some tips for reversing the tractor as well as how to maneuver the trailer.

 Once we had finished with driving we were off to begin completing tasks. We decided that we would focus the day on removing weeds.  We completed nearly all of the weeding in both the conifer and woodland garden. The most significant weeding we did was the removal/editing of the Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum). We also cleared out a large patch of thistles that had developed behind the alpine currant. After weeding we were shown how to divide and replant the daylilies by the greenhouse fence. We finished our day by returning the tractor and returning all our tools.  Although it came with its challenges such as hot temperatures and high winds, we were able to complete all of our goals for the day.

  

Day 2 - September 22nd 2018

We began Saturday by getting the tractor. However, the tractor fuel was below ¼ tank so we needed to fuel up. In order to fuel we had to get the key to the fuel compound from security. This was a first time experience for both of us. 

After having filled the tractor with diesel, we were able to begin our day. We started by uprooting the hostas by the tool room and placing them in bulb crates to be sent to cuddy’s. From there we moved on to trimming the alpine currant by K building. Sticking with the theme of pruning, we then decided to move on to the cotoneaster. This proved to be one of the more time consuming as well as difficult tasks of the day. From the cotoneaster, we then pruned back the Petasites japonicus that hung over the walkway and blocked the gas meter. We then finished off the afternoon with editing the mint as well as trimming the lavender back to new growth. After returning the tractor and returning all the tools, we called it a day and signed out.

Day 3 – September 23rd 2018

We began the day like any other, getting the tractor from C building. The first task of the day was picking up garbage/litter in and around the gardens. The purpose behind this was to prepare the grounds for the afternoon cleaning with the blowers. After removing all the litter, Tobias, who was on greenhouse duty this weekend informed us that there was a tree with a dead limb outside of building T. Although it was not on our list of duties, we decided that it was appropriate to go remove the dead limb.

  

From there we divided the salvia’s as well as finished pruning the cotoneaster.  After lunch we began cleaning the hardscapes. We started by line trimming the hardscapes in the H parking lot and conifer garden. We experience slight difficulties setting up our lines, however we managed to problem solve and overall it only caused us a small delay. Once we finished with the line trimmers we did a full sweep through of the woodland and conifer gardens with the backpack blowers.  We then ended off our day and the weekend with a compost run, and parked the tractor in the C building garage.

Greenhouse blog - September 21-23, 2018

Tobias and Nicole

Welcome to the exploration of plant life through cultivation, propagation and landscape development. The following blog will follow the journey of two horticulture students and their perspectives on their final year.

We started out our weekend duties with a bit of hesitation, however as we progressed we grew more confident in our decisions, more aware of the changes that affect our crops, and how timing and organization in a greenhouse is key. But should had we ever needed backup and support, we had it in our professor- Sue and our greenhouse supervisor technician- Jeff, both giving us a rundown of our duties beforehand; Wednesday and Friday respectively.

 Being responsible for maintaining our program’s main crop- Euphorbia pulcherrima (Poinsettia) was one thing, however we did have other duties as well that kept us busy, but gave us- the students, a chance to learn. Starting off our weekend, we took on the task to go through the poinsettias, trimming were necessary, making sure they were in good order however we also got to start “blackout” periods.  These “blackout” periods are what get our poinsettias to develop flowers and it characteristic red or white brackets, usually these are mistaken for the flower ! So now if you pop by the greenhouse around 5pm or after you’ll be seeing blackout curtains for the poinsettias to do their thing.   

Starting Friday on our duties we also got a chance to work, while still having someone to guide us around in case, a huge reassurance especially when we were in charge of sales too, along with our tasks for that day. We got lots of yummy squash in from Cuddy’s gardens, our own planters and mums that have started to bloom. But the most interesting and coolest part was the squash was grown from our own compost at Cuddy’s!

Now, although our poinsettia crop is our baby, we had other duties. Spending most of the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) going through the campus, collecting cuttings of stock plants, propagating them for future use as sale plants and ones to be used around campus to create some gorgeous planters. And we had a blast, some were labeled, some not and it kicked us into high gear trying to figure which begonia was which for example. Sometimes confusing but we got there in the end, finding and propagating about 15- 18 plants total.  We also found some beautiful gems hidden through the campus like the Candy Corn plant (Manettia luteorubra), Popcorn Plant (Senna didymobotrya), and the Shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeeana).

Now while we were busy with propagation we also had a few “housekeeping” tasks that were important but not necessarily thought of often in terms of something that needs to be done- recalibration of our p.H and E.C probes.  Why is this so important? Well these probes let us know the p.H of the soil but also the conductivity of the soil which relates to what nutrients the plant is getting and absorbing. This is great to know how our poinsettia crop is doing and if it’s lacking in anything, but also prevents the problem before it happens, so to speak.  We can use the probes to help know what is needed for the soil to be in the right p.H for the plants’ specifications, but also the strength of and how much fertilizer is in the soil, whether needed or indicating we need to “flush” the plants, meaning watering without any fertilizer in the water.

While it may seems we mostly have poinsettias,one can see how quickly and how slowly plant turnaround is, with a consistent long- term crop like poinsettias but also having a constant inflow of new and old stock plant propagation and cultivation for many uses. The greenhouse is always in a state of production in one way or another, which I think after this weekend we can easily appreciate the work that is done and the return we get from it, yes monetarily but also that joy when you see your hard work pay off in the plants’ growth, and usually them finding new homes to spread the joy.

Maintenance Weekend Duties Begin, September 14-16th, 2018 Woodland Garden

By: Carlee and Harrison

            It’s the first couple weeks back into the school year and with it brings our weekend maintenance duties. This weekend Carlee and Harrison were scheduled to clean up the woodland garden. We started things off bright and early 8am Friday morning, we met Jeff at the greenhouse and retouched on the task list that Tim had given us for the weekend, the garden needed quite a bit of work. We took the four-seat RTV, with Harrison behind the wheel and went to grab the trailer so we’d have more room for tools and debris. It took some time getting used to the way the RTV drives, it stops pretty suddenly when you take your foot off the acceleration. Things get even more complicated once you attach a trailer to the vehicle but Harrison’s skill improved quickly throughout the weekend.

            Once we gathered all of our equipment it was time to get down to business. We were instructed by Tim to make some estimates as to how long it would take to complete the jobs we were doing and see how our actual time compared. This was a valuable learning experience so that we as students can gather an idea of how quickly and efficiently we’re able to finish tasks which will help us to provide more accurate quotes for our clients in the future, this will in turn save us a lot of hardship in our industry. We also learned very quickly that all of our quotes were way off.

 We had a lot of Daylilies and Rudbeckia to sheer back. With the frost soon approaching we originally wanted to leave the leftover debris in the garden so that it could break down and return to the soil. First we tried hand shearing the daylilies but found them too wet that the sheers weren’t really doing the job and the process was taking far too long. Harrison signed out the power sheers and put on the safety chaps and tried again with the daylilies, this was going a lot faster but still longer than we had estimated. With the daylilies as wet as they were it was too difficult to see what had been cut down and what was left, so as much as we wanted to leave the debris we unfortunately needed to rake it out so that Harrison could see what still needed to be cut. The Rudbeckia we found made much less of a mess and we were able to leave the debris from them in the gardens. We like to put as much back into the Earth as we can, but we wouldn’t leave debris like this in the front yard of a client's house as it does tend to look rather unsightly. While Harrison was power shearing, Carlee was using a handsaw and loppers to cut some dead wood out of a few Taxus in the perimeter of the garden. Upon completion she was happy to note that she had pretty well matched the time estimate she had given herself, until she noticed a couple more hedges that had been previously overlooked. The lesson she took from this was to be sure to thoroughly walk the site before starting the job, take notes of your daily tasks so that nothing gets missed.

            Friday felt like a pretty big day, being unfamiliar with the RTV and trailer we gave ourselves a bit of extra time to clean up in the evening and park everything back in its place. This turned out to be a good decision we found out as we pulled in to the trailer parking lot to find a truck in the space that had made it easier to pick the trailer up that morning. This resulted in a humorous display of Carlee running around the vehicle to spot at different angles while Harrison made a number small corrections to wiggle the trailer into the narrow space it needed to be, this took a lot longer than both of us would have liked but we got through it. We dropped the trailer back off without being attacked by the family of wasps that live next to it, and headed back to the greenhouse to sign out and head home for the night, ready to come back refreshed for the next day.
           

Saturday was a lot quicker to start now that we were both more familiar with equipment and what jobs we still needed to complete. The last of the power shearing was finished early Saturday so we both switched over to hand pruning different areas to help clear up the sidewalks and pathways, when doing this we tried to take enough of the plants back that they were out of the way of people walking or wheelchairs etc. but left enough to keep the natural shape and form of the plants. Carlee weeded and pruned around the perimeter of the garden, cutting back floppy, yellow Colocasia leaves and any other dead branches which really helped to tidy up the overall look of the garden. Same as Friday, for cleanup Carlee strapped on the back pack blower and cleaned off all the soil and debris that found its way onto the pathways throughout the day, while Harrison loaded the tools and compost into the back of the RTV. With the tools brought back to the tool room and put away we sped off to the compost pile, then back to the greenhouse for end of day sign out.

Sunday, our last day of weekend maintenance. With a lot of our tasks finished up, our list of tools and equipment to sign out in the morning grows smaller and smaller. Our main focus for Sunday was finishing weeding and edging which unfortunately we didn’t really end up getting to. Weeding starts off seeming as if it will be a simple and quick task but the woodland garden has a lot of plants that almost overlap which leave a lot of sneaky, hard to reach areas for weeds to grow. There’s also a lot of bindweed and thistle throughout the garden which have difficult root systems. We found this to be one of our biggest issues when it came to time management, was thoroughly extracting all of the weeds. Clean up went the same as the last two days, though we did give ourselves slightly more time than Saturday as we wanted to be sure that everything was as clean as Friday before we started, and that all of the tools, equipment and keys were accounted for.

Overall we would say that we had a successful first weekend maintenance duty, we were tasked with and completed a lot. The woodland garden is looking much nicer than when we started on Friday and both team members feel as if we were able to develop our strengths and work on our weaknesses and took this weekend as a great learning experience.

Greenhouse Weekend Duty Blog

September 14-16, 2018

Karly G. and Emily B.

            As the first greenhouse duty duo we focused on transition and preparation into autumn and winter. Additionally we prepared the poinsettias for the weekend’s heat by thoroughly watering the poinsettia crop with fertilizer. Later we checked on the poinsettias and noticed good lateral growth, however we also noticed that they were a little too crowded; so we adjusted them to leave lots of room to grow. Currently they’re in the ‘teenage’ stage, therefore they’re in the process of developing adult leaves and will fully mature for the winter sale. In a few weeks we will begin to close the blackout curtains for short day periods during the day. This is because poinsettias need twelve hours of darkness per day; which will ensure their bright colour. What many believe to be the flower of a poinsettia is actually their ‘bracts’, the flower is the petite bloom in the very centre: bracts will attract pollinators to the unyielding flowers, somewhat like a landing pad.

            In addition to preparing poinsettias for the winter sale, we prepared daylilies for storage before the cool autumn weather begins. Removing weeds, trimming back foliage and organizing them; they are to be sold in the spring. Also in preparation for autumn, Emily and I collected cuttings from annuals before their parent plant dies off in the autumn/winter. Some of the cuttings we did were: Flamingo Flower, Begonias, and herbs like Chocolate Mint, Pineapple Mint, and Lemon Balm. Cuttings are a form of asexual propagation, and in the future we are hoping they will grow into their own mature, thriving plants.

 Later I was  able to have one on one training with the RTVs, learning things like: how to back up with a trailer safely, the proper safety for operating an RTV, as well as getting used to unique functions and how to drive properly. We also were able to become familiarized with the Priva system and Dosatron both of which make a greenhouse worker’s life much easier!

           

            Saturday I started the day watering plants for interiorscape, I was excited as this was a new experience for me and I had been curious about the process involved for  interiorscape. It turned out to be quite interesting! There is a cart with a large canister of water, and it has to be filled with interscape fertilizer water, a hose connects and sits in a pouch with cleaning bottles (for shining leaves, etc.). Then to see if the plant needs water, there’s a tool that says, “wet” or “dry”. We were only responsible for 6 large planters, but it was a great learning experience. Afterwards we had more prepping to do.

Early in the day we cleaned one-gallon pots for pachysandra that we would plant on Sunday. We then began to pot autumn mums in large planters with ornamental grass. To do so, we had to clean up the grasses and find appropriate sized mums of each colour. We then tied up the grass with rope to allow visibility when putting the mums in. We dug a hole on either side and planted the mums, adding extra media when necessary. As we were potting them, we found a praying mantis which was lovely and I had never seen one before!

 After potting the work space needed to be cleaned, so we swept and washed the floor before doing any more tasks. The planters were fairly light, so we gave them a good water. We continued working with the mums, a lot were dry from the intense heat, so we gave them a good water as well. I noticed a lot of thistles popped up (due to heat and intense rain intervals) so I pulled a lot from the back compound as well as a few weeds from in front of the greenhouse. We then did a more thorough clean before closing for the day.

Sunday our main goals were to clean thoroughly, keep an eye on the poinsettias, and pot the pachysandras. We first discussed with Carlee whether the poinsettia crop should be watered again after a warmer weekend. We determined it would be alright to leave it for that day as it needs to dry out between watering periods and they were still moist. We then began separating the pachysandras into pots as there were many to sort. After that we potted them with ProMix media and one-gallon pots.

Afterwards we finished two planters with mums and grasses. Around 3:30 p.m. I entered the greenhouse to notice the curtains closed which I hadn’t seen before; I believe this was due to the spiking heat temperature. We did a big clean in the afternoon: the doors into the building as well as the doors to the greenhouse were cleaned, regular floor cleaning was conducted, as well as countertops. Cleanliness in a greenhouse environment is equally as important as maintaining the crops. Part of the weekend was spent sweeping, washing, and tidying. Cleaning isn’t as exciting, but it’s necessary for the wellbeing of crops and equipment.