Weekend Duty Blog for weekend of April 5-7, 2019

Claire and Tobias

Spring has finally arrived to the greenhouse at Fanshawe College, and with it came many flats of annual plugs to be grown out for our contract customers. With the great success of our hydrangea sale, we finally had some free space in the greenhouse and our main goal over the weekend was to fill as much of this space with the new annuals as possible. We began by consolidating space on the greenhouse benches and setting up an assembly line of filling trays of four-inch pots, watering in, transplanting plugs, and printing labels/labelling. For customers like Clintar and the Western Fair, we raise many varieties of colourful and intriguing annuals - this year, some of the stars of the lineup include vining Sweet Potato Vine and Dichondra, flowering Petunias, and many kinds of colourful Coleus.   After several hundred of these plants were potted, greenhouse bench space was really starting to be filled up!

Over Saturday morning, humidity levels dropped sharply and the greenhouse temperature steadily rose. By noon, the temperature had reached nearly twenty-nine degrees, which is over the maximum set temperature by five whole degrees. Upon investigation we found that while the greenhouse top vents were open and the side vents were set to ‘Auto,’ the side vents were failing to open and allow adequate airflow to cool the greenhouse. After setting the vents to ‘Open’ to no avail and alerting the maintenance team, we decided to increase humidity levels in the greenhouse by dousing the floors with water. Theoretically, as the water evaporates into the air and raises the moisture concentration, plants will transpire (lose water) less in an effort to maintain moisture homeostasis and will therefore retain more moisture and be less stressed in the higher temperatures. Sure enough, by twelve-thirty the humidity levels had already increased significantly and the greenhouse temperature had lowered to below its maximum threshold of twenty four degrees! Another watering at approximately two-thirty was able to replicate these results and keep the greenhouse temperature within the appropriate range for the day.

On our final weekend duty day on Sunday, we carried on planting out the trays of annuals. We ended up with over three or four hundred plants for some varieties, such as our Marigolds and purple Petunias. With space dwindling on the benches, we were just able to pot up and squeeze in a few trays of Jade Plant and various succulents along the side wall. Finally, with four rows of hanging baskets along each of two walls and benches that are almost completely filled, the greenhouse is nearly as full as it’s ever been!