Greenhouse weekend blog

Patrick F., Jarrod G. and Nicole H.

October 4-6, 2019

FRIDAY

Our first year of the Horticulture Technician Program was mostly theoretical learning in the classroom. Our chance to shine by applying skills we have learned from theory was handed to us in the form of three days of weekend duty at Fanshawe’s one and only greenhouse. This is our first weekend duty of three to come, and we could not have been happier to work in the greenhouse.

We researched how to germinate the Quercus acorns, which we figured out were Quercus robur but were told they were the Cultivar of ‘Fastigiata’. We found that they need to be cold stratified for 30-60 days. However, we wondered whether the acorns would take since the ‘Fastigiata’ is a cultivar and we have learned that cultivars are generally sterile without human intervention.

Friday morning our stomachs were filled with figurative butterflies because our list of duties seemed daunting. With the guidance of greenhouse master Jeff Rowley, we started our day with the morning checklist. The checklist includes things such as walking the crop, inspecting the exterior of the greenhouse, and recording temperature trends via Priva graphs and an infrared thermometer.

Since the fertilizer was running low, we made up ten litres of 250 parts per million (ppm) along with a brand new mixture of 300 ppm. We watered the staple crop of Poinsettias two different ways. Bench 4 got a fertilizer mix of 300 ppm while the rest of the benches got the standard drink of 250 parts per million.

Poinsettias nice and perky after a delicious drink of fertilizer water!

We then moved onto transplanting cuttings from Cuddy Gardens. We, as Fanshawe students, are extremely fortunate to have access to such a facility. It is quite hard to find a school that has their own botanical garden, let alone a botanical garden we are able to utilize in a variety of ways. While on the topic of Cuddy Gardens, a few of the activities we are lucky to be able to participate in includes things like going on plant walks for Plant Identification, performing maintenance duties for Landscape Maintenance, performing greenhouse tasks in hoop houses for Greenhouse Plant Production, or even climbing trees for Arboriculture.

After we transplanted some cuttings, it was time for, in our opinion, the highlight of our weekend: leading a workshop for Fashion Design students. We were extremely fortunate to be put on weekend duty this particular weekend, as this was the only activity of the sort planned. We used succulents and cacti as teaching tools for the students; we spoke about the areas that such plants come from and how their environment impacts how they look and how they need to be cared for. Succulents have thick, fleshy leaves in order to retain moisture in the unforgiving environment of the dessert. Some succulents also have developed silver hairs to help them regulate temperatures from direct sunlight. Some cacti even have what looks to be beards or spider-webs covering them. Another interesting feature cacti have include spines that help protect them from thirsty dessert animals. Some succulents, we explained, were even in the same family (Euphorbiaceae) as the Poinsettias we have growing in the greenhouse! A common characteristic of this family is a sticky white sap that bleeds from cuts and can also be an irritant. Even after the story of Jeff accidentally rubbing leftover sap into his eyes, one of us was unfortunate and experienced the same thing that very night!

We showed the students how to properly pot the succulents and cacti, either as a single or a grouping of three. We explained that a “lip” should be left so that water has a chance to do its job and not spill all over the ground. We used tongs to protect our hands from the cacti. We got so caught up in the activities that all three of us forgot to take pictures. We spent the rest of our day transplanting cuttings and performing the end of day checklist.

SATURDAY

Bright and early Saturday morning we collectively decided to get all of the cuttings out of our hair. We powered through and worked late into the afternoon in order to finish off the cuttings. There were a couple cuttings we were unsure of the names, so we labelled them “Unknowns”.

Propagation Chamber – Empty of loose cuttings!

Transplanted existing cuttings on the heat bench!

Our chance for physical activity came at around 3 p.m. – we went outside to dig up and winterize the Canna Stuttgart and Elephant Ears. To our letdown, the Elephant Ears were indeed plugs as Jeff said they might be. We had to compost the Elephant Ears and the tops of the Canna. As students and others walked by, we wondered if anyone would have the curiosity to ask us what we were doing digging up such big, beautiful plants. No such luck! We dug undisturbed. We found what at first looked like an alarm clock in the garden, but it turned out to be some sort of broken light fixture. We hoped that it was a leftover light from a greenhouse activity and not some random person disposing of their garbage in our luxurious garden. We then put the remnants of the Stuttgart into media to make them dormant.

The front of the greenhouse, sans Canna Stuttgart and Elephant Ears!

Canna Stuttgart in its new home for the winter! Goodnight Stuttgart!

We finished our day with the closing checklist and a friendly smile to one another along with reassurance that we would indeed see each other the next day.

We knew that the “hard” tasks would need to be completed on Sunday. We delegated work to each other and worked on different tasks. While one person did IPM checks, another did EC and pH. While two people worked on transplanting the rest of the succulents, the third worked on the paperwork we needed to hand in.

Performing EC and pH checks on 8 different cultivars from 3 of each kind

Our goal was to get done everything on our list of things to accomplish, but as the end of the day neared we realized we needed to prioritize. We still had succulents to transplant but we also had Variegated Geraniums to dig up. Since we knew that transplanting cuttings was more of a priority, we sadly decided to leave the Geraniums.

Overall, we had a stellar weekend. Not only did we learn valuable hands on skills, we also had the chance to show Fanshawe that we can be independent and not need 24/7 supervision. The best part of our weekend was getting to know each other better. We went into this weekend being acquaintances and we like to believe that we left as friends.