This past weekend was an awesome opportunity to work with my fellow classmates and weekend practical crew; I had Darcy and Emily working together on their maintenance practical and Zach with Kyle F. on their weekend practical on a different part of the campus. I was working with Jessica G. for my greenhouse practical. Our list was as follows: transplant Viola x wittrockiana into cell packs and place on transplant bench: remove excess soil from the greenhouse garden beds and rake smooth: interiorscape: pot washing: I forget what else was on his list.

Jessica and I started with the transplanting of the violas, we gave the seed popper a try but it just wasn’t consistent enough, I made the executive decision to do it the good ‘ole fashion way, use the blunt end of a pencil through the bottom of the plug, perfect fit.

 

 

I was sure to set time aside while walking the crop to gather up dead, dying, decomposing leaves from the plants in the greenhouse. I also removed dead, dying, decomposing cuttings that were still around, I spot watered here and there, as well as pruned off lingering stems, stubs or dying leaves from the stock plant/parents plant/mother plant, call them what you will. I found it easier to check the plants on the upper shelf of the production bench with the step ladder rather than drag the entire tray across the harsh metal and risk damaging the trays.

Saturday afternoon brought along with it Mr. Pascoe with a former graduate of the program who was seeing the greenhouse and the succulent collection for the first time.  With this visit came additional tasks to complete, these included: taking cuttings from the Mandevilla and placing them in the mist chamber on bottom heat: Remove the rooted Coleus cuttings from the mist chamber, pot them up and place them on the production bench with their friends: Transplant Echeveria ‘Topsy Turvy’ as well as another succulent into a larger clay pot and label them accordingly.

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day and when paired with the greenhouse, it was practically a summer’s day! The hydrangeas are coming along nicely, some of them are obviously further ahead than others but it’s really amazing to see how incredibly vibrant the pink is.

 

Along with the beautiful weather it also meant that all the plants were at risk of drying out a lot quicker than the previous two overcast days. During my morning checklist I watered the seed trays and then covered gently with the frost cloth to protect them from the direct sunlight. Instead of the normal morning, noon and closing ‘bench walks’ I was required to check on the plants for spot watering every 30 to 40 minutes throughout the day. All and all it was an incredibly productive weekend with a great crew to spend my breaks and lunch with. Needless to say working with Darcy, Emily, Kyle and Zach brought on a camaraderie that I look forward to finding this summer with my future co-workers, suffice it to say, I think I’m going to kind of miss this place when I’m gone.

Eric Stacey

Weekend practical: March 21 – March 23

 

So spring is finally here! Always an exciting time in the plant world with fresh new blooms of colour soon to come! Upon arriving on the sunny Friday morning with a delicious double-double in hand, I proceeded to work through opening procedures; walking the crop and checking over our testy seedlings being sure they are well hydrated. Seeding, seeding, and seeding! It proved to be a tedious Friday with nothing but seeding going on. After filling roughly 17 seed trays (288’s), I tried my best at updating the sowing spreadsheet.

 

Saturday was the big day. Open House! Arriving on the chilly Saturday morning I was ready to sell our program to potential future Hort Techs with enthusiasm. While walking the crop I realized that the hydrangea needed a drink. With sweet music of the Dosatron in the background, I began to pay some attention to the Colacasia and their friends. It’s party-time for some aphids that have taking a liking to the fleshy green of the Elephant ears. With a glimmer of hope I did my best to eradicate the little pests using Safer's insecticidal soap. The clock strikes ten and guests are arriving so I had to put cultural control on hold to greet and meet with eager candidates. I was truly amazed to see the similarities of interests and passion in horticulture and it was very rewarding to speak so well of this awesome program! Throughout the day I had managed to finish up some leftover seeding from Friday.

 

Sunday started cool and breezy as I reviewed what was to be done for the day. Fellow Classmate J Ro showed up to tackle the gigantic load of tropicals that we have tucked away in the tractor bay thanks to a generous donation that was received on Wednesday. After the initial opening procedures I started on catching up on some overdue interiorscape. Only to find that our Aquamate is in need of maintenance! Thanks to the Jr. Aquamate, I managed to feed some thirsty plants throughout the main areas of the school. The afternoon was productive. After helping J Ro pot up some tropicals for the day I finished some culture and one last seed tray. Time for the Sunday sweep and clean. Hoping my efforts to suppress our aphid friends will help, I was finished my practical weekend and ready to start another wishful week. The days of spring are here! Freshen up with horticulture!  

Weekend Blog - Mark and Ben

                March 14^th 2014. It was a brisk morning upon arrival of the greenhouse. We opened the greenhouse and checked each individual plant for any watering or culture that it may need. After taking care of all the juvenile plants we set out to go over the guidelines for the weekend with Professor Jeff. He informed us on the tasks that we will have to battle and the warned us about the dangers ahead. We geared up and set our hands on extremely rare seeds from around the globe. We were sure to get a demonstration on how to sow them, because a mistake could be detrimental for the collection. Once we sowed them all in we were sure to give them the water that they will need to sprout. With there being thousands of seeds this took us the majority of the day. We also organized the annual label draws, this rounding out our day. We swept up and whipped the floors clean then went home to rest up for the rest of the weekend.

 

 

                March 15^th 2014. The walk to the greenhouse was cloudy and it was sleeting snow. When opening the greenhouse everything was looking good. We watered the Hydrangeas and the other dry plants in greenhouse. Secondly we collected five pink Hydrangeas, five blue Hydrangeas, did pH and E.C readings on them. Once we got the results we put them on the appropriate charts. Next we mixed up a batch of 20-20-20 300ppm fertilizer for the portable Dosatron. After an early lunch we set up the Aqua mate and began our quest around the school. With over 35 plants on our list this was no small task. With a refill of water in the middle, the time flew by as we whizzed around the school. To round out the day we did general clean up and revised the bedding plant sheet.

 

 

 

                March 16, 2014. Brrrrr she was a cold morning, but we were warmed by the presence of J Row first thing in the morning. First thing we did was walk the crop a watered then cleaned some pots, before giving Miss Rowland a hand with some of her tasks. First we potted up a Fiddle Leaf Fig for a new arranged planter for T building quite the hassle due to having to make multiple trips from one end to the next end of the school, never the less a wonderful job. After lunch we helped Jess with another task of replacing a planter in the residence with a new arrangement. Now off to the pots in the outdoor storage, or what was now home and bathroom to rodents. Some pots were chewed up and urinated on, needless to say we gave them a nice cleaning before sorting them. Then our main focus was bringing this place back to a 100 percent with a big o'le clean.

 

 

WEEKEND BLOG – Mary-Jane and Kayla

Friday, March 7, 2014

What a beautiful sunny day we had to begin our weekend greenhouse practical! With the weather being so cold lately, a sun-shiny, high-of 0 degrees Celsius day almost felt like summer!  This of course, required us to pay special attention to our greenhouse crop, since the weather may have come as a bit of a shock to them. After spot-watering the entire crop in the morning, we had to perform a thorough-watering to the hydrangea crop come mid-afternoon; they were thirsty! We also had to keep an eye on young seedlings as well as freshly-sown seeds, to ensure they stayed hydrated and moist. We did this check every other hour of the day. This was such an important task because the seeds would not have survived had they dried out; they are also the annuals that we grow for our summer clients! (No crop=No business= No good!). Mary-Jane and I added to the collection by sowing some culinary seeds - Oregano, as well as Spearmint. We included these new additions to the Plant Inventory List that we were responsible for updating/reconfiguring.
Come mid-afternoon, we were greeted by some visitors! (Fanshawe Councilors). They excitedly asked for a tour of the greenhouse and we were more than happy to provide them with one. We discussed what we were working on, how things work, and got into detail about a few plants. I’m sure we’ll be seeing them again in April, when we begin our plant sales! That’s all for now, see you tomorrow. 

Saturday, March 08, 2014

We’re back to an overcast day, with an average temperature of -2 degrees Celsius. We started off the day with walking our crop and spot-watering. The plants will not need any more watering until we check tomorrow. From there, we headed straight into production. We began by taking cuttings from 9 of our stock plants. Each cutting was dipped in root hormone, planted into a cell tray, and placed into the propagation chamber for optimum growing conditions. We then added our new friends onto our inventory list and completed all revisions. We also transplanted some older cuttings that were ready for a bigger home (they were placed into 3” round pots and now rest on a bench in the greenhouse). The remainder of the day was spent washing pots and sanitizing the greenhouse. We’ll be back at it tomorrow!

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Today was a day dedicated to catering to our interiorscape plantings (located around the interior of the campus). We were responsible for watering, deadheading, and applying IPM practices to those that needed it. Mary-Jane and I were surprised to discover just how many tropical plants we have situated around the school! This job consumed the majority of our morning. In the afternoon, we were greeted by one of our fellow classmates; she is responsible for taking care of the tropical plants on weekends. We began helping Jessica with the tasks she had set out for the weekend. We started potting some large tropical plants that were to be placed inside the campus. Next, we placed the plants on a cart, wrapped the cart with a protective cloth (since the cold weather would have been too much of a shock), and brought them to their required destinations. After all of this, we were left with the wonderful task of giving the greenhouse a thorough cleaning. Now that the place is spotless, we’ll be on our way. Until next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greenhouse Weekend Blog – Zachary and Kyle – February 28 – March 2, 2014

The day started off just like any other day in the harsh Canadian winter. I woke up to the sight of frost clinging to the windows, forming complex patterns in the dead winter night. Rubbing the excess sleep from my eyes, I slipped into my winter horticultural gear and traversed the icy path to the school, trying to shake the events of the night before from my memory. Entering the school an hour before schedule, I walked the barren halls, searching for the elusive security office to acquire the keys for the greenhouse area. I arrived at the greenhouse at 7:30, along with the arrival of my partner, Kyle. I saw him trying to open the greenhouse doors, but struggling in the cold. We waited for Jeff, the shivering of Kyle reminded me of the vibrating wand of seeds, shivering down the metal tube. Jeff arrived 20 minutes early, reminding us of the normal greenhouse procedures before diving into the more advanced information, such as the air compressed seed planter.  Our tasks were laid in front of us, with both of us having a different project, our time seemed more and more precious by the second. We began the greenhouse circle check, going up and down each row checking to see if they needed extra watering, or to see if watering spaghetti strings were plugged. After our thorough inspection, we began to use the seed distribution device, filling a flat with two different types of grasses, Stipa, and Lucius. After a time, we noticed the sun hung low in the sky, signifying our release into the world once again.

The sky seemed grim on morning of the second day as the tires smoothly drifted out of control in the empty parking lot. Stopping with a jerk, we regained our composure, and walked to the beginning of our new day. We loaded up the computer, and started PRIVA with no problems. With our trusty friend coffee, and the glorious sounds coming from the radio stations at our selection, we began the work. After the initial crop walk, to which we noticed no problems, we sat down and listed any chores we had to do for the weekend. Climbing a ladder was the trickiest situation we came across in that operation, as the chores came to mind rather easily. Cuttings were the main priority, and this job was tackled by Kyle as the other responsibilities were taken on by me. The grasses needed sorting, as some were dead in the pot, wasting water and precious space. I first took out all the completely dead plants, the ones with no vegetative growth at all, and whose root system was so weak that the slightest touch would cause them to flop over. The hardest part about the whole operation was the fact that the soil bucket would fill constantly. During this procedure, we welcomed our head program coordinator, and his guests from Newfoundland.  Somehow the humidity was at a stable 70 for what seemed like hours. After a few tries refreshing the program, we noticed that PRIVA wasn’t working at all. Resetting the program and the computer did nothing to rectify the situation. The greenhouse was filled with delightful banter about horticultural stories as we worked in the other room, the silence coming from the radio filled our minds. My time during this ordeal was mainly in the potting room: greasing the wheels on the cart, retyping the opening and closing sheets, and washing the dishes were the jobs I had while the greenhouse was being given the grand tour. As they paused the tour for lunch, the canine known only as BD became our responsibility and it seemed like she had an upset stomach as a yellow foamy film appeared all over the place. Washing the floor periodically became a normal task. As the main man came back, and took his canine friend, the greenhouse seemed almost empty, as we began our final clean up tasks of the day. Bidding the glass room goodbye, we set along the path home, smelling a little fouler.

The beginning of the third day was sunny and bright. A light snow fell, but not enough to give us pause, as we opened the doors at 7:30. We went right to the computer to check on PRIVA’s status, and it was still offline, giving us some worries. The periodic clicks of the control box showed us that it was still working, but just not letting us monitor its progress. Manual checks were instigated every half hour just to make sure nothing happens. Another puppy joined us this weekend, as the famous Jessica Rowand brought her young German Shepherd with her. The smell of puppy clings to the clothing I wear, I don’t know if I can get it off. While two of us went to water the plants throughout the school, one person was left in the greenhouse to watch all the living things that lay inside. Cleaning became the priority for the day, the general idea was to make the room look so clean that you wouldn’t mind sitting down and eating a meal on it. The shop vacuum was the main tool for the job, but it was also our demise after it caused the power to turn off. Flipping off all the mats, we turned back on the breaker, and while cleaning, steadily turned the mats back on to their original temperature. With the floors swept, vacuumed, and washed down, our final day at school came to a close. Putting our winter clothes back on, we left the warmth of our greenhouse, getting ready to come back in a few days’ time.

Weekend Blog- February 21^st,22^nd,23^rd

Emily Lougheed and Dylan Howlett

Friday: Friday was a good day. Emily spent some time with the hydrangea crop, testing for proper pH and EC readings. The hydrangeas had an average pH of 6.7 and an EC of 2.0 while the blue ones which very recently had an application of Aluminum Sulfate had a pH of 6.8 and an EC of 2.1. So far so good!  We also got the opportunity to use the seeding machine. Unfortunately it ended up being faster to seed by hand using the hand vibrator seeder. The seeding machine is less than perfect. We also started a tray of stock plant cuttings.

Saturday: Saturday was another eventful and productive day. It began with the walk of the crop in the morning. Some of the hydrangeas were looking a little thirsty. They were first to get a drink. Next we made cuttings of some of the stock plants to ensure a healthy supply of new plants for the spring. A list was made of our hanging basket stock plants too. Everything is becoming more organized in the greenhouse. We also examined the seeds being tested for germination rates and recorded the successes and failures.  We finished the day by consolidating the canna flats, cleaning some pots and a little housekeeping. We were lucky enough to have the company of a furry quadruped today.

Sunday:  Sunday began with sunshine. It’s still cold outside, but looking gorgeous. Today we planted the rare botanical seeds from the hardy plant society. Cross your fingers for high germination rates!  We also replaced tag labels in the cacti crop with steak labels so that metal tagging will be more easily done later on. We attended to the interior plants as well. It is quite the workout lugging R2-D2 (aquamate) throughout the entire school!  We organized the outdoor storage area. We may have moved a squirrel’s nest or two in the process. Everything looks great.  Lastly, we cleaned the greenhouse, erasing any trace we were ever here!

Weekend Blog – Jaimi and Johnny – February 14 – 16, 2014

Johnny and I (Jaimi) started our weekend practice on the romantic day of February 14^th.  Upon early arrival, we eagerly awaited the arrival of Horticultural Technician, Jeff Rowley, to be briefed on our tasks for the upcoming weekend.  After a quick look at the crop, we saw the Hydrangeas were in need of a drink, so we turned the irrigation on in the morning, as culturally recommended.  The crop is not receiving any fertilizer yet, however Johnny and I mixed up the 21-7-7 to be applied next week – calculations approved by Jeff, of course.  This crop will be available to the public with the arrival of spring, so come check them out!      

 

 

With sowing season upon us, many of our given tasks revolved around preparing for the large annual order to be completed by June.  After several hours of trying to calibrate the stubborn sowing machine, we concluded it would be more productive to do all of the sowing with the vibrating hand seeder, as tedious as this seems.  Ornamental Millet, Juncus, Nemesia and red bell peppers are just some of the seeds germinating at this moment.

 

We ended the day of romance by giving the first year Horticulture Technician students their first tour of the greenhouse, touching on the important topics of the Priva system, media, watering system and the greenhouse crops. 

 

 

Again we arrived early for our second day of work and divided up the tasks for the day. I (Johnny) began by starting to make cutting of stock plants in the greenhouse. While I kept busy, Jaimi worked on testing the germination of 60 different seeds. This was done by wrapping the seeds in wet paper towel and storing them in a chamber on bottom heat. The germination percentage is then calculated. Once I finished with all the cuttings I noticed that the greenhouse temperature was over the set temperature; indicating a problem with the Priva system. Upon this realization we contacted Jeff who, in cooperation with Mike Pascoe, program coordinator, was able set the Priva system straight.  Jaimi and I both ended the day by making new labels for the annual and succulent crops in the greenhouse.

 

 

Arriving even earlier on our last day, Johnny and I (Jaimi) finished up with any of the left over labeling from the previous day.  Once completed, I began to tackle the sowing schedule for the remainder of the seeds, which proved to be more difficult than I anticipated.  While I was busy with this, Johnny worked on potting up some succulents that are now available to the public in the Greenhouse.  The sale bench includes Jade Plant, Aloe vera, Euphorbia and other succulents.  Come check them out!

The rest of the day was spent culturing the greenhouse crop, which included a good watering as no one will be in on this holiday Monday,  and using our elbow grease to get the facility into Pascoe approved shape. 

Now it is time to head home after our first completed practical of this semester.  We hope everyone enjoys their long weekend and hope to see you in the greenhouse to check out the crop!