Greenhouse Weekend Blog

October 23-25

R. Farrow and N. Rogers

Greenhouse weekend duty is a great responsibility and an excellent way to gain some hands on learning experience in the field. During the weekend duty we learn quite a lot about what it takes to run a greenhouse. Luckily during our weekend duty at the Fanshawe greenhouse we were able to take care of the beautiful poinsettia crop that are course is growing to sell towards the Christmas season. This also means we are in our crucial black out period that the poinsettias need, this back out period goes from five in the evening to eight in the morning. The poinsettias looked great this weekend with their foliage gathering that wonderful shade of red that we all love; the program is also growing other varieties this year.

On Friday October twenty third we started off with a walk through with Jeff on the opening and closing check list. Once we gained all the information we needed to successfully run a greenhouse for a weekend by ourselves we headed out to complete our tasks at hand. Our first objective was to walk the crop; this is a key factor in taking care of the plant stock in the greenhouse. When walking the crop, you must check the roots, stem, and foliage for anything out of the ordinary and cleaning up the plant from any dead foliage. Our next step at hand was to pull out the crates in the back underneath the stock basket shelf and move them to a spot were more sun would shine. We also raised crates off the floor to prevent excessive moisture that could lead to mold or rot. Once we had the crates organized we cleaned and spaced the tree poinsettias in the back corner of the green house. Then proceeded with removing swampy water from our water plants, finishing off that area we cleaned and moved over the elephant ears sit next to the water plants. Once everything was moved we created laminated signs to place in the greenhouse.

The following Saturday October twenty fourth was not the best day for good weather. Unfortunately for most of the day it just rained constantly, but we wouldn’t let the bad weather get in the way of completing our task. Of course we started with completing the check list and opening the black out curtains. We set off on figuring out the plants on the right hand shelf that interfered with the black out process, our goal was to move them down so they wouldn’t get in the way. We spent the first part moving smaller cacti to the shelf in the back to make room for the larger cacti that were being move down. Once we had everything moved to the right spot we got started on the biggest task for our weekend duty, to organize the stock basket by genus. We decided to organize the genus of the stock baskets alphabetically, with the A beginning from the doors and following down the shelf alphabetically using both top and bottom shelf. In the end we were triumphant and then went back over the organized stock basket to place any black labels that we could match.

Fortunately for our last day on Sunday October twenty fifth, we were blessed with some sunny weather. We started the day like usual with the opening list and sliding the black out curtains back, then finished off with walking the crop. With better weather on our side we headed out to clean up the garden beds next to the greenhouse. We removed all the dying annuals and cleaned up the grasses, to finish off the area we cleaned up the fall leaves that were piled up in the corners of the garden bed. When the beds were completed we headed back to the greenhouse to do a major cleaning. We bore down on the greenhouse cleaning with a vengeful purpose, in the greenhouse we pulled back the crates and swept underneath the right wall bench. Then swept the greenhouse before spraying down and using the squeegee to clean the floors. Then we moved on to the main structure of the greenhouse, we pulled back the media bins and recycling bins to sweep the floors. Dusting was also a large task wiping down window sills and storage units we finished of the room with spraying down the floor and giving it the squeegee run also. From there we moved on to the garage, we picked up scattered pots, and moved the Kubota’s to get a good sweep of the floor. Then finished off cleaning with emptying the floor drains cleaning out plant material and soil.  With some extra time, we went to the tool room and gave it a quick clean also. In all weekend duty went well and was an excellent learning experience, can’t wait to have another chance to work in the greenhouse.

Greenhouse Weekend Blog

Yujing and Kate

October 16-18, 2015

 

The core area of our horticulture program –the lovely greenhouse is the just place we have been waiting for long to work all by ourselves. Luckily, we find this precious opportunity to further our study and work experience in here. Our local weather has been temperamental lately since the approach of winter brings cold weather. It seems like the roots of many outdoor plants have already started to "rest" in their dormant period. However, in our greenhouse it is always spring all the year around. Most greenhouse plants are very sensitive to large or sudden changes in temperature. That is why we always put the temperature as the particularly crucial thing to consider.

 

Day 1: Even though the cold and windy weather almost drove us crazy, it still could not stop our enthusiasm to learn. After we finished the four sections of CLT, everyone was happy to go and celebrated as a champion with delicious beers, and yet it was our time to go back to the main campus and started our weekend duty as a fresh new day. I never went through such a busy day, but it is definitely a good way to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally, as well as spiritually. As we got there, our teachers helped us to go over the overall process about the greenhouse management. I shouldn’t have missed such a valuable time to learn, so I recorded carefully for all the details. I went out to work with Jamieson to dig out all the tropical plants which we planted in the containers and plant beds before, because they wouldn’t survive at all during the winter.

 

 

In this race for time game, me and Jamieson found tons of potatoes from an inconspicuous container. At first, we were quite confused about these red strange rhizomes and a taxi driver who was smoking beside us said that ‘they are sweet potatoes.’ I suddenly felt a little bit embarrassed because we just got our plant identification test done, and yet we didn’t recognize that what were they. Maybe we just didn’t want to believe that there was editable plants suddenly appearing in an unbelievable place. Thoughts are habitual and some time they are difficult to overcome. What we need to do is to get off the prescribed path and make your own. Anyway, we had to cut all the stems of the Pennisetum sataceum ‘Rubrum’ (common name: Red Fountain Grass) and served them a comfortable place to get ready to winter. During the time of pruning, I started to think about many things. All of those distant memories of the plants came flooding back to me, such as my magpie habit about roses and orchids, the first time to transplant 1000 poinsettias with my dear co-workers and even my grandmother’s backyard which was overgrown by Zephyranthes candida (whiter wind flower), and how much I was bonded with them. Repetitive work needs more patient than you think especially in the greenhouse. I guess this is a good method to find your own enjoyment.

 

 

Day 2: We had the first snowy day of 2015 on Saturday. Time passes quickly like a white pony's shadow across a crevice. I’m glad that I am the second year student now. In the morning, me and Kate went out site by site to find out those tropical plants from the containers and plant beds, and brought them back to the greenhouse. We didn’t want to waste any time, because nobody else wanted to see an icy plant on the road. When we saw a mountain of cannas and fountain grasses just piled in front of us at the greenhouse, we almost had nervous breakdowns. Are you kidding me? So, we had to take steps to speed up a solution to this problem. We used every method we could to achieve the goal and even didn’t notice the time and relax. It was not easy at all to identify these cannas’ cultivars, but we had already tried our best. What a hectic day, but it was worthy.

 

 

Day 3: We started to move the succulents from two sides of greenhouse to the front bench and gave them a good organization, and then settled them by the same family. Plants’ family names always reveal a lot of information. For some simple examples, most of the plants which come from Rosaceae family are edible and their flowers are very stunning. Most Ranunculacea family’s plants are poisonous with showy flowers. Anyhow, we won’t discuss more about biological evolution. As a true plant lover, we can focus on the details about the plants and get a lot of fun from them. Cleaning is one of the most important things in our greenhouse. I really want to design a kind of intelligent cleaner which can finish a full-automatic cleaning one day, because it will set us free from the endless daily cleaning. We must be meticulous for this task, and the reason is not just for a good-looking surrounding, but mainly for the IPM (integrated pest management). Keep in mind that precaution is always the best way for a healthy plant!

 

Weekend Maintenance Blog

Emily and Jamieson

 

Friday October 16^th , 2015

             Jamieson and I began our weekend duty at the Fanshawe College gardens separately. Jamieson, along with half of our class, spent Friday morning in Strathroy at Cuddy Gardens completing 5 stations of the CLT certification. I spent the morning at Fanshawe with Jeff going over what Jamieson and I were going to be doing for the weekend. We took the RTV and drove over to Residence 2. This was where we were going to spend the majority of our weekend, cleaning up the gardens.

            I too then had to make my way to Cuddy Gardens to complete the first portion of the CLT certification. Myself and the rest of the afternoon group had to be at Cuddy Gardens for 11:30 for registration. We all then got to enjoy the delicious lunch that Landscape Ontario provided for us!

             As expected everyone was pretty nervous for the CLT testing. Overall the day went well, apart from the cold and wind in the afternoon. The judges were always extremely friendly, and helpful when they could be. Michael, Tim and Lucas did a fabulous job preparing for the testing and keeping our spirits up during the day. You could tell Tim enjoyed enhancing his mega-phone skills and keeping us in line.

            Jamieson returned to Fanshawe after the lunch, to work for part of the day. He spent the afternoon digging up some grasses and canna lilies from some of the gardens and planters around the campus. The cana lilies are especially important to bring inside as they cannot survive our harsh cold winters. They enjoy a much warmer, more tropical climate.

 Saturday, October 17^th, 2015

             We began the day circle checking the RTV and tractor and trailer, as we would be needing it for the day. We then headed to R2 to begin cleaning up the garden beds. The hostas were the first on our list to tackle. Since we have enough work to do in the spring, we cut back the hostas now. That took up most of our morning, then we began cleaning up the aftermath , which was a lot!  We had filled the hydraulic trailer with mostly hosta leaves and stalks.

 

              In the afternoon we finished cleaning up the hosta leftovers and some leaves. We did leave a good portion of the leaves behind, as they provide a good nutrient source for the lawn and the garden.  We made sure not to leave big piles of leaves, as they would cause the grass underneath to die. The two flower beds near the entrance we edged and weeded it in preparation for mulching the next day. At the end of the day we gave the greenhouse crew Yujing and Kate a hand with the shade curtains for the poinsettias blackout period.

 Sunday, October 18^th, 2015

 

 

            The day began with a cold morning, and snow! We even had to pull out our snow brushes to scrape our cars off before we came.  In order to continue our job from yesterday, we signed out both tractors and one of the RTV's to use for mulching. We had a bit more cleaning up to do in one of the beds before spreading the mulch. After that mulching took up most of our day, as we had to make many trips to the other side of the campus to our compost area, which is also where we keep our mulch. Mulching in the autumn helps provide extra insulation, as well as keeping the weeds at bay in the following spring. It again also saves valuable time in the spring mulching in the autumn.

 

              Though Friday was stressful, and the weekend was cold. We all kept up our positive energy to keep working and get the job done! Jamieson has already completed his greenhouse weekend duty for the semester, I have still yet to complete mine. However, I am looking forward it, and all the learning I will be doing!

BLOG: MTNC Weekend Practical

By: Nick Tolhurst, Chris Potten

October 9^th 2015: Chris and I arrived at the greenhouse to check in and ready to work for 8AM. First thing in the morning we went for an irrigation lesson that Tim was teaching until around 8:30AM. Jeff then instructed us as to what were to be doing. We were told that we were going to be weeding at Z building. I went and got the tools out of the tool room that we would be using. Chris went and got the tractor and trailer, then picked up the tools I set out. We then met at Z building to get started. Jeff then showed up and gave us a walkthrough as to what needed to be done. We completed the front of Z building; weeded and raked to aerate the soil. We then cleaned up and headed back to the greenhouse. We then received a call from our prof. saying that the sliding door cable had snapped in the tool room, so we put a caution sign on it. After that we signed out.

                   

                                                                                   Before         

 

 

                                                                                       After

October 10^th 2015: Chris and I arrived at the greenhouse to check in and ready to work for 8AM. I then drove over to Z building to meet up with Chris. He drove the tractor over with the trailer and tools again. We continued where we left off with the weeding, and raking at Z building. We completed the median of the parking lot, and 3 of the 5 garden sectionals at the front. We raked and weeded the area. We then cleaned up and brought the equipment back. When we arrived back at the greenhouse we had some extra time so we helped Travis and Jeff with some of the greenhouse duties, then signed out.

 

 

October 11^th 2015: Chris and I arrived at the greenhouse to check in and ready to work for 8 AM. Chris went to drive the tractor and trailer with all of the tools but it fell off the hitch. Luckily it unhitched before it left the campus. The knob which holds the trailers coupler was missing the nut. Chris placed the trailer back onto the knob and drove slowly and was able to get it back to C building. We believe the knob was too small for the coupler in the first place. This took a good chunk out of our day to figure it out. We ended up driving our vehicles over to Z building carrying the tools in our cars. We completed the sectional gardens at the front and got ¾ of the side of Z building weeded and raked. We then cleaned the tools, put the equipment back, and headed back to the greenhouse and signed out.

 

 

Jeff and Travis' Greenhouse Weekend Blog

 

            Friday October 9^th was a cloudy rainy day with cool temperatures.  We started the morning by opening the blackout curtains. After we had let in what little light there was that morning we proceeded to walk the crops. We looked at all the healthy poinsettias noticing the color change occurring on some of the bracks. After we had looked over the poinsettias, noticing they were all watered and clean, we went back to the potting room to discuss our weekend with Jeff and Sue. Shortly afterwards we took down the pots from above the filing cabinets. We spent the rest of the day unloading and cleaning the cacti and succulents that Lucas had delivered from the A.M Cuddy Gardens

 

A few crates of penisetums and canna lilies had also come in with the succulents.

            Saturday morning was a bright sunny morning. The day turned out to be a nice warm day great for the crop. We began the morning with the typical walk of the crops and we looked over the stock baskets and perennials. Then we proceeded to organize all the succulents and cacti we had brought in the day before onto the fixed benches. We organized many into their genus’ to ensure they would be easy to find should we need to. Later, once we had finished reorganizing the cacti and succulents, we potted up many of the other succulent and cacti that were to be made ready in pots for the plant sale. Many very virulent and good looking species were potted up, including some very interesting and unusual succulents. We used a different mix than the usual mix. The new mixed we used was two parts potting mix, and one part turface

 

 

 

The turface is a coarse clay like material that increases drainage and has quite an attractive look to it. A light beige in color, the turface works as a good contrast to the plants and the pots. After we had finished with the turface and succulents and cacti we turned our attention to the canna lilies and penisetums. We cut them all back and placed them into bulb crates wrapped in newspaper

 

During all this potting fun we watered the poinsettia crop which had gotten dry from the warm sunny day we were having.

            Sunday was a bright sunny day just like Saturday. The morning began as usual with the walk of the crop and a look over the stock baskets and perennials. Sunday was a busy day. We began the day by going through and sorting out what jobs needed to be done. After we had figured it out we decided to divide and conquer the tasks. Travis started with cleaning up some new stock baskets that had come in while I started dividing a very interesting succulent that had come in. Its name was Puya habailis. I divided it into many smaller pieces then put 2-3 of the divisions in per pot, added some turface for aesthetics then added them to the benches were they belonged.

     After Travis had finished the baskets and I had finished the Puya, we went through all the stock baskets and put large white labels in some of them to indicate which ones were duplicates of other stock baskets. I went outside afterwards to collect some caster bean seeds from a nearby caster plant. I then placed the seeds in a bulb crate with no soil but lined with some newspaper. Travis began to clean pots and get the greenhouse looking spiffy for the coming week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While he was busy inside I went outside the greenhouse to take out all the pots in the soil bed located just out front of the greenhouse. After pulling all of the pots out I filled the holes in using some of the waste soil we had left from potting up the cacti and succulents from the previous two days. After I had filled the holes I hard raked out the bed and cleaned up all the soil that had fallen out of the bed. After all that had been finished I switched up tasks and began to clean the actual greenhouse, while Travis had started to clean the potting area. The areas were washed and swept spotless and the floor drains emptied. Then the last little bit of our weekend was spent finishing up closing the blackout curtains and completing the checklist, recording temperatures and so on. All and all it was a busy weekend, much was accomplished, and much was learned. The poinsettia crop is expected to be in full color for the November sale.

Weekend Maintenance Blog, written by Josh (Eros) Medeiros and Eric Patterson

On Friday, October 2, Eric Patterson and Josh (Eros) Medeiros began their first weekend as partners in the midst of their maintenance course for the Horticulture Technician program at Fanshawe College. They knew they had much responsibility as they were in charge of the Gardens of Fanshawe and much preparation would be needed for the Veterans Memorial Tree plantings.

The two men united at 8 am on Friday and made haste with emptying the Program trailer from its recent trip to Woodstock. All kinds of power tools from backpack blowers to chainsaws where returned to their proper place. While removing the tools from the trailer many things needed to be cleaned. The rototiller especially needed to be cleared of stones and ensnared roots and then washed to remove the rest of the compacted soil. Once what needed to be removed was, Eric and Eros prepared the trailer with the equipment needed for Veteran’s Memorial Parkway tree planting taking place Saturday. Many rounded shovels and rakes where loaded onto the trailer for the volunteers at the tree planting along with some sledge hammers and spades as well. After the trailer was prepped for the big day Eros and Eric began edging tree wells with half-moons, prepping for mulch, to end their first day.

Saturday arrived and due to some very unfortunate health circumstances only one of the two arrived with it. Eric, met with the rest of the Horticulture classmates for the annual tree planting at 3M. Hundreds of trees were planted of all kinds of varieties all picked specifically for the locations they were planted in. This will ensure a larger survival rate along the road. Once every tree had been properly tamped in, insulated, and staked Eric headed back to Fanshawe to resume maintenance of the grounds. Once the trailer had been unpacked and the dozens of shovels put away and cleaned Eric continued making tree wells until rain washed him out. He then turned this loss of time into an opportunity and assisted the greenhouse team with hand watering the poinsettia crop until the weather cleared up.

The last day brought the opportunity for the pair to finish their arboreal task. Fresh mulch was applied to the tree wells to help retain moisture around the drip line of the tree and reduce weed growth in that area as well. During a brief break Eric and Eros helped the greenhouse team pull up Chrysanthemums since they were quite established. After that more mulch and more edging until the rain became too much and the team had to retreat to the greenhouse. Luckily they were able to help once more by aiding in the packing of the Antheriums, making the process go smoothly with extra hands. Once the rain subsided Eric and Eros made the last few trips picking up mulch and neatly filling in their wells. These tree wells will help keep the crown of the trunk healthy on these trees.

Through it all much was learned and much valuable experience was gained on important things like teamwork, leadership, communication and problem solving. Many challenging situations arose and the experience gained from that was great!

Elizabeth and Karima Maintenance Blog

Day 1 - Friday September 25, 2015

After completing circle checks on the RTV 1140 and the Kubota tractor we filled up the gas, loaded equipment and set off to hook up the trailer. We began our weekend duty of tree circles. We started by measuring an even distance around the tree, digging up the sod, removing weeds, and making the surface even.

Day 2 – Saturday September 26, 2015

Same as Friday and we began laying mulch. We were careful to keep the depth and spread uniform and keeping the clean edge exposed. There was a lot of traffic and noise today as it was the Western homecoming game.

Day 3 – Sunday September 27, 2015

Final day, we had beautiful weather all weekend and finished 20 tree circles by lot 8!