Learn to work in a Production Plant Nursery This is a course designed in collaboration with nursery hands at the Greening Australia Hamel Nursery, south of Perth. It teaches the skills for day to day work in a production nursery. There are eleven lessons involving: The Nursery Industry - operational flow charts, nursery standards, plant variety rights, transport regulations;plant identification, nursery structures, buildings, heating & cooling systems; potting mixes, seed propagation, cutting propagation, other propagation techniques, plant nutrition, pest & disease control, other nursery tasks and marketing and sales
Lesson Structure
There are 11 lessons in this course:
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Introduction to the Nursery Industry: production systems, transport regulations, PVR
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Plant Identification and Taxonomy: systematic botany, plant families, leaf and flower parts
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Nursery Structures and Buildings: greenhouse management, structures for nurseries
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Potting Mixes: U.C. soil mixes, understanding soils, growing media
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Seed Propagation: quality, sources, storage, germination treatments
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Cutting Propagation: stock plants, hormones
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Other Propagation Techniques: tissue culture, division, separation, layering, grafting
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Plant Nutrition in the Nursery: nutrition management,
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Pests and Diseases Control: hygeine
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Other Nursery Tasks: nursery irrigation, modifying plant growth
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Marketing and Sales: sales methods
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
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Understand plant propagation techniques and efficiency and quality control measures for the nursery.
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Understand means of identifying and naming plants through International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
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Describe pros and cons of different nursery structures and understand effective management techniques.
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Describe different types of potting mix, their uses and pros and cons.
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Discuss different sources, maintenance of genetic identity, hybridisation techniques, storage and germination; of seeds.
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Understand different means of propagating cuttings.
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Understand alternative methods of propagation and their appropriate uses.
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Discuss the importance of major and minor elements to plant health and the effect of their deficiencies upon plant nutrition.
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Understand the effects of pests and diseases on the livelihood of the nursery and the importance of good hygiene standards in their control.
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Understand different methods of controlling plant growth.
What You Will Do
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Speak with a nurseryman who sells plants to research shipping plants to other localities.
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Collect, dissect and observe flowers and leaves from six different plant species belonging to two plant families.
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Speak to some of the nurserymen you have contacted throughout the course to date. Find out what you can about their preferences for different types of greenhouses and different shade houses.
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Prepare two different types of propagating media; a soil-less potting media for general use in container growing of plants and a general potting mix containing some soil.
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Contact and collect catalogues from at least six different seed suppliers.
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Collect seed from at least three different plants growing in gardens or bushland and sow this seed
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Contact (by phone) at least six different nurseries to research seed sourcing.
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Prepare a pot of cuttings and estimate the cost of production for each cutting produced.
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Obtain some pieces of wood and practice preparation of grafts and buds. Prepare three other grafts on a living plant.
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Visit or contact a nursery or stock agent who supplies fertilisers. Research the various types of fertilisers available and their appropriate applications.
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Obtain a soil-less growing medium (such as vermiculite, perlite, sand and so on or a mixture), which has had no fertilizers added to it at all. Fill 4 pots with this medium and plant 4 seedling plants into the pot. Obtain some different types of fertilizers and feed three of the pots, each with a different fertilizer...do not feed the fourth pot at all. Grow for 2‑3 weeks and then observe the differences in growth between each pot.
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Identify as many pest or disease problems as you are able to for a given set of plants.
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Contact three irrigation companies to find out what types of irrigation equipment are available for nursery irrigation. Try to get a comparison on prices between the cheaper systems and the more expensive systems which are available.
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Visit two different nurseries to research the techniques which are used in modifying plant growth.
What's involved with Working in a Nursery?
There are many different ways of producing plants though most plants are produced commercially by either seed or cutting propagation. ‘Tissue culture’ or ‘micropropagation’ techniques carried out in a laboratory are sometimes used where very large numbers of one plant variety are required quickly, or where limited propagation stock is available. Other plants (eg. roses, deciduous fruit and ornamental trees) are traditionally produced by budding and grafting onto seed or cutting grown rootstocks. Division and separation are commonly used for the propagation of bulbs and herbaceous perennials.
Other propagation techniques (eg. layering or marcotting) may be important in the propagation of some specific types of plants; however they are relatively insignificant when taking a broad view of the nursery industry.
The nursery production system traditionally consists of four stages:
1. Propagation
2. Transplanting
3. Growing on
4. Marketing the fully grown plant
To better understand the procedures involved in propagation it is valuable to produce an operational flow chart which outlines the steps undertaken in each of the above four stages. An example flow chart for propagation of a eucalypt from seed is presented below:
Operational flow chart for Eucalyptus Seed Propagation
Propagation Stage
Obtain seed.
Mix propagating media.
Sterilise propagating media (if applicable).
Fill seed tray.
Water tray.
Sow seed.
Cover seed.
Water seed trays.
Place trays in propagation area (eg. glasshouse)
Germination takes place.
Transplanting Stage
Mix growing media (soil mix) or purchase soil mix.
Sterilise media.
Bring seedlings and soil mix to potting area.
Transplant seedlings into pots or tubes.
Move potted plants to protected or semi-protected position for growing on (eg. shaded position).
Growing-on Stage
Mix and sterilise/or buy potting soil.
Bring soil and plants together in potting area.
Pot up into container which plant will be sold in.
Allow growth to full size (apply fertiliser and water, prune, etc. as needed).
Marketing Stage
Prepare and label for sales.
Load onto van.
Call on retail nurseries canvassing sales.
Unload plants as they sell.
FREQUENT QUESTIONS
Why Choose This Course
- Unique course materials (developed by our staff) and more current than some colleges (many reviewed annually); as a result, ACS graduates can be more up to date.
- We work hard to help you understand and remember it, develop an ability to apply it in the real world, and build networks with others who work in this field (It’s more than just serving up a collection of information –if all you want is information, buy a book; but if you want an education, that takes learning to a whole new level).
- Start whenever you want, study at your own pace, study anywhere
- Don’t waste time and money traveling classes
- We provide more choices–courses are written to allow you more options to focus on parts of the subject that are of more interest to you; a huge range of elective subjects are offered that don’t exist elsewhere.
- Tutors are accessible (more than elsewhere) – academics work in both the UK and Australia, 5 days a week, 16 hours a day. Answering emails and phone calls from students are top priority.
- We treat students as individuals –don’t get lost in a crowd. Our tutors communicate with you one to one.
- Extra help at no extra cost if needed. When you find something you cannot do, we help you through it or will provide another option.
- Support after you finish a course –We can advise about getting work, starting business, writing a CV, etc. We can promote students and their businesses through our extensive profile on the internet. Graduates who ask will be helped.
- Support from a team of a dozen professional horticulturists, living in different parts of the UK, and in both temperate and tropical climate zones of Australia.
About ACS
ACS was started in 1979 by John Mason, who at the time was a gardening author, horticultural consultant and lecturer in horticulture at several colleges across Melbourne (in Australia). Over the summer that year John discovered that there were thousands of applicants going to be turned away from horticulture courses at Burnley Horticultural College (now Melbourne University). There were simply too few courses being offered for the number of people wanting to study horticulture in Australia. This situation prompted a move to establish a correspondence course at Burnley; but after months of unsuccessful lobbying for support from government; John wrote a course, and with help from a colleague at Council of Adult Education, marketed it.
Standards were originally set in line with what were seen to be the standards of Australia's top horticultural college; and over the years, those standards have never been reduced. This makes our courses longer and more demanding than some other colleges; but it has also led to us building a credibility that stands tall in the horticulture industry across the world.
In the early 1990's John started visiting the UK and becoming involved with the horticulture industry there. Around the mid 1990's ACS began offering RHS courses, and in 2003, John was formally recognised for his contribution to British Horticulture by being made a fellow of the Institute of Horticulture. ACS, as a school, established an office and staff in the UK in 2001, and has expanded considerably since then. Today it is formally affiliated with five other colleges in the UK (including Warwickshire College); all of who license and deliver ACS courses.
A team of leading horticulturists work for the school's horticulture department, including 12 faculty members in both the UK and Australia
How You Study
- As soon as you enroll, we send an email to explain it all.
- We direct you to a short orientation video (downloadable over the internet) to watch, where our principal introduces you to how the course works, and how you can access all sorts of support services
- You are either given a code to access your course online, or sent out a CD or course materials through the mail (or by courier).
- Work through lessons one by one, each lesson typically having four parts:
- An aim -which tells you what you should be achieving in the lesson
- Reading -notes written and regularly revised by our academic staff
- Set Task(s) -These are practicals, research or other experiential learning tasks that strengthen and add to what you have been reading
- Assignment -By answering questions, submitting them to a tutor, then getting feedback from the tutor, you confirm that you are on the right track, but more than that, you are guided to consider what you have been studying in different ways, broadening your perspective and reinforcing what you are learning about
- Other - Your work in a course rarely stops at just the above four parts. Different courses and different students will need further learning experiences. Your set task or assignment may lead to other things, interacting with tutors or people in industry, reviewing additional reference materials or something else. We treat every student as an individual and supplement their learning needs as the occasion requires.
- We provide access to and encourage you to use a range of supplementary services including an online student room, including online library; student bookshop, newsletters, social media etc.
- We provide a "student manual", that is a quick solution to most problems that might occur
Recognition
- ACS has a highly respected international profile: by employers and academics alike. People are more aware of us than many other distance education schools –just do a search for “horticulture distance education courses” and see what comes up on the internet; or search for ACS Distance education on Facebook or Linked in, and see how many connections we have compared to other colleges.
- Recognised by International Accreditation and Recognition Council
- ACS has been educating people around the world since 1979
- Over 100,000 have now studied ACS courses, across more than 150 countries
- Formal affiliations with colleges in five countries
- A faculty of over 40 internationally renowned academics –books written by our staff used by universities and colleges around the world.
Extra Books or Reference Materials
- The course provides you with everything that you need to complete it successfully.
- Assignments may ask you to look for extra information (eg. by contacting nurseries, visiting gardens or searching the internet), but our school's resources and tutors are always available as a back up. If you hit a "roadblock", we can quickly send you additional information or provide expert advice over the phone or email; to keep you moving in your studies.
- Some students choose to buy additional references, to take their learning beyond what is essential for the course. If a student wants to buy books, we operate an online bookshop offering ebooks written by staff at the school. Student discounts are available if you are studying with us. The range of e books available is being expanded rapidly, with at least one new ebook being written and published by our staff every month.
- See www.acsebook.com for ebooks (available in pounds stirling). We also sell books through our Australian bookshop (selling in Australian dollars) at www.acsbookshop.com
