Learn More about Annuals
Many different annuals with spectacular flowers are cultivated specifically for the colour they can bring to a garden; as a bedding display, a container plant or a cut flower.
This course develops your familiarity with a wide variety of such plants, and improves your capacity to successfully grow them.
COURSE CONTENT
1. Introduction
- Scope and Nature
- Naming Plants
- Species, hybrids, cultivars.
- Plant Families
- Pronouncing plant names
- Flower structure and basic botany
- Information sources
- Caring for Cut Flowers
2. Culture
- selection of plants suited to the situation
- preparing a site (soils, cultivation etc)
- propagation
- planting
- mulching
- protecting and caring for establishing plants
- control of problems (eg. pests, diseases, weeds)
3. Propagation
- Methods of propagating annuals.
- Seed sowing
- Pricking out seedlings
- Propagation of selected varieties of annuals.
4. Hydroponics.
- Annuals in hydroponics
- How plants grow
- Different Hydroponic systems explained
- When and why to choose hydroponics
- Hydroponic techniques for selected annuals
5. Pest and Disease
- Identifying problems (disease, pest, environmental, nutritional)
- Treating problems
6. Irrigation
- Irrigation objectives
- Soil Moisture
- Maintaining water levels
- Watering
- When to irrigate
- Identifying over or under watering
7. Greenhouse Management and Bedding
- Greenhouse design and construction
- Growing in a greenhouse
- Environmental factors that affect growth
- Controlling flower production
- Heating and cooling
- Flower Bed Layouts -pure and impure
- Types of plantings
- Bedding schemes
- Annuals with scent
- Annuals with colourful foliage
- Selecting annuals according to height
- Flower judging
8. Harvest, Post Harvest & Quality.
- Harvesting flowers
- Flower deterioration
- Post harvest
- Shelf life
- Factors affecting post harvest life
- Post harvest treatments
- Grading standards
- Conditioning for market
- Packaging
- Harvesting specific annuals (snapdragon, Bellis, Carnation, Calendula, Carnation, Chrysanthemum, Larkspur, Delphinium, Cosmos, Gypsophila, Iberis, Marigold, Poppy, Statice, Stock, Sweet Pea, Violet)1. Introduction
Course Duration - 100 hours
