Potting brassica seeds for student labs

Director A... had me gather small 4-inch pots, 160 of them, and place them in trays to be filled with potting mix for planting of brassica seeds by agronomy students. I found the pots in the pot-room, the trays in the tray-room, and the potting soil bags in the room full of different types of soil, bark, vermiculite and perlite. Back in the workroom, I filled the trays with the empty pots, then dumped potting mix on top of the empty pots, spreading out the mix into the containers until they were full. I used an empty tray to press down on the pots to compress the soil just enough to squeeze out some of the excess air pockets from each small pot. Finally, each tray was set in a bath to soak up water from the bottom of the pot. Later, B came along to gently spray water onto the surface to ensure the small pots were adequately moist for seeds to germinate. The trays were then placed in a walk-in refrigerator to keep them cool and moist for later use in class.

Working in D2 again, I noticed a fir (angiosperm) covered in brown pollen which had fallen from an overhanging tree fern (Cyatheales family). The fir has short, soft needles which were easily brushed with a weak soapy water and a damp sponge. Finally, I sprayed the fir, and the overhead tree fern, to dislodge the loose pollen.

I had a few minutes remaining at the end of the 3-hour period to remove dead leaves from a low bush in D3. The bush had years - maybe 3 years - of dead leaves and flower stems covering the lower branches. The plant had an unhealthy look to it with all the dead leaves coating the lower branches. The bush looked much more attractive and vital with the lower branches cleaned of the debris.

I mentioned to A... that my friends are planning to visit next week on February 2nd. She said she might be away, but that there was scheduled to be a class visiting the display rooms of the greenhouse. The class consists of photography students and their teacher. Director A... would be there to lead them through the display rooms. .

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Rebuilding the support for vanilla vines

Raining in February The morning began with a walk in the rain from my car to the Conservatory greenhouses - in the month of February. According to the calendar, we should be in the depths of winter. The precipitation today should be snow not rain. The storm system that we're experiencing is probably related to drenching rains moving inland from the west coast. I met Coordinator A... at the door of the Conservatory. His office desk faces one of the main doors to the building. He cannot escape observing everyone who enters...poor guy, it must be distracting for him. Anyway, as soon as I entered the building we started to discuss his plan for my activity of the morning. He offered me the project of rebuilding the support for vanilla vines which have been suffering from overexposure to sunlight and dry air. A bit of background The vanilla plant (Vanilla planifolia) is in the orchid family. It is native to Central America and Mexico. The seed pods were used by the Aztecs to flavor coc

Frankincense and Myrtle: Fragrant Treasures

If you were raised in the Christian religion, you've probably heard of frankincense and myrrh. But, do you know much about them, beyond being fragrant commodities as precious as gold? Until today, I could not have described frankincense, myrrh, or citronella. But, by the time I was finished with my volunteer shift at the U of M Conservatory greenhouse I knew more about them. However, I will have to wait for another time to actually see a myrrh tree. I'm not sure if the Conservatory has a myrrh tree. I do know myrrh is in the Burseraceae family, the same family as the frankincense tree. They are not in the myrtle family as the name would suggest. The myrtles (or Myrtaceae) are the gum trees of the Australasia, one which gives us citronella (see below). Maintenance of small trees The day's duties assigned to me were to provide general light maintenance to a group of small trees located in the desert and subtropical rooms of the greenhouse. Maintenance included pruning and mak

Infection control in the Conservatory, from mundane to amazing

Volunteering at the University of Minnesota's Conservatory Greenhouse As mentioned in prior blog posts, for the past three years I've been volunteering for a few hours a week at the Conservatory greenhouse at the St. Paul campus of the U of M. This blog is about activities there, and the many fascinating and beautiful plants in the collection. A little background about plant infections Everyone who has cared for a plant, from houseplant lovers to professional nurserymen, has learned the hard lesson that plant pests and diseases are an inescapable fact of life. All plants, domestic or wild, are susceptible to the infectious agents and parasites. Plants in their native habitats are largely protected by the ecosystems surrounding them, where pests do not have the luxury unfettered consumption. Plants grown indoors have been removed from their ecosystem and they are sitting ducks for parasites to proliferate unchecked. Indoor gardens rely entirely on pest control methods with var

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