Skip to main content

Deep Cleaning in the Greenhouse

When cleaning my home or work space doing the drains is the dirtiest chore on the list. Almost all of the dirt and grime funnels down through the drain. If the drain is clogged, civilization as we know it, stops. 

Today my task was to clean window sills and ...drains. The University of Minnesota Conservatory Greenhouse, where I've been volunteering, continues its summer push to deep clean the surfaces and plants to help keep them free of pests and diseases.

Integral to a thorough job of cleaning includes lifting the drain grates and flushing out the accumulated soil and organic muck (dead leaves, seeds, etc.). Hiding out of sight under the grates, the muck is potentially a fertile reservoir of pest eggs and bacteria. 

There were approximately a dozen drains in the four greenhouses of the Conservatory. Each drain consists of a heavy cast cast-iron basket covered by a round iron grill. I lifted, brushed, and washed each component.

While I was working from drain to drain, I spotted this blooming Burbidgea (golden ginger bush), native to the island of Borneo.

Golden bush ginger (Burbigdea schizocheila)

Now clean floor drain, one of a dozen in the greenhouse

There are over 30,000 species of orchids in the world, the most abundant of any other type of plant. There are so many orchids in the collection that there are always beautiful blossoms to admire. Today, I found a lovely vanda orchid hanging is its basket. Vanda orchids are a large genus, with 90 species. They are native to Southeast Asia.

Vanda sp., Orchidaceae


Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 15, 2026 at 12:56 AM

    This was a very informative read. Looking forward to more helpful articles like this. Keep up the great work diseño web sabadell!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mould MedicoJuly 27, 2026 at 5:54 AM

    During this post, you have shared fantastic content. This article provided me with some useful knowledge. Thank you for sharing that. Keep up the good work. Read more info about Deep Mould Cleaning Company

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 25, 2026 at 4:51 AM

    This is a very informative post. I especially liked the practical insights and clear explanation. Thanks for sharing this valuable information clinica dental viladecavalls!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thrip control: peppermint and clove

Here's a question: how many natural plant scents do you find repellent? The one that comes to the top of my mind is the scent of the newly blossomed corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum . It smells very much like the name implies. If I could produce a scratch-and-sniff blog post, I would be tempted. The odor is horrible to humans, but sweet to some flying insects which are also attracted to rotting flesh. But perhaps you cannot tolerate the scent of clove, or eucalyptus? Insect pests are like us in this respect. Pests in the garden and greenhouse Insects, arachnids, fungi, and viruses. Their numbers are legion. The battle is constant. The most effective weapon is vigilance. In addition to vigilance, there are biological controls made from natural compounds which are generally non-toxic to humans. Included in this category are essential oils. For example cinnamon, rosemary, sage, neem, clove, peppermint and many others. These oils are repellent, and even toxic, to many of the pests...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nerding out in Japan, autumn of 2025

We celebrated a bit of good news in our household with a spontaneously planned trip to Japan in November. Completely unintended, the trip coincided with the full regalia of fall colors. Particularly notable were the popular Japanese maples of every size and variety with their brilliant reds, yellow, oranges, greens, and rusts. But happy accident, we learned a few things about the art of sculpting full-grown trees - niwaki - and how to protect plants from ice and snow over the winter - yukizuri . Winter is coming The fall colors were still in full swing with crowds of adoring leaf-peepers - like me - filling the famous gardens and parks. Despite the crowds, there was already serious preparations for the coming winter. Fancifully pruned trees - the tree-sculpting art of niwaki similar to bonsai -  were being trussed with ropes and propped up on long poles . As newcomers, the preparations seemed extremely odd, as if some hurricane was about to shred the life out of every branch an...
2 comments
Read more

New roots for an old soul: extreme 30-foot plant cutting

A large contingent of students and staff was gathered when I arrived for my volunteer shift at the Conservatory Greenhouse at the University of Minnesota on the St. Paul campus. The crowd was on hand to help with the gentle felling of the largest plant in the greenhouse, decades old and 30+ feet tall. Native to the island of New Caledonia in the South Pacific, this fern -- S phaeropteris intermedia the largest of all tree ferns -- has been happily growing in the tropical room of the greenhouse for a number of years, to the point its fronds are brushing up against the glass ceiling panes of the roof.  Tree fern fronds brushing against the roof of the U of M greenhouse Rather than cut the tree down and lose the specimen, the staff decided to try to save the tree. The process would involve cutting off the top half of the tree and reinserting it into a new space in the soil of the greenhouse floor. Months of planning and preparation A well-known technique was used, referred to as ai...
Post a Comment
Read more