Keeping your greenhouse cool on hot days.......

Friday was a typical Melbourne hot day - a forecast of 41C with strong northerly winds proved to be correct and it was pretty uncomfortable to be outside away from the air conditioning.

So if it is going to be 41C outside, how hot would you expect it to be inside a greenhouse? 

Probably even hotter, and the plants inside the greenhouse would be experiencing some real water stress issues and ultimately some tissue damage.

You may be surprised to learn that on average it was actually some 6 - 7 degrees cooler inside our greenhouse today than it was outside.


                                

The graph shown above was created on our Priva Integro climate control computer on the 4th of January, 2013, and shows both the inside greenhouse temperature (purple line) and the outside temperature (green line) achieved during the day. Sunlight ,and heating and ventilation strategy values are also shown. 
  
At the time of writing this post, the inside temperature was a staggering 12 degrees cooler than the outside temperature.

So how is this being achieved? The simple answer is by the use of a fogging system. Water is injected in to the roof area as fine particle fog, which evaporates and produces a cooling effect within the greenhouse climate.

However, the fine level of control is achieved by utilising the various factors and settings within the Priva system to ensure correct application of the fog, and successful evaporation.

So can I make this happen in my greenhouse? Yes you can as long as you have a fogging system that can be controlled in terms of fogging intensity and duration. 

If you would like to find out how to make your greenhouse climate maintain such cool levels, our Priva climate management expert, Tony Bundock, is on hand to provide this advice either at your location or via remote access.

Tony can be contacted via e mail at tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au

Want to train for working in the greenhouse Industry at times that suit you?

Sounds to good to be true? Well actually it is true!

We are now taking enrolments for our Certificate 3 Production Horticulture course which offers the options that you need to fit an accredited training course in to your busy schedule.

The course focuses on a wide range of aspects of hydroponic growing and includes plant nutrition, crop work, pest and disease control and climate management.

The training is delivered by a 'blended learning' approach which utilises on line learning, class time and practical sessions.

As a student you can study on line at any time that suits you, and access support from our teaching staff via the use of online, skype or phone calls.

You can also choose class sessions that fit in to your time frame, as well as nominating times for the practical classes that suit you. 

The course is also self paced, so if you want to put in as much time as you can, then you can complete the course early.

And what about job prospects? We currently have employers who are seeking qualified graduates at certificate 3 or above to join their workforces. These employers are both locally based and interstate, so you have plenty of options once you complete the course!

For further details on these courses, please contact us via:-

E mail:- enquiries@chisholm.edu.au

T 1300 244 746

Changing the computer clock for daylight savings

For those of you with Priva climate control systems, you will have needed to change the computer clock this weekend to align with the start of Daylight savings. Just in case you have struggled with these settings, here is some advice from Priva of how to achieve this:-

"In the computer and Priva Office, there are some tips and tricks. This is a tip for changing time of the clock in the Integro or Connext by changing winter to summer and reverse."

We have attached a link to a movie and explanation of the S2-command. In Priva Office a grower can choose to follow the time change. The movie shows how to connect the computer to the PC with Priva Office. The movie only changes the time clock of the computer. The starting times of periods in the controls stay on the already installed time. Some growers want this, but if a grower also wants to move all his controls with one hour, he can use the S2 Command from the terminal (monochrome or from Priva Office Terminal).

For more details, have a look at the video below

On-line and running!

Our eGlasshouse online training programs are now starting to attract plenty of attention from students both within Australia, and overseas.

Apprentice based training

The introduction of the Certificate 3 Production Horticulture vie eGlasshouse now means that employers can look at taking on apprentices, who are able to undertake their theoretical training via an online medium, as opposed to traditional 'day release' training. This gives both employers and employees great flexibility in training that can be undertaken at times that suit both parties. The practical components of the training are undertaken either via a block release program at Chisholm, or onsite - which can again be tailored to suit timeframes.

The online nature of the course also means that apprentices can commence training at any time of the year and are not limited to set term dates.

We are currently accepting enrolments for a number of growers wishing to commence apprenticeship training for staff member. For further details on the apprenticeship based training, please give Paul Saunders a call on 03 5990 7254 or contact him at paul.saunders@chisholm.edu.au

Certificate 4 and Diploma Courses

Our higher level courses are also attracting strong interest from current industry practitioners who are seeking to upskill both their knowledge and practical skills. As well as the online training, we are also looking to run some short seminars in November which will be more technically focussed. Full details will appear on the blog shortly.

We are also starting to get interest from Internationally based students seeking to train online. So far we have interest from students ranging from locations ranging from India to Alaska!

If you are interested in participating  in the Certificate 4 or Diploma courses, again, feel free to contact Paul Saunders on 03 5990 7254 or contact him at paul.saunders@chisholm.edu.au

Our usual contact staff member, Tony Bundock, is currently in Europe facilitating a student study tour, and is also visiting other training establishments to strengthen our international capacity. The students are also running a blog on their travels and adventures, so feel free to check this out at http://vetmobility.blogspot.co.uk/

Continuing to grow...........

Whilst September the first is recognised as the start of Spring, and is generally seen as the start of the traditional growing season, our crops are already moving along well in their controlled environment despite the cooler weather outside. 

The tomato plants were transferred from sitting on top of the plastic of the groslabs, to being placed directly on to the pre wetted rockwool.

This obviously agreed with them as they extended their roots to become firmly attached to the rockwool within 2 days!

At the moment we are ensuring that we get good root development from the plants without allowing them to grow to vegetatively - this is a fine balance between growing too vegetatively and retaining a more generative growth pattern.

The first flower trusses are also now setting, and we will soon be taking side shoots from the existing plants to make additional heads for increased production.

                                                                    Tomato Levanzo

Accredited training via eGlasshouse

Our eGlasshouse online training system has taken a giant leap forward in that we can now offer Nationally accredited courses via an online learning system.

Students will now be able to enrol in a number of subjects that can be utilised to form a complete course, leading to a Certificate 3, Certificate 4, or Diploma in Production Horticulture.

Although the courses are offered in an online format, there is also an additional need to either attend practical training at the Chisholm Glasshouse, or have your skills recognised in a formal workplace. This is to ensure that individual skills are displayed in a work based setting, and the courses are not just theory based.

For a full list of the subjects that we are now offering, please look at the eGlasshouse or Training course link on this page, and we are developing more specific subjects for hydroponic growing.

If you are interested in this style of training or need more detail, please contact Tony Bundock at tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au

Crop Registration

One of the great advantages of our glasshouse facility is that our students can have a 'hands on' experience in practical tasks that relate to crop growing. 

The area of 'Crop Registration' is a key area in tracking the progress of a crop so that a grower or consultant can make a judgement on the progress of a crop, and how it needs to be 'steered' in terms of making it more generative or vegetative.

Our students have been busy setting up individual crop registration sites so that they can hone their skills in crop registration, and their results will be sent off to our crop consultant in the Netherlands.

The students will also be producing spreadsheets that will used to record the plant growth information on, as well as utilizing the Priva Integro computer to identify light levels from the previous year to make comparisons with.

Certificate 4 Production Horticulture student and trainee - Rebecca Meikle starts her crop registration program

2012-13 crop now planted

This week saw our Tomato and Capsicum crops being established with the aid of our students.

Our Certificate 3 students were involved in planting the Pepper's, while our Certificate 4 students spent their class time placing the Tomato plants on to the slabs.

Certificate 3 students planting Capsicum Davos

These practical activities give our students a great opportunity to be involved in a hands on environment with crop growing, and they will be involved in all aspects of the crop development over the forthcoming months.

 

Tomato Levanzo planted by Certificate 4 students

Setting out for the new crop

All of our Certificate 3 students were busy today setting out the Grodan slabs for the new Capsicum and Tomato crops. 

As you can see, we have been busy getting the glasshouse back to a clean and tidy state, which has seen plenty of 'elbow grease' being empoyed in the process!

All of the internal surfaces have been cleaned and we now have our full hygiene protocol in operation.

Now that the slabs are in place we will commence wetting them up in preperation for planting next week. The plants are due to arrive from Trandos Hydroponics in Western Australia at 2.00am on Monday, so an early start for us!