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!

Our new title

At last week's Hydroponic Farmers Federation Conference, we were able to announce that the glasshouse facility has now been branded with the official title of 'The National Precision Growing Centre'.

This new title truly reflects the world class nature of our facility, and will also provide us with a great platform to further promote our online courses across both Australia and the world.

The National Precision Growing Centre has widespread industry support from key industry players such as Grodan, Rijjk Zwaan, and Priva, who have offered ongoing support for the facility. We will be having an official launch of the title, so we will keep you posted when this event will occur.

Out with the old...............

Like many other growers, we are currently taking our old crops out, and starting the annual cleaning process. This is seeing us removing all of the green waste from the glasshouse as well as the rockwool growing slabs. 

While our green waste is taken to a recycling station, our Rockwool slabs are being stacked prior to us shredding them and introducing some organic material. Hopefully this experiment will allow us to produce a composted mulch that can be used in garden areas. 

The trial is the result of the findings of one of last year's VET mobility students - Catherine Ashton - who spent some considerable time with the Grodan company looking at methods for recycling old slabs as opposed to sending them to the landfill tip. As the trial progresses we'll keep you posted.

The clean up commences!

Our new crops are part of a joint project with seed company, Rizk Zwaan. The South side of the house will be planted with single varieties of Tomato and Peppers, while the North side will include a range of varieties. This will allow growers to see first hand how each variety performs. 

As soon as we are ready to plant we will be posting details of the various varieties that can be seen.

Propagation of these plants is being kindly donated by Trandos Hydroponic Growers who have been long term supporters of the glasshouse. 

Finally, we will be at next weeks Hydroponic Framers Federation conference, so feel free to come along and say g'day. If the technology in Ballarat behaves itself, you should be able to see our glasshouse clean up live via our eGlasshouse camera!