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!

The 2012 Hydroponic Farmers Federation Conference

The Hydroponic Farmers Federation 2012 Conference is now open for registration.

This year the conference is being held at the Mercure Ballarat from the 18 - 20 July.

The theme “The Future – Filling in the gaps” addresses many of the issue facing all farmers as they approach challenging times.

Farming is always challenging, but the immediate future offers a new mix of challenges - Buying conglomerates driving down prices, the rising dollar, rising energy costs and competition from imports are some of the challenges that face Victorian farmers.

Facing these challenges  by yourself is daunting. Coming together with others to learn new techniques and approaches and learning from others’ experience is a positive way to assist your business.

Commercial greenhouse & hydroponic production systems are rapidly becoming one of the important solutions to resource pressures (land, water, fertiliser, environment, etc), however growers constantly need to update their growing techniques and technology. This event brings together the knowledge developers (speakers) with the knowledge users (growers) and is a wonderful opportunity to keep abreast of current skills.

And finally, Chisholm Institute will be having a stand at this year's event, so come along and say hello to the teaching staff, and find out more about what we do.

Taking the Training to the Growers..............

Whilst traditional training with TAFE Institutes has always been seen as an 'on campus' exercise, we are now living in an age where there are ever increasing demands and pressures on available time.

In order to maximise the time for training, Chisholm Institute are now actively delivering basic level and specialised training 'on site' for growers.

This week, our glasshouse climate management specialist, Tony Bundock, delivered three days of training for renowned propagation experts, Trandos Hydroponics. The training centred around the use of computerised climate management, and was delivered entirely on site in Perth, W.A.

Danny Trandos, Tony Bundock and Jamie Trandos

"Having Tony come to us to deliver training is great from a logistical point of view" said General manager, Danny Trandos. "Tony was able to train three of us, while we could still keep an eye on our day to day operations. It also made sound financial sense not to have to commit to three sets of flights and accommodation," said Danny.

"The training focused on the way we are using our Priva Integro system, and Tony was able to train one of our new managers in the use of our climate management computer, as well as fine tuning a number of parameters for us. It also meant that we could work with Tony first hand to improve our growing conditions," said Head Grower, Jamie Trandos.

From the trainer's point of view, on site training offers some great benefits. "Being on site at the production facility is a great way to train individuals as you are able to see exactly what their issues and challenges are, and how you can assist them to resolve them," said Tony Bundock. "The growers are also able to learn in a very practical way" said Tony. 

Tony was trained in Holland by the Priva company, and continues to work closely with Priva to develop more training solutions for the wider industry. Whilst this training was based around the Priva Integro system, Tony also conducts training for the Priva Maximiser systems.

If you are interested in having training conducted on your site, feel free to contact Tony directly via email at tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au

Student run open day

As part of their studies for the Diploma of Production Horticulture, some of our full time International students have been working towards gaining competence in a subject called "Develop a Marketing Plan".

This has seen students being actively involved in promoting the Glasshouse training facility as well as developing resources to promote the process of crop growing, and sales of the final product.

As part of these studies, the Glasshouse doors were opened to a  number of visitors from local community groups, which allowed members of the general public to see what our Industry is all about, as well as affording the students the opportunity to run a presentation and guided tour as part of their studies.

The format for the day was firstly an overview of what happens in the glasshouse in terms of growing techniques and climate management which was delivered by student Kieren Wheeler. This was followed by a guided tour of the crop area. Finally our 'guests' were able to experience some tomato tasting in the form of various recipes form the "Love my Salad" web site - expertly presented by student, Tony Pham.

 Student Annie Ecomo explains about Tomato growing

 

At the end of the day, our students were able to comprehensively prove competence in this part of their course. 

From the visitors point of view, it provided a unique opportunity to see first hand how commercial crops are produced, and to gain a deeper insight in to the whole process of food production.

 

Residents from the Hunters Green Retirement Village 

Garden Club in their bio security attire!

Priva Integro version 730 and Priva Office version 4

As part of the ongoing commitment by Priva to support training at Chisholm Institute, Priva's Peter Mos recently upgraded our Integro system to version 730, and we also recieved an upgrade to Priva Office version 4.

The training that Peter delivered highlighted the advantages of the improved working platforms, but we have placed a video link on this blog so that you can gain an overview of the generic improvements Priva have made. The link is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B61O3McKXcM

For further details on these upgrades, please call your local Priva dealer, or feel free to contact us to see first hand how the systems have improved.  

Learning from the Master

This week we hosted a training session for growers who wanted to learn more about managing their glasshouse climates with the Priva Integro climate control computer.

The participants were existing users of Integro, and Peter Mos of Priva was on hand to deliver the training.

Peter Mos

Although Peter is renowned for his skills in energy management, he also proved to be an extremely competent trainer in the general issues that surround climate management. The course participants were treated to a wealth of information from Peter that provided a great insight in to how to get more from individual systems.

Taking in the knowledge.................

Whilst most growers know what they know, there is also a train of thought that most growers may not know what they don't know! The course was fundamentally designed to 'open the eyes' of the growers so that they could realise more potential from their systems. And the final outcome certainly proved this to be the case.

There are now plans to deliver more of these joint Priva / Chisholm training courses to equip growers with knowledge in a short time frame, that can then be translated back to the workplace.

Further details will be placed on the blog, but if you are interested in specific issues relating to Priva training, please contact Tony via e mail at tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au

Course participants from left to right

Ian Willert (Boomaroo), Steve Biemond (Biemond Nurseries), Peter Mos (Priva),

Matt Russell (Rijk Zwaan), Tony Bundock (Chisholm), Tony Jamieson (Tomato Brothers, Colin Bednarz (The Patch Nursery), Sharna Smith (Tomato Brothers),

Andrew Potter (P'Petual Holdings), Derek Clarke (Blumberg Flowers)



Priva Dealer and Grower Training

This week we have a pretty busy schedule in terms of facilitating training for the wider industry. 

We have been  joined by Peter Mos of Priva NL, for three days, who is delivering two days of specialised training to Australian Priva dealers.

Peter will be spending time informing the dealers of the latest developments in both Priva Office and the latest Priva operating system for Priva Integro -this being version 730.

During his stay, Peter will be upgrading the Chisholm system to the latest versions of both Priva Office and Integro so that future students at Chisholm can learn on the latest versions of this climate management system. 


On Wednesday Peter will be facilitating a training day for growers, so that existing users can build on their knowledge and expand their capabilities with their systems. This promises to be a really beneficially day for all participants.


We still have a couple of places left for this course, so contact us on either 03 5990 7163 or via tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au if you want to join this training session.

Changing you Priva Computer's clock back from Daylight saving

For those of you with Priva climate control systems, you will need to change the computer clock this weekend to align with the end of Daylight savings. The following 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 summer to winter and reverse.

We have attached 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).

With the S2 command from the standard terminal, also all the time settings for the controls are changed one hour, which we think is what most of the growers want…

 We hope this advice is useful to you.

Computerised Climate Control training with Priva expert - Peter Mos

As part of Chisholm Institutes's training partnership with Priva NL, we are proud to announce a specialised day of training with Priva expert Peter Mos.

Peter will be travelling to Australia to deliver this course, and will also spend time with individual growers so that they can benefit from his expertise and skills on their individual systems.

The course that will be run at Chisholm on Wednesday the 18th of April, and has been designed to enable participants to gain knowledge on how to:-

· Get more out of their installation

· Use their computer at an optimum level

· Save energy where possible

· Create a perfect climate for plant growth

Peter Mos is one of Priva’s top climate computer advisors, and the day promises to highly benefical for all participants.

Further details on the course are listed below, and the Chisholm contact is Paul Saunders. He can be reached on e mail at paul.saunders@chisholm.edu.au or on mobile 0408 823 373.

If you are interested in having Peter visit your establishment for a personal consultation, please contact Marcus van Heyst on 03 8795 7750

Our new Trainee...........................................

As regular followers to the blog will have seen, we recently advertised for a trainee to undertake a one year study / practical placement with Chisholm Institute in the glasshouse. The successful candidate was Rebecca Meikle.

Rebecca

Prior to undertaking her traineeship, Rebecca was working at Sages's Cottage, and has now made the transition form a Conservation & Land Management background to a Controlled Environment one.

" I really love my new job, and the level of technology associated with glasshouse crop growing. It's certainly very different from my old job!" said Rebecca. 'My aim is to absorb as much knowledge as I can and to learn a variety of new skills."

Rebecca comes to us from ATEP - Apprenticeship and Traineeship Employment Partners, and they are able to work with growers to utilise individuals within similar programmes to build a more skilled workforce. Further details can be found at http://atep.org.au/

Rebecca will be with us until 2013, at which point she is hoping to move on to a more challenging position with a major grower.

Love My Salad Partnership

As part of our industry partnership program, Chisholm Institute of TAFE have established close links with international seed house, Rijk Zwaan under the Love My Salad banner.

This initiative has seen both the Hospitality and the Horticultural departments of Chisholm working with Rijk Zwaan to promote both the growing, preperation and eating of salads as part of a healthy living lifestyle.

Details can be found at http://www.lovemysalad.com/salad-lover/chisholm-tafe-horticultural-school.

 

Hosting the Grodan Seminar

Yesterday the Chisholm Glasshouse Training centre hosted a seminar run by industry leaders Grodan and AIS Greenworks, which focused on the propagation techniques associated with Tomatoes. 

The seminar featured industry identity Hans van Herk, who is a crop technical advisor with Grodan, who gave a highly informative address to a variety of industry members that included representatives from Boomaroo, Chisholm Institute, Duralite, Flavorite, Gippsland Glasshouse Growers, Grodan, Moriatis, Protected Cropping Australia, Trandos Hydroponic Growers, and Withcott Seedlings.

Hans van Herk

Within his presentation Hans covered a variety of topics that included the technical aspects of propagation plug and block options, seed sowing and germination improvement techniques, and plant grafting, and general growing techniques that can be utilised for precision growing.

Also on hand to provide advice was Grodan's Andy Lee, who is currently over from the United Kingdom. Andy was able to complement Hans presentation, a fact which made the session even more beneficial for the participants.

Further grower seminars are planned for 2012, and we will keep you posted when these are happening.

Research tour visits the Chisholm Glasshouse

This week we hosted a visit from the Department of Primary Industries, facilitated by Ross Clarke Manager, Market Development North Asia & Russia, Farm Services Victoria.

This saw Dr Akira Tanaka, who is from the Kaiteki Institute of Japan, visit us. The  Kaiteki Institute is a global research institute focused on meeting 21st century challenges in energy, the environment, and healthcare, and was established by Mitshubishi Chemicals. 

During his visit, Dr Tanaka spent some time being shown how the Chisholm glasshouse irrigation system both recycles and sterilizes its irrigation water, and also utilises a supply of Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) water from the adjacent Water Centre, which treats Class A water from the Carrum Sewage Treatment plant via our own R.O. machine, and then utilises this water for irrigation in the glasshouse. 

Dr Tanaka was also given a guided tour of the Priva Climate control and labour tracking systems that the Chisholm Glasshouse utilises on a daily basis.

Pictured above from left to right:-

Wayne Beasy - Chisholm Business Development Consultant, 

Dr Akira Tanaka - Kaiteki Institute,  

Tony Bundock – Chisholm Senior Trainer – Precision Growing,

Ross Clarke - Manager, Market Development North Asia & Russia, DPI

Traineeship Opportunity

Chisholm Institute is offering a one year traineeship opportunity for an individual to undertake both practical and theoretical experience in the glasshouse. All the details are listed below:-

2012 - Lots of opportunities........

Firstly, a Happy New Year to everyone, and hopefully you all had a good Christmas as well.

This year we will be updating the blog on a far more regular basis to keep you across the developments at Chisholm as they occur. We have a range of courses and training opportunities planned for 2012 that will give both the local and wider industry some great training opportunities.

Like any other production facility, work has been continuing with our crops on a 24/7 basis. This has seen staff member Tony Bundock, being on call and working in the glasshouse right across the Christmas and New Year period, while our students and staff members take their annual leave. As you will see, he even had a visitor on Xmas Day!

Ho, Ho Ho!!!!

Our crops are going well, with both Tomato and Capsicum crops continuing to deliver product. We have also had a few uninvited guests in the shape of Red Spider Mite in the Tomatoes and Aphids in the Capsicums. This has resulted in us having to spray as our Integrated Pest management Programmes (I.P.M.)  were over run by these little pests. Hopefully we can now restore the balance and get the I.P.M. programmes back on track. 

In the next few weeks we will be promoting the training programmes for 2012, as well as some exciting developments............so keep following these posts!