International Training Opportunity for our Trainee!

Our Certificate 4 trainee, Michael McLachlan is set to participate in the Protected Cropping Australia study tour to America, Canada and Mexico in October of this year.

 

 

 Chisholm Trainee - Michael McLachlan

Michael's participation in this event has been facilitated by the Hydroponic Farmers Federation of Victoria. The HFF initially purchased a position on the PCA tour, and then raffled the position off at their recent conference in Mulwala, New South Wales.

Initially the raffle was actually won by Chisholm staff member Tony Bundock, who has kindly donated the prize to Michael. 

'There is no doubt that the trip would have been a great opportunity to see progressive horticulture in that region, but I strongly believe that the future of our industry lies with the younger members of the horticultural community. Michael will certainly learn a great deal on this tour which will aid him in progressing his career and knowledge' said Tony.

When first told about the trip, Michael was convinced at first that it was all a joke. 'The boss has a strong sense of humour, so I thought he was winding me up! However, I'm pretty happy to discover it's for real!' said Michael.

Michael and the rest of the PCA delegation leave for America on the 1st of October and return on the 17th of October.

As part of his trip Michael will be updating a blog showcasing all the things he will be seeing, so look out for his reports!

Greenhouse Crop Technician's Course

The next Greenhouse Crop Technician's Course is scheduled to commence in one weeks time. 

There are limited spaces left on this course, so if you want to participate, contact Tony via tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au

Winter in Melbourne

A beautiful day in Melbourne today with great light levels. Growers in Europe would love  their winter days to be like this!

 

 June in the Chisholm Greenhouse.....

Out with the old - before in with the new

Like many growers, we are curently busy with pulling out our old Tomato crop, and will be frantically preparing for the arrival of the new plants in a couple of weeks time. 

Our fantastic Certificate III Horticulture students put in an amazing effort today to clear our larger compartment of all of the old foliage and growing slabs, before we commence the cleaning process tomorrow.

 

The task commences!

The green waste has all gone to a recycling depot, and we will be milling up our old growing slabs for secondary use as a mulch.

 

Getting there.....

 

Preparing for washing....

Our new crop will feature a wide range of De Ruiter Tomato varieties as we continue to develop the 'Living Prooof Centre' concept with De Ruiter Seeds. We'll update the blog with more pictures when the new plants are in!

 

Haifa Coffs Harbour Seminar Report

This week we ran the Haifa Fertilizer seminar in Coffs Harbour. The event itself was staged at the Woolgoolga Bowling Club which provided a first rate venue for the seminar.

Haifa's Shaul Gilan explains the issues relating to balanced fertiliser mixes

The event was well attended with 21 delegates from a range of enterprises that included Tomato producers through to Berry producers, 

The main delivery of the course was made by Shaul Gilan and Peter Anderson of Haifa, and the seminar focused on the technical aspects of fertiliser choice and use, and in particular, the need to formulate recipes that not only meet specific fertilizer values, but also provide a 'balanced' recipe in terms of +ve and -ve ions.

Chisholm's Tony Bundock provided an overview of the use of technology and equipment that is now available to growers for fertigation purposes in both protected and open crop growing.

Chisholm's Tony Bundock shows how EC rates in drip irrigation can be reduced via a radiation influence using a computerised control system

Further events are planned for Virginia, SA, Bundaberg, QLD, and a repeat seminar in Melbourne, VIC later on in the year. 

These events will be advertised via this blog site and our mailing lists.

Coff's Harbour Haifa Seminar

 

The Haifa Fertilizer seminar is now only a week away! To secure your position at this event, please register with Tony Bundock either via e mail or landline.

Greenhouse Technician's Course

This week we have been hosting 11 students from industry as they participated in our Greenhouse Technician's Course.

The participants were from South Australia, Regional and Metropolitan Victoria, and undertook the four and a half day course at the Cranbourne Campus.

The course itself is aligned to the Diploma Level National Competency - Manage a Controlled Growing Environment - and saw all of the students studying the factors that have to be considered when controlling a growing environment, and then utilizing the Priva Integro / Connext system to both monitor and implement changing climatic conditions.

Exploring the Priva system.......

 

'The course itself is limited to 11 participants so that every student has their own computer with the Priva Integro/Connext system to work with' said course co-ordinator, Tony Bundock. The hands on approach on the computer as well as access to the live cropping area makes for a great learning environment for the students' said Tony.

As well as the on site theoretical and practical activities, the participants also visited the Flavorite Tomato farm as well as observing the large range of water treatment equipment that Chisholm has within its Water Training Centre.

The course itself covers a wide range of topics and the next course is scheduled for Monday the 28th of July. Further details of our next course are posted below.

Perth Haifa Seminar

Last week we ran the first of our interstate seminars in Perth, WA. The event was kindly hosted by Trandos Hydroponics who provided a first class venue for the event.

The seminar was presented by Shaul Gilan and Peter Anderson of Haifa, and the target audiance was made up of a combination of growers and fertiliser suppliers.

The seminar looked at providing the participants with an overview of the various elements used in soluble fertilizer recipes, and how to calculate values for the various elements. 

Once everyone had grasped the mathematics - well we all did in the end!, then there was a demonstration of the applicable software to ease such calculations.

The seminar also provided a great opportunity for the participants to interact with the presenters and gain more detailed information that could be translated back to their home locations.

Our next seminar is due to be delivered in Coffs Harbour on Tuesday the 3rd of June - to secure your plaxce at this event, please e mail Tony Bundock via:- tony.bundock@chisholm.eduu.au

Chisholm Staff member Tony Bundock and some of the course participants

 

Haifa Staff member Shaul Gilan and 'The men in black' from Mirco Fertilizers!

Haifa Staff member Peter Anderson and course participants

ABC Rural Interview now online!

We were recently paid a visit by Jeremy of the ABC Rural program, who conducted an interview with Glasshouse Manager Tony Bundock, as well as two of our students - Michael McLachlan and Graeme Elsworth.

The following link has all the details and pictures as well as a link to the interview itself. 

Feel free to see and hear all the details at:-

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-14/agriculture-studies-goes-to-the-glasshouse/5388346.

Richmond venue now confirmed for Haifa Seminar

The second of our interstate Haifa Fertilizer seminars is now confirmed for Tuesday the 13th of May, 2014.

The seminar itself will be held at the Western Sydney Institute, at their Richmond Campus. This located at the corner of Blacktown Road and Campus Drive, Blacktown, Richmond, NSW 2753.

We are expecting a strong response to this event, so please contact Tony Bundock either via phone on 03 5990 7163 or e mail tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au to secure your registration.

We look forward to welcoming you to this event in May!