#altirs tips

[thatgreenhouseguy]

Hello there! It's Altir!

Today I plan on discussing culling and rot, as that's what I did on Monday! Let's get into it!

Starting with culling. Culling is the act of weeding out unhealthy or weak plants from the larger population. This includes plants with little to no growth, yellow/dying plants, plants with infections or infestations, and plants with rot. Essentially anything that won't survive long or that may cause problems down the line.

I spent most of my shift culling Geraniums, about a small greenhouse full. It was tedious, taking about 2 1/2 - 3 hours to complete it. I am forever and always a perfectionist, so this job, however time consuming, was enjoyable for me. The first 30 minutes or so were spent tagging hanging plants, which may be covered more in depth in a later post.

So, why is it important to cull your plants? Culling your plants helps stop the spread of disease amongst the population. It also helps weed out plants that don't have a chance at survival, making it easier to ensure your healthy plants get the TLC they need to survive. Remember to cull your plants if you're in a greenhouse or starter setting, as these can be a breeding ground for diseases.

These are all the plants I had culled by the end of the day.

Now, onto rot.

What is rot? Rot is the decay of plant or animal matter caused by fungus and bacteria. Rot can be caused by disease as well.

Some signs of rot include lack of growth, lack of new growth, dead/dying/yellow leaves, shrivelled leaves, and weak root systems. Be wary of small, 1 or 2 leaf plants.

The best way I've found to check for rot in the root system is to give the plant a gentle tug - just running your fingers from the bottom of the plant to the top should do the trick.

In the following pictures, I will be showing examples of the plants I culled and why.

Stem disconnected from roots with barely a touch.

No root system.

I apologise for the blurriness in this one, but shrivelled leaves and brown patches with no root growth.

And lastly, the worst case of rot I saw. The stem snapped off in my hand as I was handling it for the picture.

Some things I noticed...

1.) Different varieties seem to be more susceptible to rot and infection. I noticed that one of our pink varieties as well as the white variety had more plants that needed to be culled, while the red and orange varieties had less cases.

2.) Gnats are attracted to rot specimens. On the plants with the worst cases, there were swarms of gnats. Keep an eye out for gnats and bug infestations.

3.) Plants in the middle rows of the greenhouse seemed to have less cases. This may just be chance, or it may be the varieties that were there, but it is still something I noticed.

All and all, Monday kept me busy. I enjoyed my work and hope to be assigned to that task again. I have today (Wednesday) through Friday off as it's my spring break and I plan on spending the remainder of the week with my partner.

There may be another update on Friday, likely just a Life in the Greenhouse post as yesterday wasn't of much interest.

I hope you enjoyed today's post! Remember to water your plants and give them plenty of sun.

-Altir 🪬

[thatgreenhouseguy]

Hello! I'm Altir, and welcome to my blog!

This blog will be dedicated to gardening and life as a greenhouse worker! There may be occasional off-topic posts, but for the most part I plan on focusing on my experiences working in a greenhouse, as well as gardening tips, terms, and all things plants and nature.

I have been told the way I type is odd, namely the fact that I tend to emphasise key words, so I will be using this to my advantage! On posts I make, I will be using colours to highlight key words or phases that have to do with the topic at hand. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, please just be respectful that this is to help me organise my thoughts as well highlight key ideas for my readers!

A bit about me!

My name is Altir! I'm a bodily 17 year old novice gardener and greenhouse employee. I use He/They/It pronouns, and I am queer. I am a member of a DID system, though I do not plan on talking about this often as it is not relevant. My interests include plants (obviously), angels, religious studies, nature, animals, and philosophy. I am Jewish.

Tags!

#altirs-garden - will appear on all my posts!

#altirs-tips - posts about tips, tricks, and techniques when gardening!

#life-in-the-greenhouse - posts about life as a greenhouse worker, mostly blogging my day!

#garden-chatter - Everything else!

Feel free to send asks or request a topic at any time! This post may be edited as time goes on.

Have a great day!