Commercial Organic Vegetable Growing VHT241 Course Online

Commercial Organic Vegetable Growing Course Online

Learn the processes required to tap into the commercial organic vegetable market; this extensive course provides a wealth of knowledge and practical skills and shows you how to market your produce. Organic vegetables are crops with a future.

• Learn all aspects of organic vegetable production.
• 100 hour self paced course
• Study in your own time at your own pace.
• Study with our tutors who are experts in the field.

Course Aims

• Discuss general horticulture and plant taxonomy principles
• Describe a range of cultivation and planting techniques
• Explain soil properties, and their relationship to organic plant production
• Diagnose basic soil nutrient deficiencies
• Discus major and minor commercial vegetable varieties
• Describe a variety of pest and disease management principles
• Explain the use of seed in commercial organic agriculture, including storage, viability, germination, genetic purity, and hybridisation
• Discuss the principles of greenhouse growing
• Describe a variety of irrigation methods suitable for organic vegetable production
• Explain organic weed control methods
• Explain issues relating to harvesting and marketing of vegetables

Course Outline

There are 12 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction
   • Organic Growing and it’s definitions
   • Influential people in the organic movement
   • Different ways to grow -permaculture, biodynamics, etc.
   • Organic certification
   • Transition to organic production
   • Management Plan
   • Industry awareness
   • Resources and Networking
   • Understanding Plant Names
2. Cultivation and Planting
   • Cultivation methods
   • Crop rotation
   • Green manures
   • No dig growing
   • Planting
   • Sowing vegetable seed outside
   • Germinating indoors
   • Transplanting seedlings
   • Crowns, offsets, tubers
   • Crop scheduling
   • Tillage, Ripping, Harrowing, Dis ploughing, etc
   • Tractors
3. Soils and Nutrition
   • Physical soil properties -profile, texture, etc
   • Chemical properties -pH, cation exchange capacity, buffering etc.
   • Soil water, air, temperature
   • Humus and Organic matter
   • Nutrient elements
   • Organic Fertilizers
   • Animal manure
   • Liquid feeds in an organic system
   • Rock dusts
   • Diagnosing nutritional problems
4. Soil Management
   • Importance of soil
   • Cultivation techniques
   • Cover crops
   • Green manures
   • Nitrogen fixation
   • Rhizobium bacteria
   • Mycorrhizae
   • Composting
   • Hot heaps vs cold
5. Review of Major Vegetable Varieties
   • Getting the best from an organic vegetable plot
   • Vegetable Directory -Beans, Beetroot, Broccoli, Sprouts, Cabbacge, Capsicum, Carrot, Cauliflower, Corn, Celery, Eggplant. Lettuce, Onion, Pak Choi, Parsnip, Pea, Potato, Pumpkin, Marrow, Squash, Radish, Spinich Turnip
   • Transplanting Guide
6. Pests and Disease
   • Integrated Pest Management
   • Allowable Inputs
   • Understanding Pest and Disease
   • Understanding Other Plant Problems
   • Lifecycles
   • Review of common problems
   • Companion Planting
7. Seed
   • Organic seed
   • Seed production -preventing cross pollination
   • Choosing seed plants for vegetable crops
   • Collecting seeds
   • Cleaning and storing seed
   • Seed germination
8. Greenhouse Growing
   • Types of greenhouses
   • Framing and covering materials
   • What greenhouse is appropriate
   • Siting a greenhouse
   • Benching
   • Greenhouse hygiene
   • Problems with greenhouses
   • Other structures -cold frames, shade houses
   • Environmental controls
   • Heating, Cooling
   • Controlling light
   • Growing media
   • Fertigation in organic systems
   • Carbon dioxide enrichment
   • Irrigation Methods
   • Crops Directory -Tomatoes, Cucumber, Melons, Zucchini
9. Lesser Grown Varieties and Herbs
   • Growing herbs
   • Review of many culinary herbs-Alliums, Corriander, Mints, Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, Pasley, Savory, Thyme, etc.
   • Review of lesser grown vegetables -Amaranth, Artichoke, Asparagus, Cassava, Chicory, Dandelion, Garlic, Endive, Ginger, Horseradish, Chicory, Mint, Leek, Okra, Pigface, Rhubarb, Sweet Potato, Warrigul Greens, Taro, Yams, etc
10. Irrigation
    • Irrigation objectives and feasibility
    • Soil and water
    • Understanding classes of soil moisture
    • Soil and transpiration
    • Field capacity
    • Permenant Wilting point
    • Tensiometers
    • When to irrigate
    • Scheduling irrigation
    • When to irrigate
    • Cyclic watering
    • Pulse watering
    • Plant root depth
    • Irrigation type -flood, sprinkler, ytickle etc.
    • Portable, permenant or travelling sprinklers
    • Sprinklet spacings
11. Mulching and Weeds
    • Understanding mulch
    • Types of mulch materials
    • Rules for using mulch
    • Living mulch
    • Weed Management
    • Preventing weeds
12. Harvesting and Marketing
    • Harvesting techniques
    • PostHarvest quality considerations
    • Harvesting hints
    • Post harvest treatment of vegetables -field processing
    • Cooling
    • Quality standards
    • Monitoring and reviewing
    • Marketing
    • Business capabilities
    • Market research
    • Target marketing
    • Understanging economics

Enrol Now

• Experienced Tutor support
• Certificate sent to you
• Online study (Printed notes available)
• Self paced - no set timetable
• 12 months to complete course

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