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Carnations Distance Learning Course
“Study the different methods of growing and harvesting carnations”
A serious course equally valuable to the home enthusiast or the commercial cut flower grower. You learn about growing quality carnations (planting, watering, pest & disease control, fertilizing), different ways of growing them (e.g. as row crops in soil, in hydroponics, in a greenhouse); and harvesting, post-harvest treatments, and quality control.
Course Outline
There are 8 Lessons in this course:
1. Introduction
- Review of the system of plant identification
- Physiology
- Information sources
2. Culture
- Planting
- staking
- mulching
- watering
- feeding
- pruning, etc.
3. Propagation
- Methods of propagating this group of plants
- Propagation of selected varieties
4. Hydroponics
- Hydroponic growing conditions for carnations
- Nutrient requirements
- Suitable hydroponic systems
- Planting out and cultural techniques
- Carnation problems in hydroponics
- Research insights
- Growing in rock wool
- NFT Culture
5. Pest and Disease
- Fungal Diseases (e.g. wilts, rusts, rots)
- Pests (e.g. aphids, bud worms, mites, nematodes
- Bacterial Diseases
- Viruses
- Chemical Use
6. Irrigation
- Water deficiency symptoms
- Water excess symptoms
- Understanding water movement in soil
- Managing soil water loss
- Improving water retention
- Hygroscopic water and gravitational water
- Field capacity
- Plant available water
- Permanent wilting point
- Saturation
- Irrigation infiltration and drainage
- Irrigation timing
- Irrigation system types
- Irrigation system maintenance
- Evapotranspiration
- Controlling drainage
7. Greenhouse Management
- Significance of greenhouse carnation production
- Components of a greenhouse facility
- Greenhouse types
- Controlling an enclosed environment
- Environmental factors (light, temperature, growing media/soil, air composition)
- Managing greenhouse problems
- Carbon dioxide enrichment
- Heating
- Ventilation
- Lighting equipment
- Irrigation and nutrition management in a greenhouse
- Managing pest and disease in a greenhouse
- Scheduling carnation crop production
8. Harvest, Post Harvest and Quality
- When and how to harvest flowers
- Factors that affect flower longevity after harvest
- Chemical treatments
- Other treatments
- Quality control (judging and grading flowers, conditioning for market, packaging)
