Gold and silver for Horticulture students at Skills Canada BC!

We're excited to share that our KPU Horticulture students won gold and silver at the Skills Canada BC 2019 Provincial Landscape competition last week! Josh Timmermans and Carlie Ohmenzetter took home the gold while brothers Hussein and Ridha Al-Rammahi won the silver! Congratulations to all!

Crop Development - Student Poster Presentations

Students in HORT 2493, Crop Development, took time to showcase their research projects in a poster conference at the Langley Campus. Topics included growing Cordyceps mushrooms, identifying the benefits of using mycorrhizae to improve tomato grafts, comparing LED / HPS lighting on cucumbers, and effects of feed on worms on subsequent growth of lettuce plants. Students commented how much fun a research project had been over the semester, and how it connects real world to the classroom.

Annual Plant Sale: Saturday, May 4

Save the date! Don't miss our annual KPU Horticulture Plant Sale on Saturday, May 4. Spruce up your garden with hanging baskets, perennials, annuals and more! 

The Plant Sale is held at the KPU Langley Campus Greenhouses (20902 Langley Bypass), across the street from the main campus and runs from 9am-3pm. 

New arbour built by Horticulture students

During landscape construction this semester, the HORT 2426 class undertook a project to revamp the front entrance of the Horticulture Plaza at the Header House. The project was to build a new arbour for hanging baskets and also extend the paver pad to make it more accessible. The 2426 class has some graduating students as well as some continuing on for their degree.

Seed Celebration Success!

On March 9th, 2019, CoHorts partnered with the Langley Environmental Partners Society to host Langley's second annual Seed Celebration. This event featured a selection of tables where local organizations could exhibit the work that they do around seed-saving and education, as well as two fascinating workshops. The first workshop was held by Maria Valana, an experienced gardener and instructor here at KPU, and covered the basics of gardening, while the second workshop, facilitated by Susan Davidson of the BC Eco Seed Co-Op, featured a conversation about the practice of seed-saving. Overall, the Langley Seed Celebration drew a variety of people from across the Lower Mainland together to talk about the importance of seed-saving and its role in creating healthy, thriving, and sustainable food systems.

Turf Grad building fields for MLS

KPU Turf Management Graduate Ben Zlotnik is now working with Major League Soccer (MLS) in Toronto as a Field Manager at BMO Field. At the end of last year, they renovated the irrigation system, hydronic heating system, SubAir systems and new infield sensors. They also added 7 new grow light units which brings it to a total of 15 grow light units. At the beginning of April, they will be stitching their field with a system called Sisgrass. It’s a hybrid pitch system which means synthetic fibres are stitched into the field/root zone to help stabilize the playing surface and help strengthen the plant. They are left with a field that is roughly 95% natural grass and 5% plastic. This system was used at multiple World Cup stadiums last summer and is now being used by the Green Bay Packers along with many European and Middle Eastern clubs.

Students complete “Analysis to Recipe” workshop

A mix of students, faculty and staff of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s (KPU) School of Horticulture recently completed a one day workshop looking at the practicalities of developing a hydroponic crop nutrient recipe based on solution analysis. The interactive session (“From Analysis to Recipe”) was developed by industry consultant Tineke Goebertus of Vortus Greenhouse Consultants Inc. and delivered at the School of Horticulture glasshouse facility and participants enjoyed three components: individual e-learning, hands-on workshop and a visit to the modern pepper glasshouse of Mark van Spronsen (16th Avenue Greenhouses). Commenting after the session, Horticulture Instructor Laura Bryce said “It was a great session, very well organized! The students gained valuable insight and hopefully this was the first of many such workshops for students and industry practitioners.”

CoHorts at the Fundraiser

We were invited to participate in a community outreach opportunity at Art’s Nursery in Port Kells called the Autumn Scarecrow Festival. A creative endeavour for charity. This year O.W.L. (Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society) and the Inclusion Langley society are the recipients. The KPU CoHorts and faculty members Maria Valana and Janis Matson have created a unique Scarecrow at Arts Nursery. The scarecrow depicts a dream catcher made from tools and materials found in horticulture. The idea is to inspire people to follow their horticulture dream by studying at KPU. The sign on its waist offers a hint to the entity of the scarecrow as it reads “Catch Your Horticulture Dream at KPU”.

Students visit greenhouse for the future

As alumni of our Diploma program themselves, the young management team of Corné and Paul Moerman at Sunnyside Produce provided current students with technical insights into the management of their new construction project suitable for the modern world of greenhouse crop production. Adding a new 6.5ha glasshouse, energy centre, fertilizer room and packhouse to their existing 12ha operation in Delta, BC, the cousins shared some of the highlights and challenges of overseeing this now while planning on future needs. Capable of producing delicious highest quality, high yield bell pepper crops, the 6.5m tall glasshouse will utilize double screens, nutrient re-circulation and rain water capture to provide sustainable production techniques for now and the years to come.

Patrick Dooley Memorial Tournament Raises $11k

10 years ago, Patrick Dooley was a promising young golfer almost graduating from high school.

Patrick was excited about a career in the golf industry and planned to enroll in KPU Turf Management diploma Fall 2008 when he died of a sudden illness. His family began the Patrick Dooley Memorial Scholarship Fund to annually support a worthy KPU Turf Management student. On April 27, 2018 the KPU Turf Club hosted the 3rd annual Patrick Dooley Memorial Golf Tournament to raise funds for this scholarship and celebrate Patrick’s memory.
Read the full article

Editor's note: Stan would never think to recognize his own efforts so we'll do it for you. Thanks Stan, this event would not happen without you!