HORT 341 Greenhouse Management and Production Syllabus

Course Meetings:

1 - 1:50 12 - 12:50 1 - 3

Monday, Wednesday Friday Friday

PSL 1103 PSL 1125 Greenhouses (PCF 1502 and 1504)

Grading Policies
Grading Breakdown:			Grading Scale:
4 Exams @ 100 each	400		A+	>970	C+	770-799
Final Exam	150		A	930-969	C	730-769
Poinsettia Open House Project	100		A-	900-929	C-	700-729
Demonstration Labs 2 @ 50 each	100		B+	870-899	D+	670-699
Homework Assignments	75		B	830-869	D	630-669
Crops and Notebook	75		B-	800-829	D-	600-629
Field Trip Attendance	40				F	<600
Group Participation	60
Total:	1000

Several hours per week (at least four) will be required outside of class time to complete your projects and care for your crops. A lab fee of $40.00 is required to cover part of the costs associated with the field trip to a local production facility.

Exams will focus on applying the principles and concepts of greenhouse management. The exams will be cumulative and will be short answer and essay question.

Exam Dates: September 15, October 6 (Take home), October 30, November 10 (Take home)

Final Examination Date: December 13 from 1:30 to 4:30 pm in PSL 1103

General Course Information

Assignments: Assignments are due by 5:00 p.m. on the deadline date with NO EXCEPTIONS! Assignments handed in late will be assessed 10% of the grade for every day they are late, including weekends. For group projects, if any member of the group is not on time, both the individual and the group grade will be subject to the late penalty.

Exams: There will be no make-up exams or quizzes without legitimate excuses. Take home exams are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Exams and quizzes can only be made up if the scheduled exam was missed due to a verified illness (note from doctor) or a family emergency. Please call me in advance if these situations arise.

Discussion: Much of the information presented in greenhouse management requires instructor explanation. I encourage student questions and comments during the lectures and laboratories. The laboratories involve group participation and evaluation. You can work with your colleagues on homework, labs, and projects, but you must do your own work. Copying from others is not acceptable. I encourage you to work together, but remember, you are responsible for learning the material and should not expect others to do your work.

Laboratory Safety: To ensure safety during laboratory sessions, various rules and procedures must be followed. These will be discussed during the first laboratory session. Greenhouse Safety

Crop Production: You are responsible for the survival, health, and success of the crops for this course. The death of a crop or damage due to neglect will significantly impact your final grade. Production Protocols

Demonstration Lab Written and Oral Presentations: Reports will be due during the last laboratory session and are considered a group activity. Each group will turn in one oral report for each demonstration laboratory. Each group will have 15 minutes (12 minute presentation and 3 minute Q&A) per demonstration lab to conduct an oral presentation of their findings. These presentations are expected to utilize available software (i.e. PowerPoint), classroom hardware (i.e. blackboard), and/or handouts. Oral presentations will be peer (50% of total grade) and instructor (50% of total grade) evaluated. When crop development allows, I encourage you to complete the written portion of the reports early. Each written report will be graded on thoroughness, grammar, data presentation, and data interpretation from a producer's perspective. Each oral presentation will be graded on content, style, presentation, and comprehension.

Academic Integrity: Honesty, fairness, and personal integrity mark true scholarly activities. A scholar does not plagiarize, take advantage of others, or behave in a manner that frustrates or distracts other scholars. Academic dishonesty will be dealt with as outlined in the University of Illinois' Code of Policies and Regulations Applying to All Students (http://www.uiuc.edu/admin_manual/code). Cheating will not be tolerated and I personally view it as stealing.

Tentative Lecture Schedule  Printable Lecture Schedule Students are expected to read the text before coming to class: GOM = pages in Greenhouse Operation and Management.
Lec.	Date	Topic	Reading
1		Introduction:  Course Description,   History, Growth Trends, Future Perspective	GOM (Chapter 1)
2		Poinsettia Open House Introduction	Handouts; Handouts
3-4		Business Management and  Marketing - Disaster Management Case Study	Handouts; GOM (Chapter 17 and 18)
	9/4	Labor Day (no classes)
5-9		Greenhouse Construction  Location, Orientation - Case Study, Frames, Coverings, Beds and Benches	Handouts; GOM (Chapter 2)
10	9/15	Exam 1
11-13		Poinsettia Open House Project Discussion/Presentations
14-16		Greenhouse Heating	Handouts; GOM (Chapter 3)
17-19		Greenhouse Cooling	GOM (Chapter 4)
19	10/6	Exam 2 - Take Home Exam Due Friday 10/13
20-22		Environmental Controls	GOM (Chapter 5)
23-24		Rooting Substrates	GOM (Chapters 6 and 7)
25-26		Fertilizing	Handouts; GOM (Chapter 8)
27-28		Watering	GOM (Chapter 9)
29	10/30	Exam 3
30-31		Alternative Cropping Systems	GOM (Chapter 10)
32		Carbon Dioxide	GOM (Chapter 11)
33-35		Light and Temperature	GOM (Chapter 12)
34	11/10	Exam 4 - Take Home Exam Due Friday 11/17
36-39		Plant Growth Regulators  and DIF	Handouts, GOM (Chapter 13)
40		Poinsettia Open house Set Up
41-43		Insects and Diseases	GOM (Chapter 14 and 15)
	12/13	Final Exam 1:30-4:30 pm Room 1103 PSL
Tentative Laboratory Schedule Printable Laboratory Schedule Printable Production Calendar
Lec.	Date	Topic	Assignment Due
1		Introduction: Tour campus greenhouses, Greenhouse Safety . Plant Poinsettia. Transplanting Protocol. Graphical Tracking Software.
2		Poinsettia Production.  Plant Freesia. Assign Greenhouse Space
3		Poinsettia Production.   Introduction to Demonstration Labs. Begin Demo Lab Data Collection. Move Poinsettia to Assigned Space.
4		Heating/Cooling Calculations. Assign Heating/Cooling Homework. Move Poinsettia to Assigned Benches.
5	Sept 23	Move Poinsettia to assigned benches. Heating and cooling questions. Crop Evaluation.	Heating/Cooling homework.
6		Greenhouse space allocation exercise.
7		Nutrition/Fertilizer calcualations. Assigne Fertilizer homework. Plant Freesia. Crop Evaluation.
8		Nutrient monitoring. Crop Evaluation.
	Oct. 17	This is a Monday	Fertilizer homework.
9	Oct. 21	Plant spring bulb crops.	Crop Status Presentations.
10		Applying chemcials to crops.
11	Nov. 4 & 5	Field trip 12:00-3:00 Friday and all day on Saturday.
12		Insect identification and management.
13		Insect identification and management. Crop Evaluation. Final Data collection on Demo Labs.
		Thanksgiving Break
14	Dec. 2	Disaster management in-class activity.	Poinsettia due. Crop notebook due.
15	Dec. 9	Poinsettia distribution. Greenhouse clean up.	Demonstration lab reports and presentations due.
	Dec. 16	All plants must be out of greenhouses. Any plants remaining after this date will be discarded.