Horticulture III (Plant Health) 100 Hours Certificate Course

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1 Introduction

• Pests
• Diseases
• Common terminology
• Diagnosing problems systematically
• Tell tale symptoms
• Conducting an inspection: four steps
• Pest or disease reviews

2 Overview of Preventative Controls

• Introduction
• Methods of pest management
• Integrated pest management
• Cultural control
• Using disease resistant varieties
• Crop rotation
• Timed planting
• Mulching
• Cleanliness
• Biological control
• Types of biological controls
• Beneficial plants
• Trap or decoy plants
• Pheromone traps
• Physical controls
• Traps
• REpellants
• Mulching
• Pruning
• Wounds
• Chemical controls
• Understanding pesticides
• Safely storing chemicals
• Safely mixing chemicals
• Legalities
• Plant breeding for resistance
• Sources and causes of resistance
• Adaptability, resistance and pest variability

3 Insecticides

• Types of insecticides: systemich, stomach poisons, contact poisons, etc
• Inorganics, botanicals, organophosphates, carbamates, synthetic pyrethroids
• Characteristics of insecticides: toxicity, spectrum, LD50, persistence, volatility, etc.
• Golden rules for handling pesticides
• Terminology

4 Other Pesticides

• Chemical Pesticides: introduction
• Review of common pesticides
• Soil treatment for control of diseases
• Soil pests
• Types of fumigtants
• Systemic fungicides
• Comparative toxicities

5 Spray Equipment

• Types of sprayers
• Uses of sprayers
• Spray terminology
• Sprayer maintenance and cleaning
• Selecting a sprayer
• Calibration
• Using chemicals: agitation, clean up and disposal
• Basic first aid with chemical pesticides
• Response to liquid or powder spills
• Keeping records
• Misters, Dusters, Blowers
• Pesticides and the environment

6 Insect Biology

• Insect classification: orders, sub classes
• Insect anatomy: mouthparts, legs, etc
• Lifecycle
• Feeding habits
• Practical project: Insect collecting, preserving, identifying, for an insect collection
• Common insects that a gardener encounters
• Ants
• Aphis
• Beetles
• Borers
• Bugs
• Caterpillars
• Cockroaches
• Crickets
• Earwigs
• Fleas
• Flies
• Galls (caused by insects)
• Grasshoppers
• Ladybirds (good and bad)
• Leaf hoppers
• Leaf miners
• Lerps
• Mealy bug
• Mosquitos
• Scale insects
• Termites
• Thrips
• Wasps
• Whitefly

7 Fungal Biology

• What causes disease
• Symptoms of disease
• Lifecycle of a disease: inoculation, penetration, infection, growth and reproduction, dissemination
• Fungi groups: obligate saprophytes, obligate parasites, facultative saprophytes, facultative parasites
• Expanded concept of tree decay
• Chemical pesticides in the UK and Europe
• Common diseases
• Anthracnose
• Bitter pit
• Blights
• Botrytis
• Canker
• Cinnamon fungus
• Club root
• Damping off
• Galls
• Gummosis
• Leaf curl
• Leaf spot
• Melanose
• Mildews
• Rots
• Rust
• Scab
• Silver leaf
• Spot
• Smut
• Sooty mould
• Wilts

8 Environmental Problems

• Common environmental problems
• Foliage burns
• Pollution
• Lack of water
• Drainage problems
• Frost
• Hail
• Shade
• Temperature
• Wind
• Symptoms of nutritional deficiencies
• Air pollution
• The plant and water
• Non parasitic problems in turf (lawns)
• Ways to provide environmental protection to plants

9 Viruses

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Detection and diagnosis of viruses
• Control
• Examples of virus diseases

10 Nematodes, Molluscs and Crustaceans

• Overview
• Millipedes
• Plant nematodes
• Nematodes in citrus
• Red spider mites
• Spiders
• Slaters or wood lice
• Snails and slugs

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Develop a checklist for determining the significance of pests and diseases, which addresses different criteria including:

• Short term impact
• Long term impact
• Economic impact
• Aesthetic impact.

Distinguish between the main types of plant diseases, including:

• Fungal
• Viral
• Bacterial.

Create a standard worksheet for reviewing pest and disease problems of plants.

Diagnose different problems (ie. pests or diseases), documenting the problem on a standard pest/disease review worksheet.

• Application of chemicals
• Plant selection
• Companion planting
• Cultural techniques (i.e. improving ventilation, improving drainage)
• Physical control (i.e. pruning, hand removal, trapping, hosing off).
• Explain how plant breeding has been used to improve pest/disease resistance in different plant species.
• Explain three biological control methods for dealing with specific problems.
• Develop an IPM strategy for a specific situation such as a crop or garden, considering:
• application procedures, remedial action and monitoring.
• Describe plant hygiene practices for a specific situation such as a crop, nursery or garden, in line with industry practice, enterprise guidelines and sound management practice.
• Recommend control methods for different pest and/or disease problems diagnosed.
• List safety procedures to follow when handling pesticides.

The quality of this course is second to none, from the in-depth learning you will get to the expert individual mentoring you will receive throughout your studies. The mentors for this course are:

Susan Stephenson

BSc in Applied Plant Biology (Botany) Univ. London 1983.

City and guilds: Garden Centre Management, Management and Interior Decor (1984)

Management qualifications in training with retail store. Diploma in Hort level 2 (RHS General) Distinction.

Susan Stephenson is a passionate and experienced horticulturist and garden designer. She has authored three books, lectures at 2 Further and Higher Education Colleges, teaching people of all ages and backgrounds about the wonders of plants and garden design, and tutors many students by correspondence from all over the world.

Susan studied botany at Royal Holloway College (Univ of London) and worked in the trading industry before returning to her first love plants and garden design. She is therefore, well placed to combine business knowledge with horticulture and design skills. Her experience is wide and varied and she has designed gardens for families and individuals. Susan is a mentor for garden designers who are just starting out, offering her support and advice and she also writes, delivers and assesses courses for colleges, introducing and encouraging people into horticulture and garden design.

In 2010, Susan authored a complete module for a Foundation degree (FDSC) in Arboriculture.

Susan holds the RHS General with Distinction. She continues to actively learn about horticulture and plants and (as her students will tell you) remains passionate and interested in design and horticulture.

Steven Whitaker

Diploma in Garden Design (Distinction) – The Blackford Centre, Gold Certificate of Achievement in Horticulture, Level 2 NVQ in Amenity Horticulture, Level 1 NOCN Introduction to Gardening, – Joseph Priestly College, BTEC Diploma in Hotel, Catering and Institutional Operations (Merit), Trainer Skills 1, & 2, Group trainer, Interview and Selection Skills – Kirby College of Further Education

Steven has a wealth of Horticultural knowledge, having ran his own Design and Build service, Landscaping company, and been a Head Gardener. His awards include five Gold awards at Leeds in Bloom, two Gold awards at Yorkshire in Bloom and The Yorkshire Rose Award for Permanent Landscaping. Steven has worked with TV’s Phil Spencer as his garden advisor on the Channel 4 TV Programme, “Secret Agent”.

He is qualified to Level 2 NVQ in Amenity Horticulture and has a Diploma in Garden Design which he passed with Distinction. Steven’s Tutor and Mentor was the Chelsea Flower Show Gold Award-winning Garden Designer, Tracy Foster. He also works for a major Horticultural Commercial Grower in the field of Propagation and Craft Gardening. Steven lives in Leeds where he is a Freelance Garden Designer and Garden Advice Consultant.