The career outlook for a horticulture career is favorable. They make on average $25-$30 thousand a year. They work to upgrade crop yield, quality, nutritional value, and plant’s resistance to diseases, insects, and environmental stresses.

What’s in Horticulture?

Horticulture differs from agriculture in a sense that it uses as smaller scale of cultivation and uses smaller plots of mixed crops rather than a large field of single crop and the cultivation of a wider variation of crops, which usually includes trees. The study of horticulture includes eight areas that are grouped into two broad sections – the ornamentals and the edibles.

How is it Green?

Arboriculture refers to the study and selection, planting care and removal of individual threes, shrubs and other perennial woody plants. Floriculture includes the production and marketing of floral crops. Landscape horticulture encompasses the production, marketing, and maintenance of landscaping plants. Olericulture is the production and marketing of vegetables, Pomology is the production and marketing of fruits and Viticulture is the production and marketing of grapes. Last is the Postharvest Physiology, which involves maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops.

Horticulture is being practiced in gardens, plant growth centers, and nurseries. Work in nurseries includes preparing seeds and cutting to growing fully mature plants. These are usually sold or transferred to ornamental gardens or market gardens.

People who are interested in horticulture can find work in industry, government or educational institutions as well as private collections. The can work as cropping systems engineer or be a wholesale or retail business manager, propagators and tissue culture specialist for fruits, vegetables, ornamentals and turf; crop inspectors, crop production advisers, extension specialist, plant breeders, researcher and also as teachers.

People with a green thumb and real concern for plants and the flora are the best candidate for this kind of career.

Educational and Training Requirements

A career in horticulture and gardening maybe complemented by a degree in botany, biology, entomology, genetics, garden design, physiology, and plant design. Plant sciences as well as horticulture courses includes study of plant materials, plant propagation, crop production, tissue culture, post-harvest handling, plant breeding, pollination management, crop nutrition, plant pathology, entomology and others. A masters or a doctoral degree many be required in some horticultural science.

GreenCareersGuide.com is the #1 green careers website on Google. We have the most comprehensive database of articles on green jobs. Whatever your stage of life, we have you covered. Green careers, green training, and green entrepreneurship articles are only a small part of our exhaustive green career site. There are tremendous upsides to having a green career.

http://www.GreenCareersGuide.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ezra_Drissman

The tree is excellent for horticulture as it is tolerant to pollution and salt. The tree is widely used as a garden tree in both trained and untrained forms. The trunk and branches of the tree undergo training from the young age of the plant to make it more elegant and attractive to view. It is one of the popular subjects of bonsai, which requires patience in training the tree for many years. One can find many Korean Black Pine bonsai in the leading nurseries.

The tree is evergreen and does not change or have a leaf fall during winters. The leaf of the tree gives fragrance. The female cones of the tree are 4-7 cm in length and scaled. Male cones are 1-2 cm long and formed in bunches during spring. The color of the flower is yellow which blooms in spring. However, the flower is not too noticeable. The bark of the young plants is brown and it gradually changes to black as the trunk develops and the tree turns older. The tree also bears fruits, which are oval, 1-3 inches long and brown in color. The fruits are not attractive for the wild life, and the foliage creates significant litter.

Korean black pine droops as it grows. Hence, it requires pruning to support the vehicular or pedestrian clearance beneath the canopy. The tree can grow either in full sunlight or even in sunshade. It can tolerate clay, loan, sand, acidic, alkaline, soils. There should be a well-drained system of water to help the growth of the plant. The propagation is through the seed and they germinate readily.

Though any serious pests do not affect the Korean black pine, there are few like bark beetles, caterpillar, adelgids, and pine shoot moth, which do affect. Bark beetles can attack the trees, drilling holes into the trunk and are scattered almost on the whole trunk. The stress in the trees makes them more easily prone attacks. Hence, one has to keep the Korean Black pine always healthy. The pine shot moths will cause the fall of young shoots and the infected shoots may give off resin. Insects affect the shoots generally during the month of May. Use of pesticides should start from April to avoid them to cause damage.

It would be a rewarding experience in growing the Korean black pines. You need to prune, do a good gardening, and watch the needle cast. You can bear the satisfaction of raising it ones it spreads across giving the beautiful view to the entire place.

http://www.dntnursery.com
TN nursery is a state certified tree nursery specializing in native plants and trees,shrubs,fern and perennials as well as pond plants and wetland mitigation species.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=T_Sons

How To Become A Horticulturist?

Many universities and colleges offer certificates in horticulture. A certificate makes a business operation more credible. To be a horticulturist, you need to be knowledgeable in Chemistry, Botany, soil types, written and oral communication, plant pests and diseases and business management. The courses provide information on health benefits, food safety, gardening-techniques and ecologically sound lawns.

Job Opportunities

Professional Horticulturists can work in different areas such as:

Production – Managing a landscape service, greenhouse, vegetable farm, orchard, flower or plant shop, garden center, nursery or processing firm.

Landscape Design, installation and maintenance – Designing and planting plans with shrubs, trees, ground cover, turf grass and herbaceous ornaments.

Marketing – Wholesale or retail sale of gardening supplies, seeds, processed or fresh vegetables, floral arrangements and house plants. You can manage the marketing for a government, private companies, chain stores or wholesale distributors.

Research – You can work as a researcher to improve the yield and quality of vegetables, fruits, flowers and ornamental plants and develop methods for storing, handling and marketing them. You can specialize in plant nutrition, plant breeding, plant growth regulation with chemicals and similar interesting areas of plant research.

Pest Management – After training, you can work with central and state regulatory agencies, processing corporations, large farm organizations, agricultural agents and even agricultural suppliers.

Industry services and growing Horticultural Crops – Trained Horticulturists are employed in Seed Firms, pesticide material manufacturing, manufacturing of fertilizers, freezing and canning companies and landscape or farm equipment management.

Inspection – Trainedhorticulturists are usually employed in government or private agencies as inspectors and to manage uniformity in the production and quality.

Communication – Written collateral for agricultural or gardening magazines, television and radio and newspapers can be a rewarding field too.

Job Of A Horticulturist

· Plant preparation for retail and wholesale nurseries.

· Specialized plant production.

· Develop and manage outdoor spaces like resorts, hotels and sports complexes.

· Work for the park departments under the local authorities.

· Administer large department stores or businesses associated with the agriculture industry.

Horticulturists often work with town planners, landscape architects, engineers, and environmental conservationists. The horticulturist works towards building a better and beautiful environment and a higher quality of life through improvement, beautification and conservation.

Horticultural scientists or people with a university degree in Horticulture work for various agricultural research institutes, where they conduct research on vegetables, fruits, flowers and the grape and wine preparations in different rainfall regions. They are also involved in the marketing of horticultural products and agricultural extensions.

Job Market For The Horticulturist

With the emergence of a number of environmental issues, the job market has expanded for fruit, vegetable and environmental horticulturists, as extension specialists, research workers, teachers, scientists and professors. Horticulturists are employed as marketing managers, production superintendents, inventory controllers, landscape maintenance specialists, buyers, landscape supervisors, bedding plant producers, education coordinators and research assistants.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions – Six Sigma Online – http://www.sixsigmaonline.org, offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Jacowski

Here’s a shallow example of HT at work in my superficial life: Many moons ago, I worked with the actor James Woods on a film shoot. Let’s just say he was “high maintenance.” I came home on Friday nights in tears, mumbling obscenities as I rehashed “another week at the office” to my kind, patient boyfriend. Saturday mornings, I couldn’t speak till I’d cleansed the demons. I would spend two hours sitting in my garden, alone, meticulously and fiercely pulling weeds, in a silent ethereal trance. Monday morning I’d be ready to face the egos again . . .

Last week I visited the wondrous garden at The Cedars Textile Art Center to see horticultural therapy at work, right here in Marin County. Since 1919, the Cedars has provided a special community for more than 2500 individuals with developmental disabilities. In 1981, the Cedars Textile Art Center was created by founder and Director Connie Pelissero. Her dream was to combine her interests in textiles and special education. With the help of longtime Co-Director, Denise Colwell, over 70 clients a day are provided with training and employment in textile weaving, organic gardening and animal husbandry on 21 spectacular rural acres.
And it all looks so organized, peaceful and healthy! (Nothing like a film set . . .)

I met with Amy Whelan, the Garden Coordinator/Queen Bee, who has been teaching and working at the garden for over sixteen years. She refers to the land as a “mini-garden of Eden.” When you first enter the Cedar’s garden, traveling along the winding path down the hillside, you know you have just crossed the threshold to a sacred place. Fruit trees, wild roses, hollyhocks, iris, lavender, penstemon and various tall, climbing beans and peas surround you. A painted sign reads “The Earth Laughs in Flowers.” Here new clients are taught how to make compost, grow seeds, water plants, weed, prune and nurture the earth. Many of these clients will go on to teach these same valuable skills to schoolchildren who come visit. The cycle of life is demonstrated here starting with compost, a seed, a flower, a wilted flower and back to the compost pile to begin again.

In the Cedars garden, clients of all ages ranging fro 20 to 80 yrs. old use horticultural therapy to promote healing and learning. Working in the garden provides a positive sense of wellbeing, problem solving, teaches new skills, social interaction and communication. Whelan sees the benefits from working in a garden first hand with her clients. “Everyone who enjoys gardening knows that working with plants fulfills basic human needs. Through horticultural therapy, you can facilitate these benefits with people on many levels.”

She explains the three main areas of horticultural therapy: social development, psychological and physical.

Social Development:

Gardening teaches new skills and vocabulary, helps people gain independence, helps them make new friends as they work cooperatively towards common goals, and increases attention span and concentration in easily distracted individuals.

Psychological:

Gardening meets nurturing need through taking care of living things (plants), encourages creativity, self-esteem and responsibility by project selection and design, and decreases stress, anger and aggressiveness.

Physical:

Gardeners enjoy activities as they increase strength and range of motion using fine and gross motor skills. They also have access to near limitless opportunities for year-round exercise and relaxation in serene garden settings.

Whelan adds, “In the spring we have many schools visit the garden. The children observe individuals with developmental disabilities teaching, working, planting and caring for a garden. There is an awareness of healthy eating and living. It’s fun, beautiful and outdoors!” Schoolchildren who visit may be taught by Todd Williams, a client who is supervising the greenhouse on the morning I visit. We bond immediately over the magic of seedlings. “I like to teach the children about planting seeds. I share their excitement with what may sprout. And I like their high energy!,” says Williams.

The schoolchildren also visit the friendly sheep and goats, and the beautiful Angora rabbits, whose cages sit on the worm composting bin below them! The Angora rabbits are groomed daily by the clients and the fur is used in weaving. The fruits and vegetables grown in the garden are used to serve a daily homemade lunch, created by the clients, to everyone at the Cedars.

Whelan adds, “Over the years at the Cedars garden, I have observed and heard clients say things about the garden such as: increased happiness, it’s relaxing, interesting, there’s always something to do, productive, you can always see something growing and it’s a place that they are proud of being a part of.”

You can be a part of it too! If you’d like to have your classroom visit The Cedars, or become a volunteer, contact the main office at 454-5310. Come on down to the Cedarchest in San Anselmo, at 603 San Anselmo Avenue to shop! There are gorgeous crafts (rugs, blankets, belts, napkins) the gifted weavers at the Cedars have created.

Raised in the asphalt jungle of New York City, Annie Spiegelman moved to the Bay Area over ten years ago and became a passionate environmentalist and Master Gardener. She is the author of two previous books on gardening (and life). Annie’s Garden Journal: Some Thoughts on Roses, Life, Weeds, and Men (Carol Publishing, 1996) was a selected Borders Books title by promising new writers and her second, Growing Seasons: Half-baked Garden Tips, Cheap Advice on Marriage and Questionable Theories on Motherhood was published in 2003 by Seal Press/Avalon Publishing Group. She is presently working on her third book entitled “The Dirt Diva’s Almanac.” Visit Annie at http://www.dirtdiva.com

And lastly, Does anyone have two alpacas to donate? Seriously, that’s what they’re looking for. If you know someone, have their people call my people at 453-5310.

Visit Annie at dirtdiva.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Annie_Spiegelman