PRACTICUM AT CBSUA Nursery

PRACTICUM

AT CBSUA Nursery

      Practicum is developing skills on your field of specialization. By developing your skills you should practice it in an actual action. Research and learning start in observation and application. Nursery caretaker must have a skills developed with TLC (Tender, Love, and Care) to plants even it is small or big. Managing, Caring, maintaining the plant life herein nursery has been showing up with our instructor Dr. Salvino. What are some activities we did with a shorten time given with us? What are those skills developed with the good leading approachable instructor? I’ve been discussed all my experience and learning at this report.

         At CBSUA Nursery was conducting our Practicum to develop our skills on how to take care the plants. In our first meeting we’ve taking time to clean through weeding and rearranging all seedlings on their proper place to setting up the orderliness and cleanliness of the nursery. I’d removed all weeds around the seedlings area then in a late afternoon I was tried to sprinkling with water all of the living seedlings and plants in nursery. I was taking too much time to drain it all with water but its okay I love what I did. While I’m sprinkling papaya seedlings I ask to my selves – How can we determine if those papaya seedlings are male and female? I was asked this to Dr. Salvino then she’s start discussing about this things and a relative topics as well. Ma’am Salvino said that if you have a matured fruits of papaya you should divide it in to two - the upper parts and the bottom parts of a fruit. The seed in upper parts of papaya fruits has an ability to give a fruits because all of those seeds in the upper part are female seeds. On the bottom seeds parts are all male. How can you identify if the papaya seedlings you had pricked are male or female, by observation of this roots you can determine which are male or female. If the seedlings of papayas have a long main root that is male and if the seedling has hair like Structure or fibrous of roots this is female. 

            That is the first things that I’ve learned, Ma’am Salvino also teach how to determine male and female Pili but I miss it because I was continue my work. I was also re-bag those seedling bag thus had been destructed and damaged bag. At this part I was also learned the proper way to put garden soil in the bag. It must at least ½ inch in the upper portion have no soil for water accommodation. By making also an organic soil media to make a garden soil shall has one is to one is to one (1:1:1) ration of sand or animal manure, loam soil and a carbonized rice hull or decomposed rice hull to have a good and feed able soil for your seedlings. If you re-bag the seedlings and the soil was break possibly that their roots was destructed already. If the root was destructed there capacity rate of water absorption can reduce. Therefore, you must need to prone their stem or vine to reduce water consumer of plants and their respiration and transpiration.

            Then on April 29, 2017 we tried to practice grafting of Pili. How to grafting? Ma’am Salavino with Mr. Dueñas was assisted to student and teach how to make it successfully. First, select a scion 1 month old after their young leaves suck on scion, must be pencil size, matured and full bearing mother plants. Cut it 8 to 10 inch long from the top of scion. Also must be bulb shape on the top of a scion and same size of your seedling stock. Then, removed all stem and leaves to your seedling to reduce the water transpiration and respiration. Cut inverted “V” shape to your stock and cut in to the center. You’re Scion must be Cut also a “V” shape and insert it to slice of your stock. Don’t touch wounded area to avoid infection. Tight it well until the top of the scion except there bulb shape part. I was also learned how to plant ginger. It must 1 finger length and allowing the gravitational position of their nodes to suck and penetrate it well on the soil. We are pricking all seedlings on the seed bed to transfer it on the polyethylene bag – with the purpose of preparation for seedlings transplanting on the field. Pricking should well handling for the life of your seedlings. This is a preparation through gradually exposure to sunlight until they attain the whole day length survival.

            On May 02, 2017 we had make FPJ or Fermented Plant Juice using madre de cacao (Gliricidia sepium) and molasses with the ratio of 2:1. After the 65% of madre de cacao and 35% of molasses was mixed, ferment it within 7 days. After fermentation get the juice. The juice is the product which is called FPJ that can use as an insecticide and at the same time fertilizer. It can only apply late in the afternoon to avoid transpiration. On the next coming day, I was putting up along the way all branches of trees in the nursery to clean it up. After a day we make EMO or Extended Micro Organism it can be extendable by adding molasses, it can be used as prevention of strong odor. By making EMO, we steamed first a one kilo of rice and then when it cooked we will transfer it in the bamboo and close it tightly. Put it on the soil, half of the bamboos are covered by the soil and half of this are not to invite good bacteria within the canopy. After 3-4 days, the molded rice and molasses with the same ratio was mixed in the pale and ferment it within 7 days.

            On the last remaining days we plant Taro (boncocan) with the distance of 1 meter to each other. When you plant Taro you should remove first the half of this flesh and disinfect with the ash.

            Those are all skilled and experiences that I had learned from Dr. ELIZABETH SALVINO

herein our practicum. Thank you very much ma’am to all of this knowledge and become a friendly instructor ever. May God bless you po.