Employability Skills in Horticulture

1. Employability Skills in Horticulture Objective: Describe skills needed for employment and careers in the horticulture industry.

2. What is Horticulture? • Horticulture comes from the Latin words hortus which means “garden” and cultorum which means “cultivation”. • Horticulture is the cultivation, processing and marketing of flowers, ornamental plants, vegetables, fruits and nuts.

3. Divisions of Horticulture • Fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants • Floriculture • Landscape and nursery industry • Olericulture • Pomology

4. Floriculture • Floriculture is the science and practice of growing, harvesting, storing, designing, and marketing flowering plants.

5. Landscape and Nursery • Landscape and nursery industry is the science and practice of propagation, growing, planting, maintaining and using grasses, annuals, shrubs and trees.

6. Olericulture • Olericulture is the science and practice of growing, harvesting, storing, processing and marketing vegetables.

7. Pomology • Pomology is the science and practice of growing, harvesting, storing, processing and marketing tree grown fruits.

8. Importance of Horticulture • Horticulture has three main areas of importance. • Economic • Aesthetic • Environmental

9. Economic Importance • The horticulture industry puts over $25 billion dollars into the U.S. economy annually. • Provides jobs • Produces food (fruits, vegetables, nuts) • Increases value of homes through landscaping

10. Aesthetic value (appearance) • Improves the appearance of homes and buildings through landscaping • Improves the appearance of land from fruit, vegetable and ornamental crops grown.

11. Environmental • Includes health and comfort • cleans air • prevents erosion • provides shade • nutrition

12. What are some jobs in horticulture?

13. Greenhouse Employee • Grows vegetables and flowers including • cut flowers • bedding plants • potted plants • hanging baskets • Performs both sexual and asexual propagation of plants

14. Nursery Employee • Grows seedlings and plants for landscaping, replanting in forests, or producing fruit

15. Garden Center Employee • Cares for plants • moves plants and supplies • arranges and displays plants and supplies • sells plants and supplies

16. Grounds Maintenance Employee • Cares for the land area and plants that surround a business, school, church, industry or other public or private places that have lawns and plants that have to be maintained

17. Golf Course Employee • Responsible for maintenance of: • golf course including turfgrass • irrigation and drainage • sand trap • trees and shrubs • buildings and equipment

18. Park Employee • Maintains plants, grounds, buildings, facilities, equipment and driveways in national, state, city or privately owned parks

19. What qualifications do I need to work in the horticulture industry?

20. Skills Skills vary from unskilled to highly skilled depending on the career in horticulture. A materials handler needs few skills, but an inspector needs many skills to check for quality, for insects or diseases or for following governmental rules.

21. Personal Interests and Qualifications • Before seeking a job one must consider: • Work inside or outside or a combination • Work in a group or alone • Work with people or plants • Work at routine tasks or varying jobs • Physical strength to do the job

22. Educational Qualifications • Educational qualifications vary depending on the careers • High school graduate or less for unskilled entry-level jobs • Technical degree for skilled jobs • Bachelors, masters or doctorate degree for most professional areas because of required licenses, paperwork, research and/or teaching

23. Career Outlook • Outlook for the horticulture industry is expected to grow because of the increase in population and new home construction. I see plants in your future!