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Berry Production 100 Hours Certificate Course

Berry Production course online. Berry fruits are popular the world over. Some berries are grown widely, in different climates and countries (eg. strawberries), whilst others might be popular in some regions but not others. This course provides a sound broad based training for commercial growers and/or staff of berry farms. It is equally relevant to the enthusiast hobby grower who wants to get more serious about growing berry fruits.

Learning Goals:   Berry Production BHT309

• Differentiate between different types of berry fruit cultivars
• Determine varieties of berry fruit suitable for growing in a specified locality (Part A)
• Determine varieties of berry fruit suitable for growing in a specified locality (Part B)
• Explain the cultural treatment for a range of berry fruits, in specified situations (Part A)
• Determine how to propagate a range of different berry plants
• To explain the cultural treatment for a range of berry fruits, in specified situations (Part B)
• Explain the harvesting of different berry crops
• Develop strategies for commercial success in a berry fruit enterprise

Lesson Structure:   Berry Production BHT309

There are 8 lessons:

1  Introduction

• Review of the system of plant identification
• Plant Families, Species, Cultivars, Varieties
• What is a Berry -Botanical Characteristics (Simple fruits, Compound Fruits)
• Information contacts (ie: nurseries, seed, clubs etc.)

2  Which Varieties to Grow

• Site Selection,
• How much land
• Site Chjaracteristics
• Climate
• Winter Chilling Requirements
• Biological Considerations
• Further Considerations affecting what to Grow
• Review of Significant Berries including
• Blackcurrant
• Blueberry
• Brambleberry
• Blackberry
• Other Rubus species
• Cranberry
• Gooseberry
• Grape
• KiwiFruit
• Passionfruit
• Raspberry
• Strawberry

3  Lesser Grown Varieties of Berry Plants

• Alpine Strawberry
• Cape Gooseberry
• Elderberry
• Goji berry
• Guava
• Hardy Kiwi Fruit
• Lignoberry
• Pepino
• Tree Tomato
• Mulberry
• Production Plan for Berry Cropping

4  Culture

• Soils
• Planting
• Staking
• Mulching
• Watering
• Pest & disease
• Feeding
• Pruning
• Protection from wind, salt, air, etc.

5  Propagation

• Methods of propagating berries
• Seed, Cuttings, Layering
• Aids to Propagation
• Hardening off Young Plants
• Propagation of selected varieties

6  Weed Control & Irrigation

• What is a Weed
• How Weeds Spread
• Preventative methods of Control
• Eliminating growing weeds
• Identifying Weeds
• Water Infiltration and Retention
• Drainage
• Improving water Infiltration
• Soil Moisture Classes
• Measuring Water Available to Plants
• When to Irrigate
• Irrigating Berry Crops

7  Harvesting & Marketing Berries

• When and How to Harvest
• Understanding Fruit Ripening
• Harvesting Techniques
• Post Harvest Treatments

8  Commercial Berry Growing

• Marketing Berries
• The Marketing Process
• Understanding Supply and Demand
• Cost, Quality and Quantity characteristics in a Crop
• Farm Layout for Better Management
• 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.

Practicals: Berry Production BHT309

This Hydroponic course would be suitable for:

• Hydroponic Shop Managers and Staff,

• Hydroponic Equipment and Materials Manufacturers and Suppliers

• Other working alongside a hydroponic power supply

If you plan on studying this course, ensure that you do not study more than 1 of Hydroponic I and Home Hydroponics. The difference is that Home Hydroponics is a less intensive academic load and geared for more personal use, while Hydroponics I is a broad based course.

• Distinguish between common and botanical definitions for the term berry.
• Compare the botanical characteristics of berry fruits from four different taxonomic families.
• Prepare a collection of twenty-five plant reviews of different berry varieties,including the following details on each plant:
  • Plant names (Common and scientific)
  • A photo, illustration or pressed specimen
  • Cultural details
  • Harvest and post harvest
  • Uses (eg. valuable products).
• Develop criteria for the selection of suitable berry fruit varieties.
• Evaluate the performance of four different berry varieties.
• Determine appropriate varieties of different berries to grow in a specified locality, considering a range of types, including:
  • Strawberries
  • Brambles
  • Other berries.
• Describe an appropriate planting method for each of three specified genera of berry fruits.
• Illustrate an appropriate pruning methods for each of four different genera of berry fruits, using sequences of drawings, photographs, or video.
• Determine appropriate irrigation practices for two different, specified berry plantings.
• Develop feeding programs for a twelve month period, for three different berry crops suited to growing in a particular locality.
• Conduct simple soil tests to determine soil characteristics relevant to a proposed berry planting. Soil tests should include:
  • Soil type
  • Water holding capacity
  • pH
  • Drainage
• Recommend appropriate soil preparation for the tested soil, prior to planting a specified berry crop.
• Compare four different weed control practices appropriate for specified berry crops.
• Develop soil maintenance programs for a twelve month period, on a monthly basis, for different berry crops.
• Identify different health disorders (e.g. pests and diseases) on berry plants.
• Develop a pest and disease control program for a twelve month period, for a specified berry crop.
• Describe different methods for propagating specified berry plants, including:
  • Cuttings
  • Runners
  • Division
  • Layering
• Demonstrate cutting propagation of two different berry species.
• Produce marketable berry plants representing different genera, either as bare rooted or container plants.
• Compare the commercial viability of propagating one specified berry by two alternative propagation techniques.
• Explain how to determine when different types of berries are ready for harvest.
• Describe different methods for harvesting five different types of berries, including:
  • Manual
  • Mechanical
• Explain the harvesting of five types of berries before they are ripe, and ripening of the berries off the plant.
• Determine appropriate post-harvest treatments for a specified commercial berry crop.
• Develop a resource file of different items of information relevant to the berry fruit industry, including:
  • Suppliers of berry plants
  • Trade or grower associations
  • Publications
• Determine criteria which are significant in the commercial success of a specific berry farm, which you either visit in real life or investigate on the internet.
• Explain how a range of five different berries are prepared for the market.
• Prepare a chart of ten different berry species that lists their shelf life.
• Evaluate the commercial viability of three different methods of packaging and presenting berries for sale.
• Compare common marketing strategies for berry fruits, including:
  • Selling at wholesale markets
  • Selling on contract to chain stores
  • Selling to processors
  • Roadside stalls
  • U-pick selling

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. 

 

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Excerpt From The Course

Most berries are normally propagated by vegetative means. While it is possible to grow berry plants from seed, vegetative propagation ensures that the parent plant’s valuable qualities (such as fruit flavour or frost hardiness) are retained in the new plant stock.

SEXUAL AND ASEXUAL PROPAGATION

Sexual Propagation

Sexual propagation involves growing a plant from a seed or spore which has been produced by fertilization of the female part of one plant by the male part (usually of another plant). Plants grown this way can have some characteristics of one parent - and different characteristics from the other parent. A sexually propagated plant is not always exactly the same as the plant from which the seed or spores was taken.

Most flowering annuals, vegetables, biennials and perennials are grown this way. Ferns and some trees and shrubs are also grown sexually. Berry fruit sometimes grown sexually include the alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca). The blue berry can also be propagated this way but remember that the off-spring may not be true to type or be of high quality.  

Asexual Propagation (Vegetative Propagation)

Propagation involves reproducing a new plant from only one parent.  A part of an existing plant is treated in some way so that it can produce a new plant ie. asexual propagation involves growing a new plant from a piece of stem, leaf or root (or possibly all three).

Seed (Sexual) Propagation

Propagating plants from seeds is called sexual propagation.

Seeds however can be variable; in other words they may not always be a replica of the parent plant. The growth habit and colour may vary between plants grown from the same batch of seeds. This is brought about by a random combination of genetic material from the parents. The genetic make-up of each seed is unique. Plant breeders cross-pollinate plants that are genetically different deliberately in order to find interesting features this produces new varieties or cultivars.

In order for seeds to germinate they require:

1. Water and oxygen.

2. An appropriate temperature.

3. Sometimes light (depending on the species).

4. Viable seed.

Given the above, a seed will germinate readily and embryo will develop and the plant will grow. If a seed is not given these requirements or when one is lacking or insufficient the seed will not germinate.

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