Crops Courses

Grow berries for the table or to sell - this course is equally applicable to the backyard enthusiast or to the commercial grower.

Covering all aspects of the propagation, care and cultivation of common (and uncommon) berry fruit; with the opportunity to specialise to some degree in one type of berry.

“Learn the processes required to tap into the commercial organic vegetable market; this extensive course provides a wealth of knowledge and practical skills and shows you how to market your produce. Organic vegetables are crops with a future.” - Adriana Fraser Cert.Hort., Cert.Child Care, Adv.Cert.App.Mgt., Cert 1V Assessment and Training, Adv.Dip.Hort., ACS Tutor.

The demand for organically grown vegetables is currently a major growth area in commercial horticulture. This course is a good starting point in learning all aspects of organic vegetable production. There is a strong emphisis on organic principals and each lesson goes through ways to adapt them to everyday vegetable production. It is similar to the Organic Plant Culture course, but has more emhpisis on vegetables and methods for commercial production.

Develop skills and knowledge required for commercial vegetable production, including a variety of production methods. This is a very sound 100 hour foundation course in general vegetable production. (Note: Do not undertake Commercial Organic Vegetable Growing as well as this. The two courses do overlap)

Have you always wanted to know more about growing your own flowers from bulbs? And would you like to do it commercially? This is a course designed for the flowering bulb enthusiast or the commercial bulb grower supplying the cut flower market. There are ten lessons in this course with loads of practical skills to get you inspired and to get you growing! You will learn the basics of horticultural management covering soil types, plant nutrition, pest and diseases. It also covers the various types of bulbs used for production and in the home garden.

Would you like to grow orchids for the markets?
Orchids are one of the most commercially viable cut flower crops (partially due to their beauty, and also due to their long shelf life). Learn how to produce orchid flowers for the cut flower trade! Orchids occur naturally from very cold temperate climates through to tropical locations; and provided you choose appropriate species and treat them according to location, it is feasible to grow orchids as cut flowers almost anywhere.

Grow Cut Flowers Commercially or Train to work in the Flower Trade

Over recent decades cut flower growing has experienced rapid expansion in increasingly affluent countries. This has resulted in an increased demand for training in the skills and knowledge required by the industry. The course provides a thorough basic training for the commercial cut flower grower.

Get Serious anout Fruit Growing

An eight lesson course that starts by introducing the fruit growing industry, and moves through most of the skills needed for successful fruit growing in a serious way. Topics covered include management, soils, planting, irrigation, pruning, cultural practices (including pest control), pome and stone fruits, and various vines, fruit trees and nuts.

There are hundreds of Different Tropical Fruits. Start here to explore their potential and learn how to grow them.

This is a course designed for people who want to have a successful warm climate orchard, to develop  skills in the establishment and management of commercial fruit production for warm climates. Similar to the temperate fruit course, but adapted to cover tropical and sub-tropical conditions. The course includes sections on Avocados, Pineapples, Macadamias, Paw Paws,  Cashews, and lots more.
“Everyone dreams of having a tropical island with fruit trees. In this course we have people create their own fruit garden at home or learn how to produce and market stock commercially.” - Tracey Morris Dip.Hort., Cert.Hort., Cert III Organic Farming, ACS Tutor

A course for commercial cut flower growers who are concerned exclusively with greenhouse production. International trade in cut flowers has grown over recent decades. In most countries, developed or in development, it is now possible to get the most popular types of cut flowers almost any time of the year.
The industry has made this possible by doing three different things:
1. Expanding trade between countries (e.g. Australian tulips might be flown to the Netherlands in August and September, when they are not flowering in The Netherlands; and Dutch tulips might be flown to Australia when it is autumn in Australia)
2. Breeding new varieties has extended the flowering season for some plants. It is now, for instance, possible to grow Chrysanthemum varieties that flower all year round in some climates.
3. Growing in greenhouses has enabled farmers to take control of conditions that stimulate flowering; and cause plants to not only grow faster, but also flower at times when they might not have otherwise flowered.

 “Whilst sharing similarities with other irrigation courses, this highly functional and practical course also has a specific focus on the irrigation of crops. It will be of interest to anyone who grows, or who wishes to grow, crops whether on a large or small scale. All aspects of irrigation from system types and design to pumps and filters are discussed, in light of soil characteristics, drainage, and plant requirements.” - Gavin Cole B.Sc., Psych.Cert., Cert.Garden Design, MACA, ACS Tutor.

A ten lesson course that covers the design, installation, maintenance, operation and evaluation of simple irrigation systems. This course is similar to BHT210 and BAG213, but focuses on irrigation systems for row crops (eg. vegetables & cut flowers) and orchards.

Ever wanted to grow mushrooms and didn’t know where to start?  This course is unique and has been evolving over 20 years with a serious revision every 1 to 2 years, since it was first developed. The most commonly grown mushroom worldwide is Agaricus (The Champignon); and for that reason, more attention is given to that type of mushroom. Other commercially grown mushrooms are reviewed in most lessons as well, in order to give the student a broad understanding of how to cultivate all types of commercial fungi. As the student develops this foundation in understanding fungal growth, and commercial techniques; their capacity to grow any type of edible fungi will increase.

This course improves your ability to grow mushrooms on either a small or large scale; and both broadens and deepens your knowledge of growing, harvesting, marketing, storage, pest and diseases and even ways of cooking and using mushrooms.

“It’s interesting how much you take for granted when eating those tiny creations that are so well loved. This course will give you an overview of what nuts are commonly grown, and some insight into those that are not.”

- Tracey Morris Dip.Hort., Cert.Hort., Cert III Organic Farming, ACS Tutor.

For the enthusiast or commercial grower.

A detailed study on nut growing with the opportunity to specialise, to some degree, according to your interests.

Nuts can be grown in most parts of the world - there are species suited to a variety of climates.

Nuts are an exceptionally valuable food crop that can  be harvested and stored for long periods  and  can also be processed into a variety of products. These characteristics make them particularly useful for commercial growers, for the home gardener, or those striving towards self sufficiency.

HOW TO START A COMMERCIAL CROP PRODUCTION ...
Designed to gain broad knowledge on outdoor crop production, from flowers to fruits and vegetables, this course is a basic step to start a commercial venture on many types of crops. The course consists of ten lessons that cover site selection, crop selection, soil management, cut flowers, vegetables, berries, nuts, herbs, tree fruits, other crops, managing a market garden and more.

Student comment (M.Simpson): "This course has been excellent.... I would be willing to recommend this course to any of my friends and colleagues"

Learn how to manage your production with less pest and disease problems. Develop your broad understanding of practices and processes involved in successful plant cropping  in greenhouses or other protective structures.
Develop a clear understanding of environmental control and plant growth within a protective environment, together with a practical knowledge of plant husbandry techniques.

Good soil conditions are critical to the healthy growth of most plants. Over eight lessons this course will develop an understanding of physical & chemical properties of soils, the ability to carry out simple tests and determine soil characteristics, and to decide ways of treating a soil to improve its ability to grow plants. The course is specifically designed for crop production.

Do you want to learn about viticulture?

This course will help you develop an ability to select and cultivate appropriate varieties of grapes in different situations, and provide the knowledge to make informed decisions about the management of a vineyard.

There are ten lessons covering the history of viticulture, the current state of the industry, wine and table grapes, dried grapes, cultural practices (trellising, soils, planting, pruning, irrigation, pests & diseases); vineyard design, improving quality, harvest & post harvest procedures, winemaking, marketing and more.

“We have a lot of interest in this great course. One student chose to study this course while he was living it Europe, with the plan in mind of moving to a warm climate and growing his own food. It would be hard to find a course on Warm Climate Nuts that is more in-depth.”- Tracey Morris Dip.Hort., Cert.Hort., Cert III Organic Farming, ACS Tutor.

The content of this course is very similar to the "Growing Nuts" course, except this deals exclusively with nuts grown in the tropics and sub-tropics. There are eight lessons including a special project in this course. This course is designed as a detailed look at identification and culture of nuts in warmer climates. Emphasis is placed on the species that are of horticultural value. There are many nuts that you would not be aware of coming from the various cultures of the tropics, that are of great interest to our use today.