SOIL MANAGEMENT - HORTICULTURE BHT105

Understand Soil and its Physical and Chemical Properties.

  • Know how to apply soil management techniques.
  • Learn how to build healthy soil and enhance soil life.

The course is specifically designed for ornamental gardens, landscaping, container growing, and turf situations.

Soils are the Foundation for Good Plant Growth.

Get the soil right and any plant will grow faster, be healthier, live longer and resist pest and disease problems better.   This is a course that should be done by anyone wanting to grow better plants.

 

COURSE STRUCTURE

There are eight lessons in this module as follows:

Lesson 1 Physical & Chemical Properties Of Soils

Lesson 2 Soil Testing Methods

Lesson 3 Sustainable Soil Management

Lesson 4 Soils & Managing Earthworks

Lesson 5 Land Degradation & Other Soil Problems

Lesson 6 Container Growing

Lesson 7 Soil Science & Health

Lesson 8 Soil Management

Aims

  • Understanding of soil physical and chemical properties and processes including forms of soil nitrogen and nitrogen cycles in soil, soil humus, texture, soil water, and pH.
  • Understanding of the principles and procedures of soil testing in domestic and professional situations
  • Understanding of the principles of sustainable soil management
  • Understanding of soil fertility and the practical development of natural soil fertility
  • Understanding of earthworks management
  • Understanding and knowledge of land and soil degradation processes; and the prevention or amelioration of land degradation
  • Knowledge of container growing techniques

 

WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS COURSE

  • Identify evaluate soil structural problems in the field
  • Build a compost heap and monitor its decomposition process
  • Perform simple experiments to evaluate fertilisation rates and methods
  • Define and describe soil properties and processes
  • Perform simple tests and field analyses on soil
  • Identify nutrient deficiencies
  • Evaluate the attributes of various mulches
  • Analyse the impacts of earthworks and earth working machinery on soil and landscape
  • Analyse the effects of different soil management methods.
  • Identify soil and land degradation
  • Propagate and grow plants in containers
  • Identify and evaluate soil degradation minimisation programs and methods
 

Soil management  skills  are a solution for both today and for tomorrow!

Get the soil right and any plant will grow faster, be healthier, live longer and resist pest and disease problems better. This is a course that should be done by anyone wanting to grow better plants.
 
The soil is a living biological ecosystem that must be managed to the benefit of the crop and to the broader ecosystem of the region. The reason we investigate soil and its characteristics it to understand it in relation to plant growth, how to manage and manipulate it without causing damage, how to improve it generally or how to modify it for the growing of specific crops. Good soil conditions are critical to the healthy growth of most plants.
Nutrient levels, pH, salinity, depth, texture (properties of sand and clay), structure (form and arrangement), porosity (air space), consistence (the ability of soil to withstand rupture) and even colour can affect plant growth independently or interdependently. 

Over eight lessons this course will develop an understanding of physical and 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. 

This course is specifically designed for ornamental gardens, landscaping, container growing, and turf situations and is relevant to anyone working in horticulture.