Sneak Peek
Indoor Plants Short Course
This course teaches you how to better manage indoor plants:
What to grow where
How to grow it
How to keep it in good condition
How to detect and attend to problems
In many respects, it is "Landscaping for inside a building"
WHY?
Some people will do this course as an amateur who just wants to grow and use indoor plants better in their own home.
Others though, will do this course in preparation for working with indoor plants; or to improve your ability to work with them.
OPPORTUNITIES
People work with indoor plants in various ways, including:
Plantscaping companies - design, build and sometimes maintain indoor plantscapes
Specialist nurseries - propagate, grow and sell indoor plants to retailers, contractors or direct to the public
Contractors who visit (mostly commercial) buildings routinely, inspecting, carrying out maintenance, and if needed, replacing sick plants
Environmental companies -may focus on creating better environments within a building; through a number of initiatives - and plants may be a part of their broader strategy
This short course covers seven lessons:
Lesson 1 Introduction to Indoor Plants
Psychological and physical benefits of plants
Where indoor plants are used
Considerations when introducing indoor plants
Groups of indoor plants
Lesson 2 Ways to Grow plants inside
Containers and growing systems for indoor plants
Planters, pots or tubs
Problems with containers
Hanging baskets, hanging pots, wall baskets and planter boxes
Atriums and terrariums
Green walls
Tower gardens
Systems used for indoor plant installations
Water and watering
Watering systems
Fertigation
Potting media
Lesson 3 Planning and installation
Formulating a design approach
Design
Placing container plants
How to use colour with indoor plants
Principles of design
Design elements
Evaluating a building
Choosing the system
Environmental controls/improvements
Choosing the plants and conditioning them
Conditioning plants for indoors
Providing drainage
Installation techniques
Installing baskets and hanging pots
Installing window boxes
Atriums
Terrariums
Placing container plants
How to use colour with indoor plants
Mixing colours
Walls
Mirrors
Lesson 4 Maintenance of indoor plants
General care
Maintenance of hanging baskets
Maintaining a terrarium
General maintenance tasks for vertical gardens
Water movement from soils to roots
Understanding soil and potting mix
Lesson 5 Pest and disease
Identifying problems
Maintaining plant health
Symptoms and diagnosis
Lesson 6 Hardy indoor plants
Plants species that grow in low - moderate light
Plants species that grow in air conditioning
Plants species that grow in temperature extremes
Growing culinary herbs indoors in winter
Lesson 7 Air quality management and indoor plants
What is in the air?
Humidity
Pollutants
Ventilation
Plants
Plant species that grow in poor air and pollution
