Horticulture courses

About New Zealand Certificate In Horticulture Production (nursery Production) in Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology

This programme is for you if you are already working in the nursery industry, or you are looking to gain skills for employment in this field.

A stepping stone into a career growing plants and trees, and a job that could range from fruit growing or vegetable production, landscaping for homes or parks, a plant nursery enterprise, to tree production and revegetation to enhance our environment in line with the one billion trees programme. Learn the skills needed to work in the Nursery Industry growing plants for food production and forestry, plants for our landscapes and for native revegetation, to enhance our natural environment.

You will gain your forklift licence and basic GROWSAFE certificate - both great additions for your CV to work in the horticultural industry.

You will learn advanced propagation and managing root stocks for grafting and budding, as well as understanding plant hormones and how to manage plant growth and health.

You will gain a working knowledge of water, nutrient and climatic needs of your plants, operating irrigation systems, and developing a plant crop protection programme for your plants to manage any pest disease and weed issues.

Part of the programme is the development of a planting plan, for a growing project of your choice. You will also set up your own soil-less media experiment to trial soil mixes, learn to produce a scale drawing for a landscape, and plan, plant and monitor a revegetation project.

You will also learn about the machinery and equipment of a nursery, and will look at the business side of running a nursery and supervising others. 

The programme includes courses on:

• Nursery Environment including soils and soil less media, nutrient management, mist units and an understanding of other systems, irrigation, managing temperature and the weather
• Nursery Operations covers the practical side of advanced propagation, seed sowing and producing plants from cuttings, grafting and budding. An understanding of cultivars and PVR’s is covered as well as stock management, stool beds, and understanding how to grow plants through all stages of production. Relevant plant science and the influence of plant hormones is also covered.
• Nursery Crop Protection that covers dealing with pests, diseases and weeds, identification and management in the nursery.
• Plant Selection and Planning includes plant identification, and landscape design and planting plans, for amenity areas and revegetation projects.
• Nursery Equipment that covers growing houses, fork lift training, shade houses, potting machines, packing and dispatch. 
• Business Management and Marketing compares a range of marketing strategies and writing a business plan for a nursery enterprise.
• Human Resources covers supervising and managing others, time management, communication skills and conflict resolution.

Career Pathways

• Work can be at a wide range of levels and in the nursery sector.
• Positions can be seasonal to permanent. They can include nursery propagator, horticultural consultant, crop manager, cool store manager or science technician. 
• An example of the type of career path you can have in horticulture is beginning as a nursery assistant, moving up to seed source propagator, becoming production coordinator and then a manager.

Academic qualification equivalents

• Higher Secondary Certificate / Standard 12. 

English language requirements (one of the below):

• IELTS        :       overall academic score of at least 6.0 (with at least 5.5 in each band)
• TOEFL      :       Score of 60 (with a writing score of 20)
• PTE           :      Academic) score of 50

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology Tuition Fees

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology Average tution Fees and Cost of living

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