Landscape Ontario, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and the University of Guelph, cooperated in providing a training course for Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspectors on June 20-23. The course was funded through CFIA.

Inspectors from Ontario, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia participated in the program, held at the University of Guelph. Over the three days, 24 inspectors were introduced to Ontario nursery production practices, and the most commonly grown trees and shrubs in Ontario nurseries. They also learned how to identify common insects, diseases and other problems associated with those plants.

Dr. Glen Lumis, Dept. of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, set the course’s context by providing an overview of nursery production. He also led the group through plant identification. Dr. Steve Marshall, Dept. of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, introduced the inspectors to insect identification. A closer look at the most common insects affecting nursery plants was led by Jen Llewellyn, OMAFRA nursery crops specialist. Hannah Fraser, entomologist for horticultural crops with OMAFRA, gave an overview on recognizing beneficial insects on nursery crops.

Michael Celetti, OMAFRA’s horticultural plant pathologist, outlined basic concepts in identifying plant diseases. This was followed by Llewellyn’s in-depth look at diseases and cultural problems frequently found in nurseries.

The inspectors also spent a day at Connon Nurseries (NVK Holdings) in Waterdown, observing all stages of nursery production. Thanks to Connon’s staff, especially Case Vanderkruk, Chris Mantel, Wayne Roorda, Mark Vanderkruk, Arie van Spronsen and Jan Laurin, for their efforts.

Christoph Kessel, nursery certification and risk management coordinator with Landscape Ontario, organized the course. Landscape Ontario plans to develop this course further and make it available to industry. It will be helpful to nursery growers requiring training as part of the nursery certification programs.