Nursery Worker

Job description

Crops/Commodities: vegetables, perennials, bedding plants, hanging baskets.

Workers will plant, cultivate and maintain in condition for shipping and sale to customers nursery plants, including perennials, bedding plants, vegetable plants and hanging baskets; pot seedlings, prune, transplant, space, performs hand watering and drip-irrigation to ensure availability of marketable products; prune, pinch, and remove dead flowers and leaves; pack, label, pull and store plants according to variety.

Workers will attach hangers to hanging baskets and hang throughout seasonal holding houses. Workers will move containerized plants using rolling carts. Workers may uncover and/or recover winter storage houses; weed, mow, load/unload truck and wagons; perform any other duties involved in the maintenance of plant materials and nursery stock and maintenance of holding yards and shipping areas.
Workers will plant, cultivate, transplant, and harvest vegetables. Workers will be expected to lay black plastic, punch and prepare the plastic for planting seeds and remove plastic at end of season. Workers will perform field maintenance activities including pulling weeds, thinning crops and spraying plants with herbicides, pesticides and fungicides.
Workers will perform irrigation activities, including setting up and moving irrigation pipes and equipment. Workers will also be required to remove trash, rocks and debris from the planting/harvest area. At harvest, workers will be instructed to select vegetables based on specifications set by the supervisor. Workers will be required to bend and stoop to pick the vegetables, cut the vines using a knife and carry the vegetables to bins and trucks. Workers will unload full bins/trucks at designated market locations and sort produce for quality issues.
Work will include mechanized field work using power equipment. Workers will operate tractors, sprayers, cultivators, planters, mowers, plows, disks, fumigators and other farm equipment. Workers will be expected to be able to operate equipment, with or without direction, in a manner that protects the operator, visitors, other employees, crops, trees, facilities and equipment. Failure to comply with operating and safety standards may result in termination. Workers will assist with the maintenance and repair of tractors and equipment.

Work is to be done in the field and/or greenhouse for long periods of time. Workers may assist in loading trucks with nursery products up to and including 50 pounds and lifting to a height of 5 feet. Workers should be able to work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time. Work requires repetitive movements and extensive walking. Allergies to ragweed, goldenrod, insect spray, related chemicals, etc. may affect workers' ability to perform the job. Workers are exposed to wet weather early in the morning through the heat of the day. Temperatures may range from 10 to 100 F. Workers may be required to work during occasional showers not severe enough to stop operations. Workers should be physically able to do the work required with or without reasonable accommodations. Employer assures that workers will be provided transportation from living quarters to work site every day (for workers who must be provided housing under the applicable regulations). Persons seeking employment in this position must be available for the entire period requested by the employer.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of three months of prior experience working on a nursery handling both manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Must be able lift/carry 50 lbs. Applicants must furnish verifiable job references or comparable third-party documentation from recent employers to establish acceptable prior experience. This requirement will be applied equally to all new foreign and domestic candidates.