Horticultural Worker
Employer
Tye Brook: 2717 Tye Brook Highway
Piney River, VA 22964
United States
Job description
Crops/Commodities:
nursery stock, pome fruits, stone fruits, vegetables, Christmas trees.
Jobs may include any combination of planting, cultivating, hoeing, transplanting, fertilizing, propagation, preparing soil, weeding, thinning, spraying and watering, mowing, digging, mulching, loading/unloading trucks. Covering and uncovering seasonal holding houses and other manual tasks in nursery operation and orchard. Other duties include tagging plants. Workers are supervised at all times by employer or foreman who will provide demonstrations, instructions and directions. Non-supervisory nursery workers may demonstrate tasks to others. Designated workers may be responsible for acting as a liaison between the crew and the supervisor to communicate progress of production tasks and communicate work completed for the day.
Orchard: Quality is essential. All fruit is spot picked for fresh market. Ladders ranging from 14 ft. to 20 ft. in length and weighing from 35 to 50 lbs. each are used. Care must be taken when picking fruit not to damage or bruise fruit. Properly filled fruit buckets weigh up to 40 lbs. Pickers are required to snap most fruit off of tree using their thumb and palm of hand to avoid bruising. Asian pears will be stem-clipped. Each piece of fruit must be carefully placed in bucket to avoid bruising. Foreman or owner will give demonstrations of how the fruit must be picked; picking requirements will be explained to all workers prior to the season’s start. Workers must obey all safety rules when applying or handling pesticides.
Workers will also perform general orchard work including but not limited to preparing land for planting, picking roots, rocks and other debris, planting trees, trimming suckers, building trellises, mulching trees, inserting/removing tree spreaders, hoeing, cleaning and clearing fence rows and farm buildings, operation and maintenance of tractors and other equipment under supervision. Workers may occasionally assist in packing fruit into boxes and loading boxes onto skids and trucks.
Christmas Trees:
Workers will perform heavy manual field work including but not limited to planting, cultivating and harvesting Christmas evergreen trees on a tree farm. Removes brush, ferns and other growth from planting area using tractor, mattocks and brush hooks. Plants seedlings using planting bar or augers. Workers must properly prune and shape trees as instructed by a company supervisor. Scatter fertilizer pellets over planted area by hand or spreader. Spray herbicides or pesticides. Shears tops and limb tips from trees as specified by supervisor to control growth, increase limb density and improve shape Selects trees for cutting according to markings or size, species and grade and fells trees using axe or chain saw.
Drive trucks or tractors to transport trees from the field to central loading area. Drags cut trees from cutting area, runs trees through tree baler and loads trees onto trucks for transport. May make wreaths from cut greenery produced on the farm. Work may also include mechanized field work using power equipment. By way of example and not limitation power equipment may include tractors, planters, sprayers, cultivators and other equipment. Workers will be expected to be able to operate agricultural equipment with or without direction.
Nursery: Workers will perform work including but not limited to planting, digging, mulching, transplanting, moving, watering in nurseries and greenhouses. Fertilize, prune, spray, space, water, tag and perform other plant maintenance. Count and inventory plants. Propagate/graft plants or trees from cuttings or seeds. Load finished plants onto wagons and trucks. Remove plastic from seasonal holding houses in spring and cover seasonal holding houses with plastic in fall. Assist with building seasonal holding houses. Plant and dig field grown plants, burlap roots, perform general maintenance of field grown plants.
Special Requirements
This job requires a minimum of three months of prior experience working in a nursery and/or tree fruit farm, handling both manual and machine tasks associated with commodity production and harvest activities. Applicants must be able to furnish verbal or written statement establishing relevant prior work experience. Workers must be able to perform manual as well as mechanized activities with accuracy and efficiency. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 100 lbs. Employer-paid post-hire drug and alcohol testing is required at random, upon reasonable suspicion of use and after a worker has an accident at work. Employer-paid post-hire background check required.