Nursery Worker

Job description

Crops/Commodities:
Nursery Stock: trees, shrubs, perennials.
This job requires a minimum of two months of prior experience working in a nursery handling both manual and machine tasks associated with plant nursery production and harvest activities. Workers must be able to perform manual as well as mechanized activities with accuracy and efficiency. Planting: Workers may be required to work as operators of wheel tractors pulling planters and planting wagons. Workers may be required to work on the ground planting trees that are fed through a tractor pulled planter, using shovels.

Trees, Shrubs, Perennials: Workers will be working with trees, shrubs and perennials. Workers will plant, cultivate, stake, harvest, propagate, grade, store and ship field grown horticultural plants. Workers will take cuttings from trees and shrubs, place in containers pre-filled with dirt and transplant seedlings to prepared areas. Harvesting field-grown crops includes digging up products and placing on pallets. At maturity, the plants will be dug, balled and burlapped and loaded onto trucks for shipping. Workers may be required to dig trees and evergreens with digging spades.

Pruning: When pruning, it is vital to prune the unwanted branch while protecting the stem or trunk wood of the tree. While pruning trees, workers will receive proper tools for the particular job, i.e., saw, pruners and hand snips. The supervisor will set a standard or pattern for each job and will demonstrate and communicate this to workers. Workers will be assigned rows of trees and must prune each tree according to the predetermined standard. Workers must remove all resulting material from the trees rendered from performing pruning tasks. When pruning is complete on each tree, each worker is required to rake and scatter the resulting brush in the center of the tractor/equipment rows.

Balled and burlap (B&B) tree production: Workers may be required to work as operators of skid steers with tree spade attachments or haul out tines. Workers may be required to work on the ground packaging the finished root ball on a tree by stapling burlap with hog ring pliers, tying basket loops with twine, crimping baskets with pig tail crimpers or tying branches with twine.

Loading and Unloading: Workers may be required to work on flat bed trailers tying B&B trees to the trailer with twine.

Cultivation: Workers may be required to work as operators of wheel tractors pulling cultivators, mowers or hilling disks.

General Duties: Duties performed in the field may include preparing soil, planting, pruning, staking, cutting, deadheading, pinching, trimming to shape, spacing plants, weeding, ditching, shoveling, hoeing, hauling, potting, fertilizing with granular or liquid fertilizer, irrigation, cleaning work areas, loading and unloading plants and all other duties associated with field grown plant production.

While the employer does not require prospective applicants to take and pass a drug test prior to a hiring decision, the employer has a no-exceptions drug policy requiring newly-hired employees to take and pass an employer-paid drug test. Every new hire must undergo post testing after starting work with the company. All testing is conducted uniformly after an initial job offer has been extended and accepted by the new hire. If an employee tests positive, he/she is immediately terminated and paid for all hours worked between the first date of employment and the date of termination, if any. In the case of a non-local or foreign worker who is terminated for failure to pass a drug test, the employer will arrange least-cost transportation to the worker's place of recruitment, at the worker's expense. The employer will also test at random, upon reasonable suspicion of use, and after a worker has an accident at work.

Work is to be done in the field for long periods of time.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of two months of prior experience working in a nursery handling both manual and machine tasks associated with plant nursery production and harvest activities. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 60 lbs. Post-hire employer-paid drug testing required.