Nursery Worker

Job description

Crops/Commodities:
nursery stock.
Perform general maintenance of field grown plants. Perform any duties involved in the maintenance of plant materials and nursery stock and maintenance of holding yards and shipping areas. Manual tasks related to the growing of nursery stock will include some combination of the following: Plant, cultivate and maintain in condition for shipping and resale to customers, pot seedlings, prune, space, irrigate and cull plants to ensure availability of marketable products. Prepare fields for planting by clearing cull stock, brush and debris; propagate plants from cuttings; plant cuttings, seedlings or ‘liners’ by hand (including riding and inserting liners in a mechanical planter); dig, load, unload or transplant bare-root nursery stock; straighten, tie, stake, prune and shear trees and shrubs (shearing conifers and evergreens must be performed with proper taper and angle of bud cut for quality); cut, pull or remove and mow weeds or grass (weeds are to be removed by the root and not at ground level); assist with irrigation; spread topsoil and mulch. Transplant trees, shrubs and plants into containers; fill, lift and carry various size pots with soil and plants weighing as much as 60 pounds (plants must be handled carefully so that minimal leaves, limbs and roots are broken during transplanting process); water in nursery and seasonal holding houses; cover seasonal holding houses with plastic in fall; remove plastic from seasonal holding houses in spring; assist with building seasonal holding houses; move irrigation equipment; spray herbicides and insecticides and apply fertilizer, hand hoe around nursery stock. Tasks related to harvest of nursery stock will include the following: taking inventory and grading plants, preparing trees and shrubs for digging by tying or wrapping as necessary; digging; wrapping burlap or other covering around root balls and securing with twine and/or staples; crimping wire baskets; lifting, carrying and unloading nursery stock; and unloading, moving or loading supplies, including wire baskets. Plants must be handled carefully to ensure that leaves, limbs and roots are not broken during digging, handling, wrapping and/or transplanting processes. Mechanized tree spade helpers will work as part of a crew comprised of one operator and two or more helpers. The helper will tighten the burlap in an acceptable manner using staplers, lace top of ball with sisal twine and crimp basket to tighten twine and basket.

Work will also include heavy mechanized field work using power equipment. By way of example and not limited to power equipment which may include power shears, chain saws, fork-lift, skid loader and tractors, trucks and trailers. Workers will be expected to be able to operate agricultural equipment with or without direction. Workers must operate all equipment properly and in a manner that protects operator, others, the employer’s products and property. Failure to comply with safety requirements and operating instructions may result in disciplinary action up to and including immediate termination.

Workers should be able to work on their feet in bent positions for long periods of time. Work requires repetitive movements and extensive walking. Workers will be exposed to wet and cold weather working in fields. Workers will be required to work in rain or snow not severe enough to stop work activities. Temperatures may range from 20 to 100 F. Workers should be physically able to do the work required with or without reasonable accommodations.

Shipping Laborer:
Gathers products selected for shipment by identifying the proper tagging. Pulls product from field sections, loads materials onto trucks/trailers, stages products, builds holders and tarps shipments. Verifying that all materials are properly secured before they leave the loading area.

Special Requirements

This job requires a minimum of 3 months of agricultural field work experience handling both manual and mechanized tasks. Applicants must be able to furnish verbal or written statement establishing relevant prior work experience. Saturday work required. Must be able to lift/carry 75 lbs. Employer-paid pre-employment and post-hire drug testing required. Criminal background check required.