You will learn advanced propagation and managing rootstocks for grafting and budding, as well as understand plant hormones and how to manage plant growth and health.

You will gain a working knowledge of your plants' water, nutrient and climatic needs, operating irrigation systems, and developing a plant crop protection programme to manage any pest disease and weed issues.

Part of the programme is developing a planting plan for a growing project of your choice. You will also set up your own soil-less media experiment to trial soil mixes, learn to produce a scale drawing for a landscape, and plan, plant and monitor a revegetation project.

You will also learn about the machinery and equipment of a nursery and will look at the business side of running a nursery and supervising others. 

Work can be at a wide range of levels and in the nursery sector.

Positions can be seasonal to permanent. They can include nursery propagator, horticultural consultant, crop manager, cool store manager or science technician. 

An example of the type of career path you can have in horticulture is beginning as a nursery assistant, moving up to seed source propagator, becoming production coordinator and then a manager.

You can also progress from the New Zealand Certificate in Horticulture Level 3 (General)(external link) to this programme.

Academic requirements

• NCEA level 2

Or

• A qualification at Level 2 or above or;
• Evidence of relevant knowledge and experience in a primary industry environment, including literacy and numeracy abilities equivalent to NCEA (Level 1). (In this case, the applicant may be required to participate in an enrolment interview to verify the evidence.)

English language requirements

Applicants for whom English is not their first language must have an acceptable level of English language fluency before enrolment in the programme.

Ways in which English language fluency may be demonstrated include a successful study of a programme in which English was the language of instruction (conditions apply); completion of a New Zealand Certificate in English Language (Level 3 with any endorsement); approved scores on IELTS tests (Academic score of 5.5 with no band score lower than 5); or completion of accepted international equivalents.

Other requirements

• 16 years of age at the time the programme commences
• Be physically able to complete the programme-specific outcomes 

Physical requirements

Horticulture requires a certain level of physical strength and fitness, especially in the initial stages of working in the horticulture and nursery industry. There are 500 workplace hours embedded in the programme, which amounts to 2 days a week.

Workplace requirements  

You are required to find a place or places to complete your hours of work placement during the programme, which ideally would be a paid job, though often placements will not start this way unless you have been able to find a job yourself. While we can assist you, you must set up and complete this work placement.

Horticultural workplaces have strict health and safety protocols, including zero drugs and alcohol tolerance. An employer may require pre-employment drug testing and random employment testing. 

We recommend 

• A current Driver's Licence
• A computer or device to complete online work and access course material

This course offers flexibility. The full-time programme is held on Monday mornings (9am-12pm), and self-directed work is done in the Nursery (1pm-3pm) at the Richmond Campus. Additionally, students spend two days a week on a work placement of their choice for 12 months.

You can also study this programme part-time, and take up to three years to complete it.