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Career Description

Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, and knives. Duties may include tilling soil and applying fertilizers; transplanting, weeding, thinning, or pruning crops; applying pesticides; or cleaning, grading, sorting, packing, and loading harvested products. May construct trellises, repair fences and farm buildings, or participate in irrigation activities.

What Job Titles Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Might Have

• Gardener
• Greenhouse Worker
• Grower
• Field Irrigation Worker

What Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Do

• Plant, spray, weed, fertilize, and water plants, shrubs, and trees, using hand tools and gardening tools.
• Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them.
• Clean work areas, and maintain grounds and landscaping.
• Sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers.
• Sow grass seed, or plant plugs of grass.
• Regulate greenhouse conditions, and indoor and outdoor irrigation systems.
• Cut, roll, and stack sod.
• Feel plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease.
• Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products.
• Maintain and repair irrigation and climate control systems.
• Dig, cut, and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees, and shrubs.
• Fill growing tanks with water.
• Record information about plants and plant growth.
• Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required.
• Dig, rake, and screen soil, filling cold frames and hot beds in preparation for planting.
• Inspect plants and bud ties to assess quality.
• Trap and destroy pests, such as moles, gophers, and mice, using pesticides.
• Move containerized shrubs, plants, and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors.
• Tie and bunch flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees, wrap their roots, and pack them into boxes to fill orders.
• Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows or carts and shovels.
• Operate tractors and other machinery and equipment to fertilize, cultivate, harvest, and spray fields and plants.

What Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Should Be Good At

• Static Strength - The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
• Trunk Strength - The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing.

What Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse Should Be Interested In

• Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.