Nut Production Course Online | Learning Cloud Ireland

Study How to Grow Nuts

Learn to identify and grow a wide range of edible nuts
Learn from professional university trained horticulturists with decades of industry experience
Build networks within industry and discover opportunities for commercial production or self sufficiency
With increased pressure on food supply & the envirionment, opportunities for food production experts are set to expand in the future -Now is the time to study.

This course will reveal the world of nut growing, expanding your horizons, deepening your knowledge and laying a foundation to explore and do things with nuts which you might not have previously considered.

There are 9 lessons in this course:

Introduction
- What is a Nut
- Identifying Plants Accurately
- Classification of Nuts into their Plant Families
- Juglanaceae,
- Coylaceae,
- Fagaceae,
- Burseraceae,
- Lecthidaceae
- Sterculiaceae
- Rosaceae
- Pinaceae
- Anacardiaceae, etc
- Review of Botany of Nuts: flowers and fruit development
- Resources
The Most Commonly Grown Varieties
- Overview of Nut Culture
- Comparing most common nuts
- Terminology
- Almond
- American Hazlenut
- Cashew Peanut
- Walnut
- Macadamia
Culture of Nuts
- Site Selection and Management
- Soils
- Soil Testing
- Water Management
- Nutrition and Feeding
- Plant Health: pest and disease, protection from wind, salt, air, etc
- Common problems with different types of nuts
- Planting
- Terminology
- Weed Management
- Pruning
Less Common Nuts
- Pecan
- Pistacio
- Pine Nuts
- Auraucaria
- Chestnut
- Filbert
- Brazil Nut
- Beech
- Oak
- Sunflower
- Pili Nut
- Cola Nut
- Cocao
- Hausa Groundnut
- Acacia, and more
Propagation
- Seed Propagation of Nuts
- Cuttings
- Layering
- Grafting
- Propagating Corylus
- Propagating Pinus
- Propagating aids and structures
Harvest and Post-harvest of Nuts.
- Harvesting
- Cleaning, Cracking and Shelling
- Drying and Storage
- Handling Almonds
- Cashews
- Chestnuts
- Pine nuts
- Walnuts
- Hazlenuts
- Pistacios
Marketing Nuts
- Overview
- Where to sell nuts
- Marketing Processes
- Market Research
- Uses of Nuts: Food and other uses
Workplace Health, Safety and Risk Management
- Duty of Care
- Risk Assessment in a Horticultural Enterprise
- Financial Risks
- Keeping the Workplace Safe
- Protective Clothing
- Equipment Safety (Tools and Machinery)
- Safety with Manual Handling and lifting
Special Assignment
- PBL Project Develop a plan for growing selected varieties of nuts in a specific location

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims:

Identify different nut crop varieties.
Determine the cultivation practices appropriate to a range of different nut crops.
Determine how to propagate a range of different nut plants.
Determine appropriate techniques for harvesting a nut crop.
Specify an appropriate post-harvest treatment for a nut crop.
Develop marketing strategies for nuts.

What you will do:

Distinguish between common and scientific perceptions of the term nut.

Compare the botanical characteristics of the fruits from five different nut genera.
Describe the botanical classification of twenty different species of nut plants, including where appropriate, botanical interrelationships.
Prepare a plant collection of twenty-five different nut varieties, including the following details on each plant:
- Plant names (Common and scientific)
- A photo, illustration or pressed specimen
- Cultural details
- Harvest & Post-harvest
- Uses (eg. valuable products).
Develop a resource file of forty items of information relevant to the nut growing industry, including:
- Suppliers of nut plants
- Trade or grower associations
- Publications
Perform simple tests on three different soils to determine:
- Soil type
- pH
- Drainage
- Water holding capacity
Evaluate three different soils tested in 2.1 to determine nut varieties suitable for growing in each.
Explain soil management requirements for at least ten different nut varieties, including:
- Nutrition
- Soil structure
- Physical attributes
- Explain the control of twenty different pests and diseases on ten different nut varieties.
Develop guidelines for the culture of a specified variety of nut, in the learner's locality, including:
- Watering
- Weed control
- Soil management
- Fertilising
- Pest control
- Disease control
- Prepare a twelve month plan for cultural practices on a specified nut plantation.
Explain different methods of propagating five different nut species, including:
- Seed
- Grafting
- Layering
- Cuttings
Determine propagation methods for fifteen different nut species, including where applicable, rootstock variety names.
Demonstrate how to prepare cuttings for two different nut species.
Demonstrate three different types of grafts, suitable for propagating nut varieties.
Determine seed germination procedures for ten different nut genera.
Prepare a production schedule, for nursery production of a specified type of nut.
- Propagate two different nut plant varieties.
- Explain the operation of a mechanical harvester which can be used for nuts.
- Determine when to harvest four different specified nut species.
- Compare the efficiency of four different techniques for harvesting nuts.
- Describe two different storage techniques for a specified nut variety.
- Determine the optimum environmental conditions for the storage of three different nut species.
- Evaluate three different samples of nuts, which have been stored using three different techniques.
- Determine the commercial processing techniques used for five specified nut species.
- Explain post-harvest handling of a specified nut species, by a commercial plantation in a specified locality.
- Determine different ways in which nuts can be consumed.
Compare different ways nuts are packaged for retailing, with reference to different factors including:
- Physiological impact on the nut
- Cost of packaging
- Presentation
- Explain the marketing of two different specified nut products, in your locality.
- Develop a marketing plan for one specified type of nut.

Interested? Request a free information pack today!

Online Nut Production Course