Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000
of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online
course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it
etc.....?

"wayne crimi" wrote in message
news
Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000
of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online
course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it
etc.....?



No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants were
ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned nurseries
were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be photographed for
a plant catalog.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...

"wayne crimi" wrote in message
news
Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training
7000
of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online
course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it
etc.....?



No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants
were
ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned nurseries
were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be photographed
for
a plant catalog.

I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted BADLY, or
just plain dead.

"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...


I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted BADLY, or
just plain dead.


I went to HD a few weeks ago, and asked about a problem with my tomatoes --
numerous holes in the leaves. The salescritter told me in no uncertain terms
that it was caused by watering in sunny weather -- the drops of water cause
lensing and burn the leaves. Uh-huh. I did a little research and discovered
the *real* problem -- flea beetles.

I won't be asking them for advice again....

"Dennis Edward" wrote:

"Vox Humana" wrote in message
.. .


I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted BADLY, or
just plain dead.


I went to HD a few weeks ago, and asked about a problem with my tomatoes --
numerous holes in the leaves. The salescritter told me in no uncertain terms
that it was caused by watering in sunny weather -- the drops of water cause
lensing and burn the leaves. Uh-huh. I did a little research and discovered
the *real* problem -- flea beetles.

I won't be asking them for advice again....

You expect a lot for a little over minimum wage and low prices, don't
you?

I suppose that sales person is supposed to study every plant they sell
and every bug, disease and bad human practice inflicted on each one so
they are prepared to play plant doctor for the public.


DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
...
"Dennis Edward" wrote:

"Vox Humana" wrote in message
.. .


I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted BADLY,
or
just plain dead.


I went to HD a few weeks ago, and asked about a problem with my
tomatoes --
numerous holes in the leaves. The salescritter told me in no uncertain
terms
that it was caused by watering in sunny weather -- the drops of water
cause
lensing and burn the leaves. Uh-huh. I did a little research and
discovered
the *real* problem -- flea beetles.

I won't be asking them for advice again....

You expect a lot for a little over minimum wage and low prices, don't
you?

I suppose that sales person is supposed to study every plant they sell
and every bug, disease and bad human practice inflicted on each one so
they are prepared to play plant doctor for the public.


I have received a lot of bad information at HD and Lowe's. It isn't limited
to the garden department. I would rather that someone tell me that they
don't know than to just make something up and/or sell me the wrong product.
I have no idea what they are paid and it makes no difference to me. When
they ask me if they can help and I ask a question, I expect them to give me
an informed answer or to tell me they don't know. I don't think that is
asking too much. You don't have to be highly trained or well paid to say "I
don't know."

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
...
"Dennis Edward" wrote:


You expect a lot for a little over minimum wage and low prices, don't
you?

I suppose that sales person is supposed to study every plant they sell
and every bug, disease and bad human practice inflicted on each one so
they are prepared to play plant doctor for the public.


A lot? Saying "I don't know" if they don't know is "a lot"? Saying "I'll get
someone who knows about these things" is "a lot" ? When I go into the
plumbing section and ask a question about plumbing or plumbing supplies, I
expect to get some kind of reasonable answer because 1) Home Depot in
particular advertises that their "knowledgable sales staff" can "answer your
questions", and 2) because as a general rule I expect a company and the
representatives thereof to know a thing or two about the business that they
are in. That means that electrical supply companies should know about
electrical supplies, furniture companies should know about furniture, etc
etc etc. No different for departments in something like HD.

Having said all that, there's just no way that this represented "high
expectations", any more than expecting the lumber staff to know the
difference between pine and cedar. And your reductio ad absurbitum of
turning my comment into a supposed expectation that they have a PHD in
biology doesn't do your argument or your credibility any good.

You expect a lot for a little over minimum wage and low prices, don't
you?


Minimum wage? You're shittin me...... You honestly think I would work
somewhere that I have to put up with drunks, poorly mannered idiots, Mr &
Mrs Only Customer, assholes, sick *******s who literally cough in your face
in January, Idiots again, and the high and mighty know it alls who are gonna
argue with me about the difference in an annual and perennial when they saw
the "spoof" commercial on TV ,for minimum wage? Think again....Been at HD
for 5 yrs and make surprising $$$...I have several quals on the outside as
well as continuing education through 3 Hort depts at major Universities just
for kicks...Lowes around the corner HR person was in about 6 mos ago
"recruiting" ...They were on the "we'll pay you $1.50 more to come to
Lowes..When I told them my rate they didn't believe me so I showed them and
they were shocked....HD does not get employee discounts and Lowes does so
the pay is way lower (hence Lowes)

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message I suppose that
sales person is supposed to study every plant they sell
and every bug, disease and bad human practice inflicted on each one so
they are prepared to play plant doctor for the public.



Sadly in my youth (30-35years ago) I worked for nearly 5 years in a
Rhododendron nursery and still don't know what is currently "attacking" my
own Rhodies.....The owner if any hint of disease showed up simply trashed
the plant and any others in close proximity.....I hesitate to trash my
entire back yard and my assorted 25year old rhodies....He'd also on occasion
would clear an area, cover with plastic and inject "chemicals" to purify the
soil or kill the undesirables...again not a viable choice here....on a
humorous note he originally just tossed the sick and maybe sick plants over
the bank or in his dump.......The whole neighborhood soon discovered this
gold mine of "free plants" and soon peppered the place with rhodies (that
neighborhood is still rather pretty to this day), since he didn't really
want a neighborhood full of potentially diseased plants he took to cutting
them off at the root ball....not a nice man at allG.

This spring at HD I saw 5gal rhodies marked down to $5.00, nice looking
plants but past the bloom.....I asked the clerk about the plants mostly
because the size and price was almost too good to be true (both types were a
white and both were ones I had burlaped by the thousand years ago)...anyway
she said "both are only $5.00 but she didn't know why the manager priced
them so low, there must be something wrong with them"....I just smiled and
picked out my plants, he was simply dumping past bloom plants....Rod

DigitalVinyl wrote:
"Dennis Edward" wrote:
"Vox Humana" wrote in message

I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted
BADLY, or just plain dead.

I went to HD a few weeks ago, and asked about a problem with my
tomatoes -- numerous holes in the leaves. The salescritter told
me in no uncertain terms that it was caused by watering in sunny
weather -- the drops of water cause lensing and burn the leaves.
Uh-huh. I did a little research and discovered the *real* problem
-- flea beetles.

I won't be asking them for advice again....

You expect a lot for a little over minimum wage and low prices,
don't you?

I suppose that sales person is supposed to study every plant they
sell and every bug, disease and bad human practice inflicted on
each one so they are prepared to play plant doctor for the public.

Reads like sarcasm to me.

I wxcept people who don't know to say I don't know.

Dick

"Dennis Edward" wrote in message
news:_hhue.1778409$6l.941375@pd7tw2no...
"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...


I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted BADLY, or
just plain dead.


I went to HD a few weeks ago, and asked about a problem with my
tomatoes -- numerous holes in the leaves. The salescritter told me in no
uncertain terms that it was caused by watering in sunny weather -- the
drops of water cause lensing and burn the leaves. Uh-huh. I did a little
research and discovered the *real* problem -- flea beetles.

I won't be asking them for advice again....



Here's a thought: How many of the complainers here are aware of the
existence of at least one or three small garden centers staffed by people
who care, where the 6-packs of plants are still in nice shape, even though
it's late June and those plants should be a bit stressed even under the best
of circumstances? If you're aware of such places, why do you care if the
6-packs cost a dollar more, as long as the plants are vigorous? Why even
waste the gasoline (at $2.25+ per gallon) to go to stores where there's
about a 25% chance of finding nice, vibrant plants?

At some point, you'll realize that the only place to get solid garden advice
is from the locally owned people. But, if you don't patronize them, they
won't be there when you need them. Remember hardware stores?

Doug Kanter wrote:

No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants
were ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned
nurseries were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be
photographed for a plant catalog.

The Home Depot in my area doesn't have a wide selection of plants, but what
they do have is usually in pretty good shape.

All the Home Depots may look alike. And they may have theoretical procedures
that should be followed at every store. And they may have centralized
buyers. But when you get to the garden center, each of them is just a
single, stand-alone store. Some take good care of their plants. Some don't.

And that's probably why they're training their garden center personnel.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
What's on TV? See the new fall network schedules online:
http://www.holzemville.com/television/fall2005.html

"Warren" wrote:

Doug Kanter wrote:

No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants
were ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned
nurseries were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be
photographed for a plant catalog.

The Home Depot in my area doesn't have a wide selection of plants, but what
they do have is usually in pretty good shape.

All the Home Depots may look alike. And they may have theoretical procedures
that should be followed at every store. And they may have centralized
buyers. But when you get to the garden center, each of them is just a
single, stand-alone store. Some take good care of their plants. Some don't.

Very true. The HD down the street reogranized the garden center and it
is laid out better. They also had a better selction thisyear than
lastm, but they got the selection late. That said it is very easy to
find dry pots & wilted plants.

And that's probably why they're training their garden center personnel.

I worked in retail for years and I saw extensive training done
reepeatedly. In a place like a nursery you need to know what your
doing. The Same HD had all the seed rack outside in the rain. The
paper envelopes of seeds were all soaked. If you understand that water
is a major trigger for germination you know that is a dumb thing, but
no one, including the managers at home depot could see how dumb it
was.

They probably wouldn't train people beyond general good basics and
principles. Hot weather, more watering, cooler weather, less.

That said I was at a large professional nursery and going through the
back lots found entire lots of petunias sickly and dying. Obviously
diseased. I also saw a bunhc of cabbage moths visiting the broccoli.
Those types of problems I expect to be beyond any sales person except
for a profesional in the industry long term. (or a hobbyist)

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...

"wayne crimi" wrote in message
news
Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training
7000
of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online
course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it
etc.....?



No wonder they're doing it. I was there 2 days ago. 80% of their plants
were ready to drop dead. Meanwhile, 5 minutes away, 2 locally owned
nurseries were selling plants that looked like they were ready to be
photographed for a plant catalog.

HD, Lowe's and Wall-Mart, regardless of what people may call them, are
HARDWARE stored and as such are good places to shop.

However for living plants, flowers and trees, find a nursery or REAL garden
center close by where they will have a wide assortment of well cared for
items to choose from.

The information and advice about plants and such from these places tend to
be much more reliable also.

Remember though, even at the nurseries and garden centers chances are good
you will still be dealing with people better trained to operate a cash
register than they are at giving advice on planting roses.

On 2005-06-21 16:59:01 -0400, "wayne crimi" said:

Recently the Wall St Journal ran an article about Home Depot training 7000
of its garden center workers to be "nursery consultants" via an online
course. Does anyone have information on that course, how I can take it
etc.....?


I wonder what planet they''re working on? Certainly not Earth!


--
Chris: "Dad, what's a blowhole for?"
Peter: "I'll tell you what it's NOT for and then you'll know why I can
never go back to Sea World."