So last week I started my internship with the citrus physiology lab at the University of Florida's research center in Immokalee. I had to have about a day training for lab safety and field safety. I'm now certified to mix, load, and apply pesticides according to the WPS (worker protection standard).
This week I have to get to work at 6 am (it's an hour away, so my waking up time is in the 4 am range) for harvesting. Basically, some of the orange trees are sprayed with a special chemical that helps the fruit to drop more easily when a mechanical harvesting machine comes through. Our job was to compare the treated and untreated tree by measuring the mass of oranges that have already fallen, those that fall when the mechanical harvester comes through, and those left in the trees. We had about 5 workers helping us because there were a lot of oranges. I helped to record the mass, time how long it took for each tree to be "gleaned" (the oranges left in the tree that needed to be picked still), and various other tasks. It was pretty fun and kind of relaxing being out in the groves. I also got to see three wild turkeys which was pretty cool.
Fortunately, most of our work was early in the morning so the afternoon heat wasn't very long.
No comments:
Post a Comment