Bad news
Let’s be honest, not everybody passes the Red Seal Journeyman Horticulturist exam. It’s a tough, four-hour long, trade exam which tests your experience, not just your knowledge. Some knowledge tests you study for and pass by having a good memory. But Red Seal exams test your experience. Thus the requirement to have up to 10,000 hours in the field. To challenge my exam, I had to have 9,700 documented work hours.
Recently, two of my buddies sat the examination and both failed to achieve the 70% pass mark. It hurts a little bit and it shows there are gaps in their experience. And it makes sense, too, because they both work in landscape maintenance full-time. They don’t do any landscape construction or indoor landscaping.
So, yes, you go back to study more but you also need to gain more work experience. Working directly under landscape pro Vas would be a nice short-cut to Red Seal fame, but people don’t like to hear that. I say it tongue-in-cheek, of course, but it couldn’t hurt to spend some time with Vas.
Exceptions
I obviously can’t print exact questions from Red Seal exams-that would be unethical- but I do know one example that will nicely illustrate the point I’m trying to make. It involves birch trees.
I don’t know the four answer choices but the question asked about the correct time to prune birch trees.
Now, here on the West Coast, most people prune trees in the dormant season, which means fall and winter. But to answer the birch question correctly, you must know that birches are an exception. Birch trees start running sap in the fall, just when we start pruning other landscape tree species. Pruning birches in the fall would be a mistake.
The correct answer would be late spring or late summer. Again, I’m not sure what the four choices were exactly.
Now do you see how tough the Red Seal exam can be? They’re asking you to know about an exception, so having worked with birches in the field would really help you. Otherwise, you’re guessing.
Incidentally, maples start running sap after Christmas, so prune them before Christmas. We have lots of maple trees on our strata sites but not many birches.
Pro tip
Because the Red Seal exam is experience-based, try to do everything in the field. That includes landscape maintenance, construction and indoor landscaping work. If you can’t, read about it.
Passing the Red Seal Journeyman Horticulturist exam feels awesome because it shows you have some experience; enough experience to be a star in the field, to train new apprentices and to get the high pay you deserve.
Good luck!
