Tips on maintaining my growing collection of seedlings

[Tang Tonic]

Hi everyone,

So I started planting up my property here on St. Croix a couple years ago.  Started with raw land and carved out areas by hand with machete and chainsaw.  We started with grafted mangos and avos, guavaberry, carambola, tangerine, and lots of dwarf coconuts and along several other species available here on island.

Lately I have really gotten into buying seeds from forum members here and also a recently placed order with Fruit Lovers.  So now I have several Pitanga seedlings, Sabara, the Boca Snob Jack fruit, Miguel's 'Neylita' Jabo, Mangosteen, Blue Jabo etc etc etc.  Its such a rewarding feeling seeing those seedlings pop up through the dirt!  I know I will have to wait 10 years or more on some of these but that's ok I'm still in my early 30's  .

Fighting the urge to buy more more seeds   I have a dream of one day having this great variety of fruit trees with lots of rarities that no one on St. Croix has- much less even heard of.  I am also germinating more seeds of each species than I will be able to plant so hopefully can recoup some seed costs in a few years as they mature.

Until then, does anyone have any tips on how to maintain my growing collection?  I am starting them all on a covered lanai with a few hours western sun exposure before it sets in the evening.  I am having good success with germination.   As the seedlings grow and mature, I re-pot them into bigger pots and move them outside to my "nursery".  The nursery is a table under some large Moringa trees which provide dappled sunlight and also drop their blossoms into the pots which seems like it could be beneficial.  I have a worm inn and put the vermicompost on top every couple weeks.  Besides re-potting when it seems they need it, providing adequate water, and topping off with vermicompost, is there anything else I can do to ensure vigor and health? 

As my collection grows, I will start segregating like species together since they will start to have different needs.  I sort of fantasize about the idea of having a small rare fruit nursery one day and be able to offer these hard to come by species to other residents of St. Croix.  Any tips on how to do this are much appreciated!

[greenman62]

sounds like you have a lot of things right
dappled light and vermi-compost are good starts.

i would say that reading up on each type of plant is essential.
some seeds start better in sand, some in organic matter,
some need light, some dont want light ...
Some need a specific narrow temp window, others  have very wide tolerance.
PH concerns etc...

Do you have a clay /rock dust - source ?
ive been  using Diatomaceous earth to good effect, especially on papaya and more herbaceous plants.
Rock dust of different kinds have helped some other plants in the past.
i try to mix in rock dust, or even clay, to let the biology slowly break down minerals.
especially for seedlings and young trees.

i look forward to visiting St Croix
 and eating some yummy fruit in a few years