QuestionI have a few questions. Here is my situation:
I am planning on growing about 300 plants and trees on my 24 acres in Costa Rica. The plants are:
Fruit trees from seeds, Award winning hibiscus from small plant, adeniums, plumeria, etc. The idea is to have a lush private paradise so that I can re-sell the property.
Important Questions:
1. I have seeds right now and they need to be stored. Should they be stored in the refrigerator? Or just a dry cool airtight place.
2. Is there any kind of advice that you should give me on my large endevour?
I anticipate my biggest problems are:
1. Pests: There are just so many kind down there. I am not sure what chemicals I need. I will be putting all the responsibility on a farmer down there to see the bug, fungus, ant, etc problem. It would be helpful to get the problem solved. I guess I would need the chemical names of all the insecticides.
2. Climate problems: I think we get 150 inches a year. Most of it during the rainy season. During the dry season the suns rays are twice as powerful than in North America: There is a lot of transpiration. We don抰 have a good sprinkler system and some of plants on the property are out sprinkler range.
3. Drainage and soil: I think we have a clay type soil. Do I really have to dig down 5 feet and fill it up with a mix of organic soil, fertilizer and dirt for some of these trees as the book says?
4. Unsuitability of the trees: All the seeds I purchase are grown in the tropics. I am not sure that is a guarantee they will grow in that exact environment. Here is a listing of all the trees.
Adenium
Plumeria
Hibiscus
Abiu
Acerola
All Spice
Ancho Pepper
Avocados
Banana
Baobab Fruit
Black Zapote
Bread Fruit Tree
Capulin Cherry
Carambola
Carob
Cashew
Wild Cherry
Cinnamon
Cocona
Coconut
Olive
Pear
Costa Rican Blueberry
Curry Tree
Date Plum
Emblic
Garden salsa pepper
Giant Granadilla
Soursop
Guava
Gumi plant
Kung Pao Pepper
Kafir Lime
Kiwi
Lemon Grass
Limon Dulce
Luffa Squash
Lychee
Macadamia
Water Apple
Mango
Mangosteen
Miracle Fruit
Mysore Raspberry
Navel Orange
Noni
Papaya
Passion Fruit
Pepino
Pepper tree
Pitanga
Plantains
Pomegranate
Pommelo
Lemon Meringue Fruit
Sour Orange
Sugar Apple
Sweet Mandarin
Tea
AnswerHi Tom,
Thanx for your question.
1. Just a dry cool airtight place.
2. You're going to need a green house or some other place where the seedlings will be protected from rain and wind until they are large enough to grow on their own. These kind of plants need lots of sun to grow well, so some sort of green house with an ample supply of water is necessary. You'll also need to fertilize the seedlings with a balanced fertilizer 12-12-12 every couple of weeks once the plants have germinated and are growing.
3. I strongly advise that you contact the Costa Rican government to ensure that propagation of all of the plants you listed is legal.
4. With the amount of rain, you don't have to worry about a sprinkler system. When the plants are small, you will have to transport water to them once they are initially planted. AFter that, there is probably enough natural rain.
5. As you plant your trees and plants you can amend the soil with well rotted manure or leaf mold or leaves or grass clippings. Once established many of these plants will continue to grow just fine. Just make sure the initial planting area has been amended and you don't have to dig down five feet. Keep adding grass clippings and well rotted manure as you can to continue to amend the soil. Some of the plants may not do well in the tropical environment. Olives like hot, dry climates. Although, I believe it will survive, it may not do was well as it would in Southern California or in Sicily. I hope this helps.
Tom