Innovations at Vivero La Cruz

The success of the program is in large part due to the ingenuity of Jose Luis Alvarez, the owner of Vivero La Cruz, whose innovative techniques have produced large numbers of healthy, hardy seedlings. Based upon the concepts of Rudolf Steiner, the nursery produces its own substrate from organic materials, as opposed to relying on the mining of natural soils and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Combining compost, manure, tree bark, coconut fiber, vermiculite and stone flour (different types of rocks ground-up to a bread flour consistency) the seedlings are healthy and resistant to disease and stress when they are planted.

Our Old Method Until three years ago, all the seedlings were raised in small black plastic bags. Jose Luis then invested in “copper blocks”, reusable styrofoam blocks impregnated with root growth regulator, that produce taller and stronger seedlings with greater root mass. Quality seedlings produce quality trees. When ready for transplanting, the seedlings are taken from the blocks, along with the fortified organic substrate, and wrapped in bundles of 25 trees. The lighter weight also makes it much easier for our local reforestation participants to carry the seedlings up the high and steep mountain slopes where they are planted. Instead of relying on manually operated sprinkler systems, the nursery now uses automatic robot watering arms to evenly moisten the seedlings in the copper blocks. With the acquisition of more robots and copper blocks this year, Vivero La Cruz is now in the position of producing over one million trees per year. It is only with your help that this can be accomplished.