Evaluation of socio-economic characteristics and management attributes of ornamental seedlings’ nursery operators in Lilongwe City, Malawi

Small-scale ornamental nurseries play an increasingly important role in urban greening and landscaping in rapidly urbanising African cities, yet their socioeconomic characteristics and management practices remain poorly documented. Socioeconomic characteristics, nursery operations, and chemical properties of the growing media were surveyed in Lilongwe, Malawi to assess conditions associated with potential seedling quality outcomes, based on established literature. A cross-sectional survey was conducted across 60 nurseries: 54 privately owned and 6 institutional, using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. Composite potting media samples were collected from each nursery and analysed for pH, organic carbon, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium using standard laboratory methods. Substantial differences were found in the operational characteristics of different types of nurseries. For example, institutional nurseries generally had older, more educated employees with more extensive horticultural experience; they had a more consistent source of clean water; and, as a result, they were more likely to implement best-practice techniques such as root pruning and hardening-off. Conversely, 81.5% of privately operated nurseries did not receive formal training; 63% of these nurseries experienced problems with their water supply; and it is apparent that many are not using root pruning and/or hardening-off. The single largest chemical finding from this study was a universal potassium deficiency in potting medium across all 60 nurseries, regardless of whether they were owned/operated as private or public institutions. This reflects a long-standing issue: the inability to provide adequate potassium levels in local soils due to the inherent potassium-poor nature of locally available soils, combined with Malawi’s historical reliance on fertilizer formulations that contain little or no potassium. Additionally, private nurseries showed higher percentages of slightly alkaline pH values and lower percentages of organic carbon than institutional nurseries. These results demonstrate that two primary issues face growers of ornamental seedlings in urban Malawi: inadequate management practices and/or poorly managed growing substrates, primarily in privately owned areas, which may have implications for seedling quality, according to established nursery science literature.