ZBNF Orchards - Buying plants from nursery vs germinating seeds

Hi,
I plan to follow the ZBNF model for setting up Orchards @ my farmhouse, but as an experiment will only do it for 2 sectors (36 * 36 ft). Still it will require large number of plants for Mango, Custard Apple, Chiku, Drumsticks etc… I have the following questions:

  1. Buying plants from Nursery is going to be very expensive, could i grow the plants by germinating the seeds ?
  2. Where can i buy good seeds from ?
  3. What is the ideal time for planting ? - Just as when the monsoon starts or just after monsoons ?
  4. When do i need to germinate the seeds, given the answer to point #3
  5. Is it ok to replace a few plants, like instead of having 4 mangoes, could i have 1 mango, 1 coconut, 1 tamarind ?

Thanking you in advance !!
-Parag

Answers in color

Thanks a lot for the responses. Ideally how young should the plants be so that the probability of them surviving through the rains gets high ?

regards,
Parag

if you avoid water logging situation you need not worry about rain.