This has been my most reliable method of growing moringa oleifera from seed.
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| 2 Jan: placed in a dark corner of the kitchen counter between two thin layers of moist tissue paper. The paper was always kept moist. |
I have tried to grow moringa oleifera using several methods. This method has been successful repeatedly and with 100% germination most times. Thankfully, it is a simple method.
I placed all of the moringa seeds between 2 thin layers of tissue paper. I moistened the paper every morning or more frequently if it seemed dry.
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| 2 Jan: Moringa seeds emerging |
Moringa seeds grow very quickly. As you can see below, they have grown by a few inches within only 2 days. As moringa seedlings grow, they bend quite noticeably in the direction of the light source. In that case, turn the dish in the opposite direction to prevent the moringa seedlings from leaning to one side too much.
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| 4 Jan: All 8 moringa oleifera seeds showed a sign of life. |
As above, so below! I lifted the top layer of the tissue to reveal the roots. As you can see in the photo below, the roots also grow vigorously.
Moringa seedlings should thrive if transplanted into soil at this stage of growth and watered in well. In fact, if you do not have any concerns with snails, you may transplant them into (small) plant pots and place them out in the tropical sun. If you are concerned about snail damage, you can plant them in pots, place them in the sun at dawn and bring them indoors at dusk. Either way, when I placed moringa seedlings that were this young outside, they were in a verandah that gets direct sunlight only in the morning.
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| 4 Jan: All moringa oleifera seeds germinated. I pulled back the top layer of paper to expose the roots in this photo. Quite unlike many other plants, the root and trunk of moringa seedlings emerge from the same end of the seed. |
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| 10 Jan: All of the moringa seeds have grown into seedlings. This is a little too long to keep them indoors exclusively and in this germination container. They should have been planted in soil already. |
==> BUY MORINGA & OTHER TROPICAL SEEDS <==
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| This moringa seedling desperately needed to be carried outside to face the sunshine. Although this moringa plant is still alive and well, this photo shows what you should not do. In this photo, it needed to be propped up with a skiing twig and tied into place for support. Just in case you are wondering, this moringa plant is managing fine in the sun today. It no longer needs any support. If you transplant a tender moringa seedling like this into the sun, it is likely to survive if you chopped off the top leaving the bottom row. |
I planted the seedling into soil that drains well. My seedlings liked a combination of my homemade garden compost and sand (not salty beach sand). As you can see in the photo below, I planted the seedling with some tissue around the roots. I decided to do this in an effort to disturb the root system as little as possible.
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| The soil was a combination of my garden compost and sand (not beach sand) |
I have found that supermarket products are often packaged in plastic containers that can be recycled into plant pots. Even the plastic covers come with the perfect diameter to be made into plant pot saucers.
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| Moringa seedling 47 days later the previous photo |
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