Moringa Update Grown in the Ground and Pots

This plant (below) was planted in the ground when it was about 3 feet tall. However, it was accidentally broken to a 3-inch stump. I think that accident was a blessing in disguise because this moringa plant might grow into a tree with branches that can be more easily reached than otherwise.

See where the trunk changes color from a harder woody brown to a softer looking green. This is where the original top broke.

See where the trunk changes color from a harder woody brown to a softer looking green. This is where the original top broke.

Moringa Plant of about 2 feet from above

When I filled this moringa plant pot below, I used a combination of sand, compost and leaves. Unfortunately however, the layer of leaves created an impermeable layer. Consequently, when it rained, water collected around the moringa root and was unable to drain out. Moringa plants do not like wet feet and could die. In fact, the leaves started turning yellow and the plant looked very near to death. 

I wanted to keep the plant out in the hot sun as well as keep the soil dry while the impermeable layer broke down. I therefore covered the soil with plastic. I did this by using clothes pins around the stem of my moringa plant and the plant pot edges. After doing this, the moringa plant suddenly began to thrive. Should I also mention that I also performed Reiki on it?

As a side note, I notice that cupid paint brush grows very well around the base of my moringa plants. I have noticed that it always volunteers and thrives at the base of all my moringa plants while it never did well in very rich soil that I once specially prepared for it in a huge container.

If I were to compare the growth patterns of moringa between direct planting (i.e. in the ground) and in pots, the former wins in terms of speed of growth. However, caring for a smaller moringa plant in containers is always easier because I notice that giant African snails seem to like the plant. 

Here is another of my moringa plants. It began to grow upwards very quickly. To encourage it to grow outwards more than upwards, I chopped of the top leaving only one small branch. To prevent rotting, I cut the branches at a slant. I am not certain whether this was a good decision but I also covered the cut points with a downward turned cup. I removed the cup after the branch appeared to have healed sufficiently. Happy for comments and suggestions. Oddly, the new growth around the higher of the 2 cut points shown below emerged inside the cup.

FYI, Do not confuse the moringa plant with the drift wood I used as a trellis for a small malabar spinach vine. The drift wood appears in at a partly horizontal angle.

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How to grow moringa oleifera from seed

This has been my most reliable method of growing moringa oleifera from seed.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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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.

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.

Moringa seedling 47 days later the previous photo

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My Moringa oleifera seedling in soil



22 July: My moringa seedling that I started from seed on 7 July. It obviously emerged over the last few days of heavy rain when I was not tending to the garden because I was surprised to see it.

This moringa seedling emerged roughly 2 weeks after being planted in soil and forgotten out in the garden. I do not recommend leaving them out if snails are a problem in your garden. Instead, bring moringa seedlings in at night or just allow them to grow and strengthen a little indoors before putting them outside. The seed used in this case had been stored in the refrigerator. It was the only of 4 seeds that germinated using the same growing method. In other words, it might take you a while to figure out how to germinate moringa seeds at first.

See my single most reliable method for growing moringa oleifera from seed (with nearly a 100% germination rate) .


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See how I grow seedlings (with mostly 100% germination)
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Dry season in my tropical organic garden

It is such a relief when you finally figure things out. In my first few months of gardening, I could not understand why my greens were not doing as well as the ones featured by some North American youtubers.

Although the eggplant was always very productive, my harvests are suddenly significantly more abundant.

However, suddenly, I started to enjoy my neighbour's complements and envy over my lush and forest-like leafy salad green garden in the wetter, latter months of the year. While my learning curve (regarding soil composition, fertilizing, mulching, companion planting and so) contributed to my later success, planting according to seasons seems to have been a huge factor.

-- My planting season experiences in a tropical organic garden --
Located midway up the 'Northern Tropic' (aka the Tropic of Cancer), my tropical organic garden experiences 2 seasons within the year. Officially, they are as follows. However, I find that I can follow this with a few weeks, even months of tolerance in the case of some plants.

1. Dry season: roughly from start of January to end June
2. Wet season: roughly from start of July to end December (to coincide with the hurricane season)

Leafy greens generally do not do well in the dry season in the hot tropics. This appears to be the case even when I try to beat the dry season by putting greens on a patio that gets intense light only in the morning. Regarding the tolerance when considering the months, I have found that my greens started to slow down in production from around February. The problems became intolerable around late June when I started to uproot the unhealthier plants.

This image on 18 June 2012 was taken about 1 week after seeing exactly the same thing on my small brocoli plant before it died. My otherwise extremely productive pak choy was being taken over by caterpillars that my endless efforts could not control. BTW, what are the pests in this image?

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This image of kale is a case in point. It had been so lush some months ago. Suddenly, its heat-related stress appears to be attracting pests. Other plants that suffered this way were:

• Arugula (still producing but suddenly always covered with voracious caterpillars)
• Pak Choy
• Lettuce (just never developed lovely fulll and tender leaves. No more wide varieties of gourmet lettuces for breakfast.)
• Broccoli (before drying out to a crisp, my broccoli suffered the same fate as the photographed kale above)
• Kangkong (the plant is being aggressively attacked by white flies. They are still producing leaves. However, the patio plants are doing considerably better than the ones outside.)
• Basil (is still edible but the flowers have already dried and seeding so the leaves are not as plump as previously)
• Strawberries (the plants are still spreading but they are no longer flowering. The leaves look generally smaller and less verdant than they had been some months ago) 

-- How to still eat lots of greens during the dry season --
I figured a great way of having greens even during the dry season.

• Kangkong (the plant is being aggressively attacked by white flies. They are still producing leaves. However, the patio plants are doing considerably better than the ones outside. I apply a lot of my homemade garlic spray to maintain the plant.)
• Sweet potato (I grow sweet potatos not for the root but the nutrtious leaves)
• Moringa (See how to successfully grow moringa oleifera from seed. Moringa is drought tolerant. Consequently, I know that I could always use the leaves during the dry season as a fantastic source of greens).

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Sweet potato high on nitrogen to promote leaf growth (over potato growth). My sweet potato grows in a pot. Photo taken 1 April. The plant still looks healthy in mid June 2012 and shows no sign  of dying.

-- Happy plants despite the dry season --

Over the last month or so, I have enjoyed an abundance of these peppers to the point of seeking people to whom I could give away peppers. The plant in the photo below was pulled up from its very shaded location. It was growing against a lemongrass plant that towered about 2.5 foot over it. Perhaps these peppers like some shade.

Almost 1.5 feet tall, this pepper plant was laden with 14 peppers. It is wet after I sprayed it with my homemade garlic spray.

Other very happy plants include eggplants and tomatoes. They are overladen right now. My single dwarf pommecythere tree has 30 immature fruits and my cape gooseberry has its first set of flowers. My dwarf pommegranate of a few months is suddenly fruiting abundantly.

Roughly one-foot dwarf pommegranate laden with many fruits. BTW, the fruits are edible but said to be less delicious when compared with the fruit from the larger varieties.

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Flower on my Cape Gooseberry (aka incan or poha berry) plant on 18 June 2012

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Pommecythere growing in recycled wooden barrel on 4 June 2012

Lemon grass planted directly into the ground 7 May 2012

Your suggestions and comments are welcome.

Why I want to grow moringa oleifera from seed in my tropical organic garden

Claims regarding the (below mentioned) health benefits of moringa are among the most impressive that I have ever encountered. If I had my way, Haitians who still struggle in the wake of the 2010 earthquake would be gifted at least a few moringa seeds (and large pots). Since moringa thrives in poor soil and prefers infrequent watering, planting it in some parts of Haiti may be a manageable feat.

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NAMES

Moringa; Drumstick tree; Horseradish tree; Miracle tree; Moringa pterygosperma (archaic); Moringa oleifera

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HEALTH BENEFITS OF MORINGA 
The leaves are purported to be many times more nutritionally dense than many renowned health foods. For instance, moringa is said to have many times more vitamin C than oranges, iron than spinach, vitamin A than carrots, protein than yogurt, potassium than bananas and calcium than milk. Furthermore, moringa contains all 9 amino acids along with other nutrients that include Magnesium, Copper and Zinc. Despite its powerful potency, it is even safe enough for lactating mothers and their babies.

==> Steps showing how to germinate moringa seeds 

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