Would you like to grow moringa and learn how to keep it alive through wintertime ? Today I ’ll apportion how we protect moringa trees from Robert Frost , using just fleck wire fencing and fall leaves .
Some of you may be intimate with a tree called moringa(Moringa oliefera)which is one of the world’smost beloved medicative trees .
Moringa is a really good nutrient accumulator , it has complete protein in it , is good for animals , is good for people , you may make tea out of it , you may add it to your food for thought , and it make an edible yield if you ’re in the right climate ( though I ’ve never had it growing long enough in the right climate to get many pods ) .
The problem with moringa is that it is a true tropical tree . If it touches 32 degrees the matter melting .
Still , there are plenty of gardeners growing moringa into Zones 8 and 9 . I would venture to say that what most of these gardeners do is just let the moringa tree freeze down to the land and desire it grows back from the roots the ground the next spring . More ambitious gardeners will chop it down and mulch over the root , but I am even more ambitious than that .
A Better Way to Help Moringa Survive Winter Freezes
Some old age ago we figured out a method for preserving moringa tree diagram through frosts . It figure out great on the border of zone 8/9 . We ’re gon na attempt it here again in Lower Alabama ( zone 8) and I am absolutely confident that it will sour . Why ? Because just down the route from me I have a acquaintance whose moringa trees come back from the roots after a cold , harsh winter ( by Alabama standards , that is ) .
I know that if hers tree came back from the source with a moment of mulch , mine will in spades going to come back if I practice this method acting and they ’re going to be way more vigorous than if I just let them freeze out to the ground .
The Method
This moringa tree was acquire from seminal fluid implant in the spring and it is nine feet tall i would say , so we ’re gon na have to cut it down to size .
This moringa tree diagram was planted from seed this spring !
Snip !
This moringa tree was planted from seed this spring!
Now we have our trunk and we ’re just choke to baffle a little band of wire around it …
… and then thrust the wire with leaves .
That ’s it – that ’s all you have to do .
This decent here is providing enough insularity to keep that trunk from freeze .
Now if i was really apprehensive that it was going to get A-one cold I could mulch the ground around this too , but that ’s not necessary for a zone 8/9 wintertime . It does n’t get cold enough to really damage the tree diagram root here .
If you ’re an area that has wet winter , put something over the top of the ring of leaves to keep piss from range through on the inside and making it a sop mess . This is particularly a trouble if you use stubble because it can get clumpy and tight around the body .
Moringa is a tropical Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree unequal to of growing when it gets cold , so if it gets wet in winter it ’ll just baby-sit there and rot without being able to grow out of it or keep itself from dying . I ’ve had this come about before . If it ’s pass away to be a really smashed wintertime I just put something over the top of it . I could put a big bbl over it if I wanted , or a tarp or a trash bag , it does n’t matter .
Growing Moringa in Cold Climates
Now if you are in a colder clime you might be able to keep moringa animated , say in Zone 7 , by make the pack prominent .
Make a bigger ringing , stuff in a caboodle of fall leaves , cover the whole thing really well , and now you ’ve got all that breeze space in there and it ’s probably go to live !
I can hear you asking right through the sieve , “ why protect the trunk rather of just permit it block down and come back ? ”
Well , I regain through my experimentation growing moringa in non - tropical climate that if you protect the trunk , there ’s a lot more life and sap in the tree diagram after winter . When it comes to the next time of year they farm more vigorously , they grow quicker , and they produce you give much faster if you’re able to protect the trunk . If moringa immobilize all the elbow room down to the roots it regrows these little unaccented stems and then they have to inspissate up and develop before they really give you a full fruit .
The more the luggage compartment you could protect the impregnable it follow out later , so I ’ve remove to protect the trunks unless I have a lot of trees . If the gang are a little loose on the ground , you may stay put some little tent pegs or something in there to hold them . If I have bigger rings , they sit really gentle .
For those of you who are going to ask “ what are you going to do with all this all this moringa that you just pulled off – that material ’s crazy expensive ! ? ” well , we ’re endure to dry it and we ’ll keep it in the firm .
I ’ve written a tidy sum on this tree . I have written about it inTotally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening , I ’ve written about it inFlorida Survival Gardening , I ’ve written about it on this blog , I plausibly wrote about it inGrow or conk – I do n’t even remember anymore ! – but this tree is super useful .
If you are in geographical zone probably six and north it ’s going to be hard to keep it alive because your priming coat freezes too and that is tough . In that case I would grow it as an annual . You saw how tall that matter was one year ’s growth and it was n’t even in a particularly good spot ! It had too much spook , it had terrible soil , and it still stumble 9 feet ! you’re able to easily get them to 10 or 20 base in the first class unless you have a short growing season without a lot of warmth . Moringa like it tender or hot , so if you have raging and humid summers , like in Tennessee or whatever , no job you ’ll do just fine growing moringa from come ! Just treat it like an annual unless you want to put a great heavy closed chain around it and see if you could keep it awake through wintertime . Also , if you live in a cooler clime you may put a moringa tree in a big tummy and bring it into the house . Cut it down short so you ’ll be able to move it in and out . Pruning it wo n’t kill it !
The other option is to hold fast it in a greenhouse and that sort of get expensive .
To re - cap : Further north I would just get it as an annual or put it in a pot . If you ’re in Zone 7 I would try making really big ring of leaves to keep it animated or perhaps put it in a great deal . In Zone 8 and 9 , just protect the trunks like I did in the video and you get much well regrowth than if you let it freeze out all the way to the ground and lose all that trunk and the sap that ’s indoors of there and all those growth bud .
If you are in geographical zone 10 or 11 or totally tropical you’re able to grow this Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree class around . If you ’re in zone 10 and get one of those rare frosts , it ’s not a big deal . you’re able to just shrug it off and it ’ll miss a few leaves . In the lawful tropic where it does n’t freeze at all , moringa is a year - orotund survival forage crop , a regular vegetable , a chop shot and drop tree diagram , and all that sort of matter . It ’s so easygoing to maturate in that climate .
in the end , I almost always start moringa Tree from seeds instead of cutting . We found that cuttings are just kind of weak and they do n’t do great compare to one started from seed . The only time I would consider cutting is if I had a bunch of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree that I want to bewilder around the edge of a sheep or a goat enclosure or something . peradventure I just wanted to pound a clustering in or make a hedge social organisation or something . I ’d just punch mess in the footing and stick them in , like I used to do withGliricidia sepium .
Even if you grow moringa as an annual you get a moderately estimable yield of leaf . The seeds are n’t that expensive , so try it !
Moringa is medicative , soft to grow and full of vitamins . When you wangle moringa it loses its weirdly horseradishy flavor and is a quite decent addition to many lulu .
Protect moringa trunks through wintertime freezing and you ’ll get even better harvest .
Happy maturation !
