Backyard Aquaponics
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How to Plant Moringa

The easiest and fastest way to start a moringa tree is from branch cuttings. Even branches used as fence posts often take root and grow into full-sized trees. You can also grow moringa from seed, but this is a little more difficult and takes longer to give you a yielding tree. Try growing from seed if you cannot get branch cuttings. Researchers at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute found growth rates as high as seven metres in the first year from seed, with extremely high fruit yield. The main danger with seedlings is getting too much moisture before they become woody.

Moringa branch cuttings will root without much care, but they grow best if you plant them at the start of the rainy season or another time when the weather is mild. Avoid planting cuttings in very hot or cold weather.

Choose a healthy, mature tree from which to take your cuttings. If possible, find out which trees bear the largest number of pods and the best-tasting ones. Take cuttings from those trees. It is always better to take cuttings from several different trees rather than just one. This way, if a disease or pest strikes, some of your trees will have a better chance of surviving.

Find a straight mature branch with some hard wood. Cut off about one metre from the end of the branch, just below a node. Then cut off the leaves and tender growing end of the branch, cutting just above a node. This is your branch cutting.

If you have to climb the tree to get the cutting, be careful because the branches of moringa trees break easily.

Dig a pit 50 centimetres wide, 50 centimetres long, and 50 centimetres deep. Place a layer of well-rotted manure on the bottom. Make a mound of sand about 15 centimetres high in the centre of the pit, and scoop out a hole in the mound to hold the cutting. Surrounding the cutting with sand helps to keep it from rotting and helps it to grow roots more quickly.

Plant the branch cutting upright in the sand mound that you have scooped out. Pat the sand firmly in place around it. Fill the pit with the soil you have already dug out and press it firm. About 50 centimetres of the cutting should be underground. Water regularly, and take care to keep the soil moist but not soggy. Soon the cutting will start sprouting new growth. This means it has rooted.

Water your new tree regularly until it is well established, and protect it from browsing goats and cattle.

The Moringa Oleifera species is said to have originated in the Himalayas, but although the current cultivars can withstand frost, they do not generally survive a hard freeze. It could probably be grown wherever oranges grow successfully.

PINCHING THE TERMINAL TIPS:

When the seedlings reach a height of 60cm in the main field, pinch (trim) the terminal growing tip 10cm from the top. This can be done using fingers since the terminal growth is tender, devoid of bark fiber and brittle, and therefore easily broken. A shears or knife blade can also be used. Secondary branches will begin appearing on the main stem below the cut about a week later. When they reach a length of 20cm, cut these back to 10cm. Use a sharp blade and make a slanting cut. Tertiary branches will appear, and these are also to be pinched in the same manner. This pinching, done four times before the flowers appear (when the tree is about three months old), will encourage the tree to become bushy and produce many pods within easy reach. Pinching helps the tree develop a strong production frame for maximizing the yield. If the pinching is not done, the tree has a tendency to shoot up vertically and grow tall, like a mast, with sparse flowers and few fruits found only at the very top.

As reported originally by Foidl & Foidl in 1994 and confirmed by Fuglie, and repeatedly independently confirmed since, juice from fresh Moringa leaves can be used to produce a very effective organic plant growth hormone and bio-dynamic plant dynamizer. It will, increase yields by 25-30% for crops such as onions, bell pepper, soy, maize, sorghum, coffee, tea, chili, melon...

It has even more remarkable effects on the growth of plants grown in greenhouses or artificial light conditions, which display yield increases from 30% to 150%....

...............The Moringa Mission staff has come to the conclusion that, with a little bit of research and experimenting, bio-dynamic raw moringa leaf extract with bio-dynamic organic minerals added according to protocols currently investigated could replace most if not all chemical products used for such purposes, and thus give the production of organic and naturally-grown food a very substantial boost........

........In one trial, use of this spray increased maize ("corn") yields by 116%, from 60 to 130 sacks per hectare. According to other reports, yield of plants grown under artificial conditions have been increased up to 150% compared with test plants. Using this hormone-loaded leaf extract, the agricultural experimental station run by Foidl in Nicaragua was able to grow coffee at 30 meters altitude only. Coffee, shaded with Jatropha curcas, produced beans in just 17 months.

Protocol to make basic fresh moringa foliar spray:

1) Make an extract by grinding young moringa shoots (not more than 40 days old) together with a bit of water (about one liter per 10 kg fresh material).

2) Filter the solid portion out of the solution. This can be done by placing the solution in a cloth and wringing out the liquid. The solid matter, which will contain 12-14% protein, can be used as food or animal feed.

3) Dilute the extract with water at a 1:32 ratio and spray directly onto plants (if the extract is not going to be used within five hours, it is best stored in a freezer until needed). Apply about 25 ml per plant. The foliar spray should be applied 10 days after the first shoots emerge from the soil, again about 30 days before plants begin to flower, again when seed appears and finally once more during the maturation phase.

4) For commercial application, the spray can be stabilized using different approaches. However, it is important NOT to heat the solution above ~ 40 degrees C/90 F, to preserve it in a bio-dynamic raw state.

It also has remarkable effects on human and animal health, and seems to contain a potent rejuvenation factor, besides being a powerful adaptogen perhaps comparable to the best wild ginseng. The immune system boosting effect of Moringa has been already widely documented, usually using dry material, and seems to be even more pronounced with fresh leaf juice. In both cases, the juice of organic or naturally-grown plants seems vastly preferable, and since Moringa is at large very pest-resistant, chemical applications are rarely necessary in the first place.

Fortunately, to the best of our knowledge, by 2005, none of the genetic stock of Moringa has been genetically modified to this date, therefore there is no need to worry about GMO poisoning.

For growth hormone activity, one of the active substances in Moringa fresh leaf juice is natural zeatin, a plant hormone from the cytokinine group, in a bio-dynamic "native" state, working in conjunction with the incredibly powerful cocktail of enzymes, vitamins and minerals contained in Moringa juice.