Moringa Species, African Horseradish Tree, Cabbage-Tree

One of our staples, we are eating moringa greens nearly every day from May-January and plenty of powder left during the winter. We'r...Read Moree in zone 9a in South Louisiana, moringa can get almost 20ft tall here in a single season (then die back in the winter).

The aerial parts of Moringa oleifera will die with prolonged freezing temperatures but often survive a few hours just below freezing, often resulting in some leaf damage.

However, moringa sprouts easily from the roots as long as they don't freeze - and we've preserved 1ft+ of trunk through lows of 16°F simply by burying the base with mulch - and had 100% survival of completely unprotected moringa through those polar vortex periods, including some in which daytime temps remained below freezing for two days.

Moringa should almost always be direct-seeded because they are sensitive to root shock. Compostable pots work well but really trust us and save yourself lots of time: if you start a moringa in a pot inside in January and plant it out in early May, it will be matched or even outpaced by a moringa you direct-seed in June (soil should be quite warm for sprouting, I often sprout them by soaking and keeping warm and hydrated by not wet for ~3 days in a container inside, regularly rinsing them to keep them from getting funky, until they are visibly germinating and then plant)

Moringa tolerates extremely dense planting - it is sometimes grown as an annual in a 1-inch grid, aka about 10,000 seeds in a 8.5 ft x 8.5 ft grid. We find that they're most productive in our climate when spaced relatively close, maybe 1-2 feet apart in a cluster or hedge - if they were able to go fully perennial here, we would likely aim for a wider spacing and use coppicing. Moringa shares spaces very well with other plants - we grow peppers, sweet potatoes, squash and smaller bushy herbs & perennials in the dappled shade under them. Moringa loves to be coppiced so pruning for sunlight gives a lot of flexibility.

Leaves are delicious as cooked greens, we mostly use the powder in cooking tho sometimes we use fresh in salads or in smoothies. The pods are the real delicacy, similar in consistency and quality to artichoke or asparagus. The whole plant is anti-inflammatory, the seeds are powerful medicinally, the root dangerously so, and the seeds can literally be used to purify water.

I know of two varieties of Moringa, and am growing them for their health benefits. Being quite lazy and impatient, I find stripping Olif...Read Moreeirra of it's leaves much like stripping thyme leaves from the stem!!

SO, I have now planted Moringa Stenopetala (bigger leaves..better tasting) with my fingers crossed that it will live through our winters. We are in a micro-climate. I have fig trees that never went dormant. Mild winters here. Olieferra stopped growing last winter, but shot up like a geyser this spring. I still worry about Stenopetala. I have it planted close to a concrete wall with a concrete driveway close to it to reflect heat during winter. One of my seeds, obtained on Ebay, has germinated and is really cute! I will do what I can to protect this one in winter, to the point of erecting a mini greenhouse over it while it is small.

That my zip code is in Hemet is deceiving. Zip codes are all over the place. We are high in the hills on county land above Hemet. Hemet does freeze in winter, and we hear the citrus orchard turbines below go on when the temps drop, but that does not happen here, so I don't think you could grow Stenopetala in "Hemet," but in zone 9b, I think you can.

I grow Moringa Stenopetala, also called the African Moringa, and Moringa Oleifera. The root bark contains a poweful neurotoxin; neverthel...Read Moreess, many people worldwide eat the root, as a substitute for horseradish. Too much can be fatal - no one seems to be specific as to what "too much" is. My advice is: do not eat the root of the Moringa tree - any Moringa tree. Horseradish is easily obtained, and eating the root will certainly kill the tree, so it is not wise to eat the root, even if the root bark appears to have been totally pared away.

That is the only part of the plant that is potentially toxic, although there are many cautionary statements, about eating Moringa Stenopetala leaves as the sole source of greens. See previous grower's comments.

The Moringa Stenopetala will not bear buds, blossoms, and pods, called drumsticks - the first year. They are a fast-growing tree, but the Moringa Oleifera will provide buds, blossoms, and pods within its first year. We have had them bloom within 6 months, of planting from seed.

They can also be propagated by stem cuttings, readily, although the tree grows best, and will live longer, if planted from seed.

Please see my comments on Moringa oleifera elsewhere on this site. M. stenopetala is very similar, although the leaves are larger and eas...Read Moreier to harvest. While edible and very nutritious, M. stenopetala leaves should not be eaten as a frequent or single dietary source of food because of a higher incidence of organic acids in the leaves.

In my garden (Zone 9b, microclimate 10a) M. stenopetala does not thrive as well as M. oleifera, although that may simply be a soil preference issue. It seems that M. stenopetala always seems to need more water than M. oleifera.