It is trite among moringaphiles to make a big deal out of moringa growth rates, but I can't help it. The photos of M. drouhardii and M. hildebrandtii are a seedlings from mid-2014 and they are already taller than me (to my infinite relief- bigger trees are less susceptible to goats, ants, etc.). See photos below.
The main planting out of the trees was in summer of 2014. While the plants are small, it’s necessary to baby them along. A forgetful neighbor is notorious for not tying up his goats well, and his three goats can often be seen around town, dragging their ropes behind them, standing in a tree munching on leaves or in someone’s yard eating their tomato plants. They seem to like trotting up the hill to the Collection, and my heart stops every time I see them. Some species are still very small and one goat mouthful would set them back considerably. Even though Moringa is very palatable, all of the plants have escaped being eaten so far. It is trite among moringaphiles to make a big deal out of moringa growth rates, but I can't help it. The photos of M. drouhardii and M. hildebrandtii are a seedlings from mid-2014 and they are already taller than me (to my infinite relief- bigger trees are less susceptible to goats, ants, etc.). See photos below. Here is a story that illustrates how perfect the climate and soil are here for moringas. I collected seed of Moringa borziana in southeastern Kenya in 1997. The seeds sprouted in 1998 and were kept very small in the greenhouse in Missouri until last year. I planted it out in late 2014 and immediately the powerful tropical sun burned the stem. This happens commonly in plants that have been grown in the shade and then are planted in full sun. It often helps to “compass” plants by keeping track of which side faced south and has therefore built up more sun resistance. Moringas almost never complain about sun, so in this case I hadn’t bothered. I wondered what to do, because the stem was dying from the tip down. Should I dig it up, disturbing the plant even more, or let it settle in? Large Moringa borziana tubers in the wild sit with their apices well below the soil level. The upper parts of the tubers always have abundant scars from old, dead stems. So I had reason to think that the the little M. borziana could re-sprout from below ground. I buried the tuber a little deeper and made the water basin a little wider, and sat back to wait. Two months later, the plant was over 50 cm tall, bigger than it has ever been, so a major success and a huge relief! The big accomplishment of February was to finish the inventory of the plants in the botanical garden, assigning each a unique number so I can keep track of them in my records. Each plant gets three labels, two metal ones and one plastic one. The plants are still small to attach the labels with nails to the trunk, which I will do as soon as possible, but in the meantime we need to be very paranoid about keeping track of the identity of the trees, given that they lose so much value for research if the identity is lost. The next step is a map of all of individuals, so that if a label is lost it is still possible to reconstruct the ID. There are a few botanical garden apps for just such situations, but I haven't found one I'm entirely happy with yet. So we're still in the stage of babying the trees, but we're getting there. In a few years, the trees should pretty much take care of themselves, but in the meantime the Collection is already meeting its goal of driving moringa research.
11 Comments
19/5/2015 12:13:30 am
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11/7/2015 09:50:10 am
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22/7/2015 04:34:59 pm
I know a bit about planting and this happens commonly in plants that have been grown in the shade and then are planted in full sun.
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8/10/2015 03:35:40 am
Its interesting to know what are you collecting at September.
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21/10/2015 10:06:33 pm
Your efforts will be justified. I wish you all the best with your planting zone
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AuthorDr. Mark E. Olson is a researcher at Mexico's national university and an expert on the biology of the genus Moringa Archives
November 2018
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