3 Easy Steps On How To Plant Moringa Seeds!
How to plant Moringa seeds? Here’s my experience in growing my very own Moringa tree from seeds. Tips and FAQs included. So let’s dig in!
Growing up in the Philippines, I know for a fact that Moringa Tree is highly packed with nutrients, minerals, and antioxidants. That’s why it is also called or known as Miracle Tree.
Most of the soups that my parents make have Moringa leaves as one of the ingredients when I was growing up.
Now, remembering my childhood days, my sisters and I rarely get sick and go to the hospital.
We rarely get any flu or viruses even though we were surrounded by and played with a lot of kids on the streets.
I remember going to the hospital for stitches a couple of times due to accidents from fighting with siblings or being clumsy.
When I came to North Dakota in 2008, I was bombed that I can’t find this type of tree anywhere. I missed a lot of the fresh fruits and vegetables that I was so used to eating every day when I was in the Philippines.
When we moved here to Southern California in 2014, I was so ecstatic to finally see Moringa trees again!
They’re not popular here though but I’m just so happy that they can grow and survive here.
My friend gave me over 100 pcs of Moringa seeds to plant. I germinated about 54 of them, but I only have 12 still living right now (due to some personal mishaps as you’ll see down below).
Of course, I was so excited to plant my own but at the same time, fear strikes me. No plant ever survived within my care. I call myself having a “Black Thumb”.
I really don’t want to mess this up and I want to be successful in planting and surviving at least 1 or 2 trees!
My friend told me about her experience with germinating and growing it. So I did the same and also did more research on how to plant Moringa seeds.
Now, that I’m confident on this and have so far, successfully grown a few of these, I’ll share all that I know on growing your own Moringa tree.
Let’s get to it!
How To Plant Moringa Seeds?
1. Put the seeds in seed starter pellets.
You can buy
This
Follow the instructions that are provided in the package.
After that, I put the entire tray in my garage since the seeds like to grow in dark areas with temperatures between 70-90F.
When I did this, it was scourging hot in the valley here. It was about 100-120F outside!
So placing it inside my garage is not as bad, temperature wise.
2. Transfer the tray outside under a shade.
They started sprouting in about 3-5 days. Some grew faster than the others.
I noticed that they were pale (yellow leaves and white stalk) so I took them outside to get some direct sunlight.
Remember the temperature here was over 100F over and scourging heat from the sun!
I left it under the sun for a few hours. Bad move! Some withered and died because it got burned from the sunlight.
So learn from this experience of mine. DO NOT PUT THEM UNDER DIRECT SUNLIGHT (when they’re just starting to sprout)!!!
I moved the entire tray in the shade and sprinkled some water just enough to get the pellets moist again.
3. Transplant them into pots.
We have a few of these Zeal empty plastic containers. So I used them as pots. My husband drilled a few big holes in the bottom.
If you’re repurposing plastic cans as I did, make sure your holes are big enough for good drainage.
The drill bit I used in the picture made tiny holes so my husband used the biggest drill bit that he has and did the rest.
Moringa trees can survive with less water and thrive well in drought-like areas but root rot can kill them. So this is very important to keep in mind.
So there you go! You have successfully planted Moringa seeds. Yay!!!
I used smores sticks and tied it with a thread to support the plants while growing.
Tada! Here’s what they look like now (November 20, 2020). A pat on my back for making it this far. 🙂
Like I mentioned earlier, we have a clay type of soil in our backyard. I already purchased organic soil to mix with our clay soil.
We will be prepping our soil first before transplanting them to the ground.
Another reason why I wanted to wait a bit, is that our 2-year-old energetic boy likes to pull my plants out. Almost everything (if not everything) he can get his hands on!
I will update this post again once I have transplanted them into our ground in a sunny area.
Down below is more information related on how to plant Moringa seeds.
How do you prepare Moringa seeds for planting?
There are different ways to prepare your Moringa seeds for planting.
- Put them in between moist paper towels inside a plastic container with a lid and place them in the garage or a dark place for a few days.
2. Using the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse Kit (seed starter).
3. Soak the seeds for 24 hours in water and put them in a plastic bag and store it in a dark place.
4. Or just simply plant the seeds right away in pots or in the ground.
If you plant them in the pots or in the ground right away, just be sure to plant them 3/4 or 1 inch deep with loosened soil.
Moringa tree is a tropical tree and they like sandy or loam soil on sunny area.
They do not like heavily compacted soil and also clay soil. Although they can tolerate clay soil, but just be sure that it is well drained. When their roots rot, this will kill them.
So know what type of soil you have before planting them from seeds.
How long does it take for Moringa seeds to sprout?
This depends on what ways you germinate your Moringa seeds.
- Putting them in between moist paper towels inside a plastic container with a lid and placing them in the garage for a few days took about a week for them to sprout. Some of them didn’t.
2. Using the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse Kit (seed starter), my seeds started sprouting after 3-5 days. Some of them sprouted really fast and some took a couple more days.
3. Other people soak theirs for 24 hours in water and putting them in a plastic bag and storing it in a dark place. This method can take at least 7 days or more.
4. Some plant theirs right away in pots or in the ground. This can take about a week or so depending on the soil that you have.
What is the fastest way to germinate Moringa seeds?
There are different ways to germinate Moringa seeds.
As for my experience, putting the seeds in seed starters is the fastest way to germinate them.
We have clay soil in our backyard. So the best option for me is to use the seed starters (Jiffy Professional). Using the seed starters, all of the seeds sprouted in just 3-5 days.
Others put them on wet paper towels and covered it for a few days to about a week. (I tried this and it took a little longer)
While some just simply put them in pots and in the ground right away (depending on what type of soil you have, they may sprout sooner or later usually about 2 weeks).
How long does it take to grow Moringa?
Growing Moringa from seeds to sprouting only took about 3-5 days. This also depends on what method you use to germinate it.
A good 2 weeks is when they have nice green leaves and branches.
In less than six months, Moringa trees can usually grow up to 18ft tall.
When I was growing mine for about 6 weeks from seeds, I was able to harvest a few leaves and made myself some Moringa tea.
Is Moringa easy to grow?
I consider myself an amateur gardener. No plants can ever survive in my care. Only when my husband takes over to take care of our plants is when they survive.
I’d say 100% of the plants that I had ever since I started planting (a good 20 years more or less) died.
I started planting my Moringa seeds in late September of 2020 and it’s been thriving really well under my care (surprisingly!)
So I would say for an amateur gardener it is easy to grow Moringa trees.
All they need is some warm weather, not a lot of water, but a good amount lot of sunlight. Once in awhile add some organic fertilizer depending on the type of soil that you have.
They don’t need a lot of pampering. They like to be pruned though.
So once they grow to a certain height about a foot tall start pruning it. Cut the tree all the way down at a 45-degree angle leaving about 1-2 inches from the ground.
Don’t worry about hurting or killing it. Moringa trees like to be pruned. You will be rewarded with more leaves and they will grow to a lush bush-like tree which you will love after a few weeks.
How often should I water Moringa seeds?
When I was germinating my Moringa seeds using the moist paper towel method that I mentioned earlier, I didn’t have to water them again or get the paper towel wet again.
When I used the Jiffy seed starter, I just poured the amount of water from the instruction in the package and that’s it.
Didn’t water them again until I transplanted them (well, I actually sprinkled a little bit of water on the Jiffy pellets when I left them burned under the scourging sun with 110F temperature for a few hours).
But if you just put them under the shade after they started putting leaves out then it should be fine as long as the pellets are still moist.
Water them after you transplant them in a pot or in the ground.
Just be sure to have good water drainage otherwise, they will die from root rot. This is the only enemy of Moringa trees (other than not watering it all).
Water them once or twice a week once they have branches.
With my experience, I water them usually two to four times a week since it’s so hot here in the valley.
My rule of thumb is water them when the soil on top is dry already. Do not over water it!!!
Enjoy your Moringa or Miracle tree and the myriad list of health and beauty benefits that can give you!!!
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