Growing Moringa

Moringa is an ideal plant to grow indoors or in your own backyard.  In fact, in the Philippines that is exactly what they do. You can pick its leaves and make it part of a delicious fresh salad, use it in one our many moringa recipes, (It goes especially well with chicken). Or you can dry the leaves to make a delicious green tea. You can also make tea with the leaf powder in a traditional coffee maker.  If you have enough leaf, you can dry it and make it into moringa powder, like we do, and use it ‘s concentrated nutrition to balance your diet for increased energy and sense of well being. The possibilities are endless.

For those of you that live in the United States, particularly the southern and western states, you are in luck and can grow Moringa outside.  Moringa doesn’t like the cold and loses it leaves in the winter. For those of you that have a true winter, where it freezes and snows, we recommend that you plant Moringa in pots, keeping them outside in the spring and summer and bring them inside when it gets cold. A greenhouse is ideal in most areas. The plant will die if it freezes completely but it can withstand a mild frost nonetheless. Moringa loses its leaves when the average temperature drops below 70 degrees.

The 12 Species of Moringa are among the heartiest in the Fauna kingdom.  The most common species is Moringa Oleifera. Most research done in the areas of nutrition, water purification. live stock feed, vegetable dyes, herbal medicine and oil production are based on the Oleifera species. It is also the most plentiful.  So, when we refer to Moringa we are referring to Moringa Oleifera.

Moringa grows in a variety of climates and substandard soils and it is as fast growing as it is hearty. Normal growth ranges from 3-5 meters per year if left uncropped. It is one of the fastest growing biomasses on the planet when properly nourished.  The seed stock from Moringa Farms has varieties known to grow 7 meters in one year if left unchecked. A fully mature Moringa tree can grow to 35 feet.
Commercial Moringa plantations usually crop the trees so they don’t exceed 3-4 meters. Such a height allows the harvesters reasonable access and the cropping encourages horizontal growth enabling greater leaf production.