Growing Moringa in the Northeast?

wasn’t disagreeing with that, which is pretty moot, else we’d all be herbivores

i still would love to see the many independent and non-questionable studies you claim…

Commercial production here consists of high tunnels with two to four “rain gutters” filled with perlite or similar. Agressive root systems are removed and replaced with new seedlings. Harvests occur monthly.

@ross , did you ever try growing Moringa? I’ve got some seeds sprouting now and was thinking of just growing them as an annual to see if I liked the leaves, but curious if knocking them back to 6 inches or so at the end of the season and covering with mulch for winter might actually be worth it. I’m a bit warmer in 7A (which was more like 8B this year).

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If you really want Moringa, it’s worth a try.

It is totally worth it as long as your climate supports growing the tree.

I never thought about nutritional value. But, growing up back India everyone with a yard had a tree or two harvesting fruits (drum sticks) and leaves. I tried growing it last year it grew to be a 8ft tree but not enough heat to harvest sufficient leaves. We just buy them from Indian stores grown probably somewhere in California, Texas, or Arizona.

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nutrition is its most pertinent and easily verifiable of its touted qualities. While i still have doubts about all medicinal claims(which resulted in a great number of detractors and naysayers of this species)as a leafy green food source, it is truly topnotch and can’t be disputed.
among leafy vegetables–still haven’t found any other that tops it, especially the protein that it offers in both quality and quantity(has all essential amino acids)

featured at UCdavis youtube channel

100% … “drumstick” “curry” was a staple dish we used to eat growing up. My grandmother had a massive drumstick tree in the front of her house and the pods were so plentiful that there was basically always a large set at the right thickness/ripeness to harvest and cook.

In 2022, in Z10, I grew a tree from seed and didn’t scarify the seed or anything. It took about 3-4 months for the plant to emerge and then it grew to about 8ft in another 5 months. Then it lost all its leaves and flowers in the cold and rainy and long winter we had at the end of 2022 into the start of 2023. In the summer in 2023, I got a good harvest of pods and made my grandma’s curry recipe for the first time with pods harvested from my own garden. It was great.

About a month ago, I “kneed” the tree to about 1.5 to 2ft tall and have planted the portions I cut off right into the ground. We will see if they root and what happens to the tree. I did this based on a bunch of reading of other moringa growers and also because the tree wants to be massive and I just want it to stay small and produce some good harvests of pods. I haven’t eaten the leaves much yet. Will try this year.

Edit: I realized I didn’t mention this when I wrote the response above. All of this was in pots. The tree is currently in a 20gal pot that’s placed onto the mud directly.

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nice, they should do well enough in SoCal you can grow them like an annual. Mine grew 8ft tall in a 12g pot and flowered but not long enough season to harvest leaves.

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