How To Grow Moringa In Containers: Growing Moringa Indoors

Growing a moringa tree in a container is good if you do not have space in your garden or you live in cold regions. Soak the moringa seeds in water for 24 hours. Discard the floating seeds as they are not good for germination. Put one inch deep in free draining soil. Place in shade and keep soil damp. Whether you have grown your plant from seeds or bought from a nursery, it is better to repot it in the largest container you have. The moringa has a deep tap root, so use a tall pot, preferably 22 inch height. But you can start in a smaller pot and carefully transplant it to a bigger one later on. Important point to keep in mind is that whatever pot size you use, it should have many holes to drain excess water. Stranding water will kill the plant. Moringa needs a well drained, nutrition rich soil. Mix compost or cow manure to make the soil nutrition rich. Mix some river sand to make the soil free draining. Use a mixture of 70% potting mix, 15% river sand or perlite and 15% compost or cow manure. Repotting to a larger pot may be needed after a few years. Place the pot where it can receive 5 to 8 hours of direct sunlight. It grows best at 25 to 35 degree Celsius. Moringa requires lot of water when it is small or growing in container. Increase watering as the plant grows. Water daily in hot summers as the soil temperature inside pot becomes quite high. During the growing season, water the tree until it drains out, then when the top 1 inch soil becomes dry. Water less in winter when the tree goes dormant. Leaves turning yellow is a sign of over watering. Moringa does not need regular fertilization. You can add compost or cow manure in spring. You can feed liquid fertilizer every 2 weeks but that is not necessary. Moringa can flower after 8 months of planting. Moringa flowers are pollinated by bees and birds. If there are no bees in your area, then the flowers will not be pollinated and no fruits will form. In that case, plant lavender or nasturtium flowers near the moringa pot. These flowers attract bees that will help pollinate moringa flowers. Remove the blooms of the first year to encourage the fruits in subsequent years. A single healthy moringa tree can grow up to 400 fruits in a year. Keep the moringa tree small by proper pruning. The tree will grow very tall if you do not prune and becomes unstable. Regular pruning makes the tree dense, bushy, white and small. You can harvest leaves and fruits easily from a small tree. More you prune, more leaves will grow. Smaller trees are easier to maintain. When to prune moringa? You can prune in late winter or early spring when the plant begins to grow or prune just before the first frost is expected to hit in winter. First pruning when the plant is a small seedling to encourage new branches. Cut to a height of 4 to 6 inches only. You can again prune the growing ends of the branches to make the tree denser. Continue to cut the branches by 75% when they grow to 2 to 3 feet long. Remove any shoots growing straight up. This will make the tree growing wide and to a small height. Prune the dead branches and leaves. Use the pruned leaves in cooking. These are very nutritious. You can try to grow new moringa plants by putting the cut branches in damp soil. Spray neem oil on the leaves to avoid insect and pest attacks, particularly caterpillars. Spray neem oil periodically. Moringa tree care in winter. Moringa becomes dormant below 15 degrees Celsius. Moringa will die in extremely low temperatures. Putting the plant against the south side of a building helps because the wall retains heat and protects in cooler nights. Put a thick layer of mulch and water in evening if there is a chance of frost. Protect the plant from frost and snow. Put the pot under a tent and put some lights to generate heat or move it in unheated garage. Cover the plant with a blanket or towels. Growing moringa indoors. Place the pot in direct sunlight 4 to 6 hours daily. Keep the pot in west or south facing balcony. Move the plant out in summers. Do not over water. Please like and share the video. Please subscribe to the channel to watch my other videos and to know when the new videos are posted.