Planting An Edible Tree

This post is a follow-up to our post from May 4th called “The Amazing Moringa Tree”, that grows right here on our little island. We found one of these trees growing wild at the side of the road when we visited the island of Carriacou, and we brought home a snip of a tiny branch with some of the leaves, some flowers, and a couple of seed pods. We made tea from the leaves. The seed pods were quite large and mature, so naturally, we thought we should experiment and have some fun planting our own edible tropical tree.

We went out to the hardware store to buy some gardening tools, a nice big plastic pot, and other stuff that we needed to become farmers on our little balcony. I found an excellent website with details on "how to" and what to absolutely avoid...

Instructions:

Stick your finger into nice soft sandy soil and wiggle it about - they don't like clay as the seeds and roots will rot in wet sticky soil. Drop the seed about 3/4 inch deep, and cover with loose soil without compacting. Then, water them thoroughly, making sure the water drains through the pot - do not leave them drowning. Put them in a warm place with as much sunlight as possible, and wait. Give them a little water every day, until they sprout - then water every other day. Once they are about 8 inches tall, they can be planted into the ground or transferred into larger pots.

OK - let's give it a shot. This is a photo of the mature green seed pods that we picked in Carriacou and opened to peek inside. Each of the round seeds inside are about 1/4 inch in diameter.

We found some rough soil outside around back, and stole a bit of black top soil from one of the flower beds. We tried planting five of the green seeds from Carriacou. After two weeks of waiting they still wouldn't germinate. I stuck my hand into the pot to check things. The now-wet black top soil we added was very sticky and clay-like. Exactly what we were told to avoid. Aaargh.. try again... We still have some of those seeds and are drying them until they turn brown.

So, in the meantime, we found another Moringa tree here in the True Blue area and picked up a dried seed pod (the pod was brown). The seeds inside that pod were dry and brown. We also picked some fresh pods (this photo) off the same tree and we are now drying those pods for a couple of months in the hope that they will turn brown along with the seeds inside (another experiment). One of them is starting to crack open.

We got rid of most of the sticky top soil. Then we mixed in some sandy soils to the remainder, and it felt less greasy. I planted five of the dried seeds from True Blue and they all came up – some quicker than others. The initial shoots came up at day 5 (this photo). So, it appears we have been successful generating life. As recommended, on day 10 we trimmed the center sprout on each plant to make the tree branch out - they did. When we made tea that day we added the few fresh leaves that we removed. Delicious.

On day 15 you can see the new sprouts coming out and branching / filling with more leaves. If you look closely on the left side you can also see a snip from an oregano plant in the dirt that I just stuck in there with a wet paper towel... hoping it will grow too - it didn't.

It looked like all we needed was a few more days of careful watering and moving the pot into the sun each day, and then we would have plants that could be transplanted to the great outdoors.

Due to asthma related issues, we have developed a habit of going outside the front door and onto the deck to spray bug spray on our legs each day (Mexico, Barbados, and now here). What didn't click was that our nice new tender moringa tree was sitting right there with its fresh new green leaves, also getting sprayed. A few days later we noticed the leaves were waning, collecting white spots, and curling up. One more thing to add to the "absolutely avoid" instructions.

So, after a few days of coaxing them along and terminating the bug spray habit, they started recovering. We decided to try to transplant the new little trees to a nice spot in the back garden behind the clothes lines that no one uses. We dug a hole between a couple of banana trees (to help shelter them from wind) and gently moved them from the pot to the hole while holding the dirt together. Only three of the five plants made it into the new home. The remaining dirt got put on top, along with other loose materials laying under the banana trees. This photo shows the leaves are trying to recover from the bug spray. We check on them every few days for watering... going well so far and new sprouts are coming out. Fingers crossed.

These trees will grow to a height of about 35 feet which is a bit more height than we have available on our balcony. I guess it was a good idea to move them when we did. Hopefully they will continue to grow so we can snip some leaves now and then.