Morning Gardens is based in Southwest Texas, where the cost of living is relatively low. We’re lucky enough to have a decent amount of land, much of it devoted to vegetable and fruit gardens and Moringa trees.
Not everyone has enough yard to grow trees, though. More and more, people are moving to cities and living in apartments, where they probably have no land at all.
That’s part of the reason for the rise of succulents; they’re small enough to grow indoors and beautiful enough to decorate a room.
But if you’d like to grow Moringa trees for health benefits, you might be wondering: if the Moringa tree is by nature a tall tree, can the moringa tree be grown indoors?
Can you grow Moringa Indoors?
Yes; you can absolutely grow Moringa indoors. You will need to be diligent about pruning your tree regularly in order to keep it at a manageable size. You’ll also need to make sure that its pot is large enough to comfortably contain its roots, and that it’s located near a south- or west-facing window. However, with a bit of forethought and care, your Moringa tree can definitely flourish indoors.
More information about growing moringa indoors is below.
More information on Moringa powder, Moringa Olieferia and so much more is here:
Differences Between Outdoor and Indoor Moringa Trees
The largest difference between a tree you grow outdoors and one you keep inside is going to be the size.
Moringa trees are fast-growing; a healthy Moringa plant will grow about 1-2 feet a month, and without pruning or cutting they can easily reach 30-40 feet tall.
Unless you have some really high ceilings, that’s probably not a height you want your tree reaching. By pruning your tree semi-regularly, you’ll be able to keep it at a much more manageable 4-6 feet.
Pruning your trees also encourages new growth. A Moringa tree left unpruned will grow most of its leaves, flowers, and drumsticks at the top: out of reach and difficult to harvest.
Pruning your Moringa plant regularly will keep it bushy and easy to harvest.
Keeping them inside means you’ll have more control over their health. Though you still need to watch out for pests, your trees will be more likely to grow un-nibbled if kept indoors.
Since you can also control indoor temperature, you can keep them alive more easily during winter and let them continue growing.
Depending on how large your windows are and how much light your Moringa tree is able to get, you might need to be careful to make sure your Moringa saplings don’t bend.
If you see your seedling or sapling starting to grow crooked, place a yardstick or some other straight stick in the soil beside it, and carefully tie your tree to the stick. This will keep it growing straight.
How to Prepare Your Indoor Space for a Moringa Tree
First thing’s first: take an inventory of your windows.
Moringa trees can grow in dry conditions and wet ones, they thrive when pruned, and they’ll shoot up even in low-nutrition soil, but the one thing they can’t do without is the proper sun.
If you’re keeping your Moringa indoors, you’ll need to keep it by a window that receives as much sun as possible.
Typically, this means that you’ll want to place your tree near a window that faces either west or south. Because of the earth’s rotation, the sun rises and sets in a slightly different location each day. In the northern hemisphere, however, the summer sun rises in the northeast and sets in the southwest. Windows near the south or west will receive the most sun for the longest periods of time.
Pay attention to which windows get the most light in the afternoon, and choose one of those windows for your Moringa’s new home.
Clear a space next to the window. Ideally, this space should be at least 5×5 feet.
This will give your Moringa tree enough room to grow and will give you enough space to clean any fallen leaves easily.
If you don’t have enough room for a 5×5 area, your Moringa can definitely still flourish.
However, you will likely have to be a little more diligent about pruning.
Before You Plant: A Checklist
You’ve chosen a bright spot by a window for your new indoor friend, and you’ve cleared a space. To make sure your Moringa tree will thrive indoors, though, there are a few steps we need to take care of first!
First, make sure you’ve picked a large enough for growing moringa tree in pots. We recommend choosing a pot between 40 and 60 liters.
Too small a pot can result in a stunted tree, even if you later transplant it into a larger one. 40-60 liters will give your Moringa’s roots plenty of room to grow, while still keeping it indoor-sized.
Second, make sure you’re maintaining an indoor temperature of at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
You don’t need to turn your home into a sauna, but Moringa originated in northern India; they thrive in warmer temperatures. 70-75 degrees is perfect; warm enough to keep your tree happy, not so warm you’ll want to cry.
The type of soil isn’t quite as important here. If you have sandy loam soil available, that’s fantastic. Sandy loam soils provide a nice amount of drainage, which your tree will appreciate.
Making sandy loam can be time-consuming and difficult if it’s not naturally occurring, however. Moringa trees can survive in most soils, and your pot will allow drainage anyway, so don’t stress over soil type. Potting soil is more than sufficient.
Now that your space has been set up, let’s grow your Moringa indoors!
Growing Your Moringa Tree Indoors
Moringa trees are pretty self-sufficient, and once they’ve begun to sprout they’ll grow unaccompanied for the most part.
The two most important things to keep in mind when growing your Moringa indoors, however, are watering and pruning.
Moringa Seeds
Moringa seeds are the first step in your journey to growing moringa tree indoors.
Growing a moringa tree indoors is so fun, and being able to watch a growing moringa tree (in YOUR home!) is one of nature’s greatest gifts.
There are some tips and trips when it comes to the moringa seed to make sure you have healthy moringa plants that grow into beautiful indoor moringa trees.
Every Moringa Oleifera gardener will tell you a different way to germinate the seeds, but for us, our seeds do best when we soak them in rainwater for a couple of days before planting.
This helps to promote leaf growth and ensure we have strong Moringa plants.
We need every advantage we can get when we decide we want to grow moringa trees indoors!
Soak your seeds in rainwater for a couple of days, let them plump up, and then plant them into the soil of your pot for further growth.
Moringa is a drier plant, so it is weird to first soak the seeds when we’re used to our Moringa plants growing without much water, but doing this has increased our success with germination and creating the most nutrient enriched Moringa.
Watering
First: don’t overwater. While it’s pretty hard to kill a Moringa tree once it’s reached adulthood indoors, drastic overwatering can lead to rot. The correct amount of water depends largely on age. A typical rule of thumb:
- Seeds to 2 months: water small amounts daily. One cup of water is sufficient at this point. Water the moringa seeds and moringa saplings are just enough to moisten the soil, but not so much that the water collects.
- 2-4 months: reduce watering to every other day, slightly increasing the amount of water used. 1.5 to 2 cups of water is typically sufficient. Again, dampen the soil, but don’t water so much that it collects at the top.
- 4-6 months: reduce the frequency of watering to twice a week. Continue watering in a similar manner: enough to dampen, not enough to flood.
- 6 months and older: water in a similar manner once a week.
Pruning
Second, if you want to grow your Moringa indoors, you must keep up semi-regular pruning.
Moringa trees love being pruned. In fact, the more you prune, the bushier and fuller their branches grow. You don’t need to prune every week, though.
Also, for the first few months, you won’t need to prune at all.
Wait until your Moringa tree reaches about 75% of the height you’d like it to achieve; if you want a five-foot-tall tree, in other words, wait until it hits about 44 inches. Then start pruning.
First, prune the terminal bud. This is the tallest point of your tree. Trim about 10-12 centimeters (4-5 inches) off the top.
It’ll grow back pretty quickly, so don’t worry if you take off a little more than you intended.
Next, start trimming the secondary and tertiary branches (secondary branches are the ones attached to the trunk.
Tertiary branches are attached to the secondary branch). Locate any secondary branches at least 20 centimeters (8 inches) long, and trim them in half. Do the same to tertiary branches.
Within a few weeks of pruning your tree, you’ll start to see new secondary and tertiary branches appear. Let them grow until your tree is perhaps 80% or 85% of the height you’d like it to reach. Then prune once more.
Pruning a Moringa tree keeps it from growing too tall.
But it also encourages new growth. Within a couple of months, your tree will have reached its final height, and its branches will be nice and bushy.
For a more detailed description of pruning, be sure to check out our article on How to Prune Your Moringa Tree.
How to Grow Moringa Indoors
To grow Moringa indoors, you’re going to want to set up an environment that allows your Moringa Tree to thrive.
Moringa Plant Care
How to Grow Moringa Indoors (Basic Moringa plant care)
- Locate a window with good sunlight
- Plant your Moringa Tree in a pot sized around 40 and 60 liters.
- Place your Moringa Tree near the window with lots of sunlight.
- Constantly prune your Moringa to maintain the height and to increase width.
- Water your Moringa Tree periodically.
Conclusion
As long as you give your plants proper care, there’s no wrong way to garden. If you want to grow a forest of Moringa outside, that’s fantastic!
But if you don’t have a yard, or if you want to grow Moringa indoors for ease of care, that’s just fine too.
Make sure that your indoor Moringa trees have sun, room to grow, and a minimal amount of water, and with a bit of patience and pruning, they’ll keep your room pretty (and your body healthy!) for years to come.
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