Anyone growing Moringa Oleifera?

[Palm crazy]

Saw a posting on another board and thought someone here must know this tree. I was going to order one tree out of CA but the farm is out of them at the moment, but the local health food store has tea, etc. Anyone growing this tree and does it give you energy like it claims?

http://idealbite.com/do-not-try-moringa-oleifera-until-you-read-the-facts-about-it/

Edited April 28, 2015 by Palm crazy

[Loxahatchee Adam]

I can't give you any input on health benefits and all that. I will say the leaves are edible fresh, but have a bite to them and don't really taste fantastic as a raw food.

I have other Moringa species, but I assume we're only talking about M. Oleifera. They readily grow from cuttings and from seed. I have 2 here I've grown from seed. I planted them about a year and a half ago and one tree is 15 ft tall or so and the other is probably 12 ft. (Pic angle distorts height) Very fast growers. I would just get seed online and plant from that if you're up for it. Here's a pic of my two. They are the same age.

[Palmaceae]

I am growing Moringa and yes it is fast! I planted a very small 4" tree late summer last year and it is over 12' now. Like Adam said the leaves have a bite to them, it is good in a salad, spices it up a bit. We have dried some leaves and will use them as tea, but it is supposed to be very good for you. I think it has that Baobab tree look/shape when they get larger.

The one I saw at Fairchild is a very nice looking tree.

[PalmatierMeg]

We have one and it grows super fast - got it in a 4" pot for a quarter a couple years ago. Supposed to be some miracle tree that will save mankind but we have no intention of eating, drinking or anything else with it.

[Palm crazy]

Thanks everyone for your growing comments. I figured it would be fast grower and very drought tolerant. If I get one it will be grown in a pot. I mostly want to try the leaves because of the high potassium in them, for after works outs. Thanks for the tip of just getting seeds that sound like the best way for me to go.

Thanks!

Edited April 29, 2015 by Palm crazy

[cycadjungle]

Yea, they grow real soft and real fast. I've been growing and selling them for 3 years. They are so soft, small ones ship terribly. I had someone buy a 3 gallon plant and by the time they got it home an hour later, the leaves were already drooping. They sprout in 2 weeks and are 6 feet tall in one season. In fact, by coincidence, I have 1000 seeds sitting next to me. They ate less than $10 per hundred.

The whole plant is edible. The leaves are high in many vitamins. I forget the numbers but something like 5 times the iron as spinach, 5 times the vitamin c as oranges, 5 times the protein as yogurt, and a lot more. It can heal ulcers inside and outside the body. The coolest thing I think is the the seeds can purify water. Crack about 50 of them and put them in a quart bottle of water that is black with nasty stuff and shake it up for a minute or so, and come back an hour later, and you have crystal clear drinkable water. In the same way, they say ingested seeds absorb heavy metals in your body. I can't verify that. There is a lot more. The info is easy enough to find.

[Palm crazy]

Very interesting plant indeed cycadjungle. Thanks for your reply an experience with this wonder plant. I am going to get some of the veggie caps at the health store now for sure. This is great!