Monday 28 January 2019

Insulating the Moringas

2 Jan 2019

Our wonderful sub-tropical Moringa trees, which provide nutrient-rich salad leaves all summer, are at risk when the weather turns cold.  We have snow and frost forecast, so it was time to use the last bale (kept at great inconvenience since we finished the walls, in case we needed straw for stuffing or for plastering).  As the plastering is now finished, the bale can be used to insulate the Moringa stems.

 Me and the dog deliver the bale to the Moringa beds

 Thick wedges of straw placed in heaps close to, but not touching the Moringa stems.  (We don't want to encourage rot)

 The insulated trees from above

 and from below.

 If only we were due a mild winter :(    
The trees are putting out new shoots already.

 One of the pods.  I brought in a harvest of the fattest pods, in the hope of producing our own seeds.  Apparently each new generation of Moringas learns about its environment and adapts to the conditions, so if we can grow from our own seed, the trees should be more resilient against cold weather.

Three spindly trees that didn't do well this year and didn't get any straw - just some cardboard.

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