"It never rains but it pours...." - that well known idiom most likely was coined after some ravaging colonial 'explorer' spent a rainy season in monsoonal Asia. π¦
Steamy "green season" is when every established tree and vine with deep roots drinks deeply, and foliage literally grows 1 meter in 1 week. But seeds? Heart breaking. One deluge and they're all washed away.
Having had not the greatest success with our moringa trees in the long uber-dry hot season in the mountains where there is NO WATER for 6 months (not a drop!), we have been considering how to get our moringa established. Because once it is established and makes it through the first 2 seasons, it's prolific and one tree can feed half a village. And it's a numbers game. Plant 20 trees and nurture them well and maybe 5 will become really well established.
Being currently geographically isolated from our Organic Frontiers Project with both Covid19 border control issues and it being monsoonal rainy season (think impassable mountain roads), I asked myself what I could do, stuck here in a small Thai village waiting out the Covid 'thing' and waiting for November, when it will be time to get things in the ground.
And so I have developed a little moringa seed raising system - hoping to have 30 or 50 little trees ready by November. When it's not raining deluge style here, it's brutally hot right now. 35C-40C with burning sun - so the seed raising protection needs enough ventilation to not COOK the little guys. It also needed to involve not BUYING anything, since the Covid shutdowns have impacted our income severely.
And this is what I came up with.
A mini-partially ventilated "green house" made from an upcycled 5 liter plastic water bottle.
I started with 5 liter plastic water bottles that I collect from eco-green tourists who know about the work I do, and keep them for me. Cos we get our drinking water delivered in reusable glass bottles.
I cut the bottle in half. In the bottom piece I burn really good drainage holes. How do I do that? I have a stainless steel chopstick in my solo-mom tool kit. π Heat it to white-hot on the gas burner and it slides through the plastic easily - just be mindful to not breathe the burning plastic vapors! The top piece I "fringe". Why? The monsoonal deluges come through with gale force winds. I need the top to sit very snugly, whilst also being able to be easily lifted off for transplanting later.
In goes the soil, and the seeds, which I cover with maybe 2 cms only of soil.
And on goes the lid.
I put them in a very sheltered spot, under a mango tree near the kitchen, where they will get great natural light but not burning sun, and where they will get natural watering every time it rains, but not exposed to the full force of the deluge. Don't forget to label them!
How has it worked in just 1 week??
My "alpha seed" is already nearly 4 inches tall!! Holy Moley!! And 12 others have germinated. In 6.5 days. I will need my machete soon! π
I am deliberately working on Less Care gardening, where things thrive without needing daily watering, attention etc, since I INTEND TO TRAVEL and our housemaid-house-sitter is not all that diligent on the regularity thing when no one is watching. π These seeds have not needed ANY attention whatsoever, other than being asked to smile for the camera.
I'm planning to let them grow to 6-8 inches (hence the need to use BIG bottles) and then transfer each of them to their OWN little Growth Capsule. I will make the base part 2/3 of the length of the bottle and the cap section smaller, so that when the rains finish they can stay put in their upcycled pot until they're ready to take to the mountain and their forever homes in November.
How wet does it get here?? LOL. This is the road not far from our Mae Rim house (in Chiang Mai province) just a few weeks ago. After 1 day of solid rain.
So I'm doing what I can whilst the monsoon and Covid have their way, for a while, and I'm ALSO taking cuttings from our own big moringa tree here and getting some of those in pots too.
Feeling USEFUL even when Life Has Other Plans.
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Hello There!
How are You?
Wishing You the best of luck
with the Moringa Tree Plants,
They look pretty healthy to Me!
ππΌπππΌ
Have a Great Friday & Weekend!
(*Look out for the flash floods)
Nice to see you here @lesmann - how about some botanically inspired art?? the #gardening and #garden tags get lots of lookers. πΏ
Wish you a creative and happy summer weekend.. It's HOT here (like 95F most days) but frequent torrential deluges.
!ENGAGE 25
Hello Again!
Funny this whole Art Adventure started with plants!
Maybe I should do a
"reflect on My roots" post!
π€πππππ€£
Also believe it or not...
Where I am is the exact same
temperature, and we have seen
106F as a high (*heat index higher)
so far this year, and it stays this way until November - drops into the 80's gets cold - but probably not freezing for 2 weeks or so -
End of Dec. to Jan...
I laugh...
I remember sitting in Europe
in the winter, dreaming of living
in the tropics... ππ€£π
Oh BTW,
I am in extreme South Texas,
Sitting on a island in the Gulf,
right next to South Padre Island
A Very Hot Place,
Though Thailand may be stickier,
Humid here though as well!
Wish You a Very Successful weekend as well!
And Thank You on the Well Wishes also!
ππΌπππΌ
OK!! Pour another cool lime and soda then!! π Yes, I've heard southern Texas is weather a-la Mexico and only just a bit drier. Almost Australian weather.
Stay cool and fresh!! get some GREEN garden art happening!!
Will Do!
ππΌπππΌ
ENGAGEtokens.Your young plants are growing very fast! You are creating a jungle of Moringa or Maroom!! They can grow very big!
I know - the one in our garden is 3 storeys tall already. There is so much malnutrition in the Thai border regions, and so much poverty. We need hundreds of mature moringa trees for making moringa seed oil (for my company to buy) an also to FEED people. Moringa powder is a fantastic export-level supplement product, but first we need MORINGA TREES. Lots of them!!! Just doing what we can, where we can!
!ENGAGE 15
Okay, I will grow some and sell to your company too! LoL
Local people here donβt eat much of these leaves! Wondering why!
Nice way to earn income after retirement!
Cheers.
ENGAGEtokens.Thank you for the tip!
So glad to see you mention moringa. Compelled to share this. We are a huge fan of moringa.
We had an empty land where we started growing them because of their health benefits. Used to have 6-7 of them. Some are destroyed now. At home, we also make moringa sambhar (sometimes only leaves are used).
I am not an expert but are you going to, umm, keep them in bottle forever?
They will be planted around the edges of poor mountain villages and refuggee camps along the Thai-Burmese border, @sidewrites. I post about my work there from time to time.
LOVE the moringa sambhar recipe!! I feel a test cook and a post coming up!!! π
!ENGAGE 25
ENGAGEtokens.!discovery 15
Much gratitude, @phage93!
!ENGAGE 15
ENGAGEtokens.Useful you are!!! So good that you're feeling it as well. Bottles make fabulous mini green houses - and I know plastic bottles are definitely in abundance in Asia, so jobs a good 'un, as they say. Where do you plan on travelling?
Where do we plan on travelling? Hoi An & Hue in Vietnam October, Covid willing. Back to Hpa An and the Bay of Bengal in November for our herbal project, roads and Covid border issue willing. And off to meet @yangyanje and his eco-green-herbal Serenity project in Southern India as soon as travel allows. I'm guessing early 2021.
If Covid thwarts international plans (india a bit iffy at this stage) then we shall be off to the Thai islands. Our contingency plan.
!ENGAGE 15
Sounds bloody great!!!!! Oohh... @yangyanje, I haven't heard about this project!
ENGAGEtokens.Check out her going with her growing pot! I got me one of those fancy ones a while back but it is not enough ofcourse, but this is a great cheap way of getting other. Love it!
Yeah your climate is a bit better from making seeds unpop, but this plastic baby here wiill do the trick in Holland as well. Good going!
haha - funny - yes, it would work GREAT for seeds in the chilly Dutch spring if you found some sun. Hugs to you, my dear.
!ENGAGE 15
Oeee...and actually it would even be best for the chilly seeds I am growing at the moment.
These were challenging to sprout and needed to stay between 24-34 degrees at all time. Try that in April when it still freezes at night :)
Yeah..imma save me some jugs when I have then!
ENGAGEtokens.Wow I am impressed. Not only by the rains but by the moringa shoots. You will not believe that I have tried planting moringa. I placed the seed on soaked paper towels but thy did not germinate. I will try your method. Thank you.
Please stay safe - the monsoon looks scary.
The monsoon IS scary - the deluges can be incredibly destructive and many lives are lost every year in flash floods and mountain landslides. Asia is not for sissies. Give the moringa seeds another try - they like humid and warm, so the tissue probably too cool for them to germinate.
!ENGAGE 15
ENGAGEtokens.Excellent work! Awesome how you are looking to be helpful through all that you are really brave, hope soon COVID goes away and november comes fast! Mooring is very common here in Venezuela and has so many uses, is an excellent way to heal mind and body!
Oh yes - we LOVE November and are waiting! Trying not to wish away my moments, to, and to revel and ENJOY in The Great Pause. It has been so constructive and such a growing time!
!ENGAGE 15
ENGAGEtokens.Thanks!
A huge hug π€ and a little bit of !BEER π» from @amico!
Un caro abbraccio π€ e un po' di BEER π» da @amico!
Birra e giardinaggio? Una combinazione perfetta. Grazie! π
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Oh God, I saw the moringa seeds picture and I IMMEDIATELY tasted them. π Almost three years without having a moringa seed and I have never forgotten that taste LOL
Those little babies are looking gorgeous and are gonna be some good looking trees sooner than we realize! And YES to lazy gardening aka as permaculture π
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I think they grow easily in Colombia too, no? Just gotta get out of the city! Glad it made you smile @neyxirncn. π