I have been wanting the meadow creature broadfork for a long time but have not gotten one because most of the area I work in right now is broken up into pretty small sections.
I also wondered if it would work in my clay. I don’t know if it would go into the ground when it’s dry. And if it’s wet I imagine it just pulling out a giant glob and then having to scrape it clean. That’s about how it goes with shovels, I have broken/bent a few trying to dig holes.
I do have plans to eventually move about an hour north which will put me in zone 7b with a nice sandy loam soil. I’ll definitely be getting a broadfork by then so I will test it in the clay and see.
This is the one I got when I was in Missouri (nice, thick clay soil). It did the job. It was mostly dry when I used it, so I can’t speak to how well it performs when it’s a soggy, sticky mess of clay.
I got my Moringa O. trees to the pod growing state. I had a total of two pods last year on all my trees. The previous year was no pods. Unfortunately no mature seeds developed in time before freeze took the tree again. If I can get viable seed I will replace prior generations with the new seeds and hope to get earlier pods development and perhaps even some added cold hardiness.
That is good! That’s the only way I could see it working (dry vs wet/moist). Just wasn’t sure about getting those tines in the ground. Ya’ll are going to make me buy one…
@peterd that is promising! Do you think it could have been a pollination issue? Let me know if you get any with seeds this year!
I have found seeds of another, less common, moringa species: Moringa concanensis
This moringa grows a strong central trunk with a thick woody bark and is deciduous.
From the limited information I found, it is hardy to zone 9. But I also suspect it has not been tried much due to it being hard to find and could potentially be hardier.
I will attempt to grow and test this species along with my Moringa oleifera. I think it has a lot of potential based on its traits, and I am very interested in possible cross pollination between these two.
These are photos of tiny first sprouts of my Moringa concanensis seeds.
One seed is in the large pot with my oleifera and the other seed is in its own small pot.
Still waiting to see if any of the in ground seeds are going to grow. We have had weeks of continuous pouring rain so I was worried they were all going to rot. Glad to see these!
One of my potted moringa trees are finally flowering.
Unfortunately it will not have time to produce seed before frost, but I’m happy to get some flowers.
The trees are tall, so these are the best photos I can get without a ladder…
I also have one of the two Moringa concanensis still growing. And many more Moringa oleifera planted in ground.
Most in ground are small, stems less than 1/2" diameter, but one has grown tall with a thick trunk.
I’m in 8a north of Dallas.
These are a variety called STX-1 which are supposed to be able to tolerate cooler and wetter conditions.
The flowering tree is also in a big tree pot that I brought into the garage after it went dormant last year.
@JinTX have you tried topping or nipping off the new top growth when it’s still short? I recently did this to a couple of my office trees to see if it might inhibit upward growth a bit. Curious if you’ve played with them like that.
I tried that some last year, I have experimented with all kinds of different pruning and watering.
I’ve noticed a lot of variability between plants. The potted tree is two years old and flowering for the first time, but I now have one of the in ground trees flowering and it was grown from seed this year. That one has also been the fastest growing.
Thanks, Justin!
