Moringa Root Rot
Root rot is a common waterborne disease that can infect and kill a Moringa tree very quickly. Thankfully there are some steps you can take to guard against it.
Know your soil type
Do you know what type of soil you have? If not take the time to find out. You will be glad you did!
Heavy clay soils with poor drainage are the worst sites for planting Moringa. This is due to the fact that root rot thrives in oxygen deficient soil. When soil is waterlogged most of the oxygen has been displaced by the water. When the oxygen has been displaced the roots can’t breathe and root rot can set it. Moringa is extremely susceptible to root rot and so prefers a well-drained sandy to sandy loam soil.
For a great explanation of soil types and directions to compete a soil type test visit: Soil Type Test
Complete a Soil Drainage Test
If you determine you have predominately clay or silt based soil you will likely need to amend you soil. You may want to conduct a soil drainage test to confirm.
For a great set of instruction to compete the soil drainage test visit: Soil Drainage Test
Take Appropriate Action
If your soil drains less than 1 inch per hour than you need to find a different site or amend the soil both in and surrounding the planting site to increase drainage.
While it will be additional work to amend the soil don’t risk planting Moringa in poor draining soil. The first heavy rain you get you risk your tree dying in only a matter of days
One approach to increasing soil drainage involves amending the soil with both compost and sand. The compost helps build the soil structure (as well as increasing leaf production) and the large particles of sand help to increase drainage.
Watch the video below to see Moringa Root Rot up close.
Transcript:
Well you have probably heard it before but I wanted to re-emphasis it in this video. Moringa needs to be planted in very well draining soil. If you have a heavy soil, clay based soil, you are going to want to prepare your planting site by digging out the soil, adding in sand to increase drainage and then planting in that site. If you are not sure about how well draining your soil has to be, there is a test you can take. Go to the website at ahealthyleaf.com and under the blog section search for soil drainage test and you will see a link there of a test you can do to see if your soil drains well enough or not.
What happens if your soil is holding the water and gets saturated with water, that water surrounds the tap root and causes Moringa root rot within really a matter of days and it kills the tree. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a small seedling or a very large tree, root rot has a detrimental effects. I wanted to show you up close what that looks like and so if you look at that root, as I squeeze it between my fingers you can really just see that the root turns to almost like foam or for lack of a better word, the root goes to mush. This video is really just to re-emphasis the fact to take care and prepare your planting site appropriately. Might be fine maybe through a dry summer period but if you have wet winters you want to prepare your site so your tree can be healthy year round.
Again thanks for watching and if you would like to order root stock to plant your Moringa from, go to the website: ahealthyleaf.com and you can order root stock there to get your Moringa oleifera tree growing as fast as possible.
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We live in Arizona and our mature tree appears to be either dying or is dormant with our temperatures averaging 115 p;us for over several months. The tree was here when we bought our house, and we have enjoyed the white flowers and the beauty of the tree. This has been one of the hottest summers we have had, and even though we water it daily, it appears to be dying. There are lots of “holes” in the bark from the birds apparently sucking the water out of the tree. We’ve never had this before. Is our tree dying and what can we do to make it healthy again? Will it come back once the temperature go back to semi-normal?
Thank you for any insight you can give us.
Hi, my moringa tree leaves looks curled up and I get that it’s going through some kind of infection.
Could you please let me know if u have any idea what I do to cure it.
Thanks in advance,
Pavai
Hi, I got a seedling from someone which was already weak when i received it, I transplant it but it got weaker. How can i revive it?
What kind of sand would we use in a clay soil? What kind of sand?
I was going to look for green sand for my vegetable garden but don’t even know where or how to get that. I know the moringa needs good drainage and dry conditions but do not know soil proportions of sand, compost, etc. Can you help me with that?
Aileen,
You could put 20-30% sand and 20-30% compost. Moringa is pretty flexible.
All the best!
We planted from seeds into small pots and when they were a foot tall they were planted. We live in Gilbert, Az, east of Phoenix. We did a lot to amend our heavy clay soil, but I don’t know how much sand, if any, was used. The trees were cropped at 4-6′ in early Feb this year and they are again 15’+ now. Last year and this we get more than a little yellowing leaves. I wonder if that is an indication of too much water? They are watered on a drip system scheduled every 2 weeks. We have 4 trees in a row next to a block fence, 7′ tall, and they get afternoon shade on the trunks. Each one looks different. We currently have a lot of flowers and just a couple pods. We did not get pods of the large black seeds at all. I hope we get some this year. Can you give us any advice regarding the yellow leaves? I am interested in pressing seeds for oil and would appreciate any advice there, too. From where in Phoenix do you ship? Is it possible to pick up rootstocks when available? Thanks for your video!