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Last June I planted some moringa seeds and experimented with different growing conditions.

I put some of them in plastic cups that I initially kept inside a closed plastic container whose inside air was kept humid and out of direct sunlight.

Some others in a small terracotta vase and some others in a larger vase of non-porous material, both of which had direct sunlight for 3/4 hours a day.

The seeds in the plastic cups were the fastest to grow generating three healthy seedlings and at the beginning of August I transplanted each of them into its own plastic vase that I kept outside next to the other two.

The other seeds were slower but ended up producing three seedlings in the terracotta vase and 4 in the larger vase. All them appeared to be healthy, plenty of green leaves.

However, some of the seedlings were twice as large as their neighbors, so two weeks ago I decided to transplant the smaller ones into their own plastic vase.

Since I had to leave for two weeks, I set up a system that would water the plants based on a measurement of the dryness of their soil.

When I came back, I found that while the three "faster seedlings" kept growing as expected, all the other ones had lost all their leaves and looked like the ghosts of their own selves just two weeks ago, no matter whether they had been transplanted or left in the original vase (but of course somewhat disturbed by the process of removing their former neighbors).

The pictures below show very clearly the difference between the three healthy seedlings and those that did not fare well during my absence.

I am writing to this forum in the hope to gain some more understanding of what is the more likely cause of what happened. Are the seedlings more likely to exhibit this behavior because of underwatering or rather overwatering and potential root rot?

What is the best way to allow these seedlings to recover, to leave them out exposed to direct sunlight for those few hours per day (having no leaves they can't do any photosynthesis) or better to put them inside the humid environment of the closed plastic container, outside of direct sunlight, until they start growing some new leaves? Would you recommend using any fertilizer at this stage to help the recovery and, if so, which one?
Thank you

Interesting, but I can't help you. Moringa is ridiculously easy to grow here, you just cut a branch and stick it in the ground. Moringa is drought tolerant and it does not need a lot of fertilizer, but I have not tried to grow it in a pot. It has an extensive root system. It may be sensitive to temperature because it is a tropical plant. Some of the moringa leaves on the larger plant are yellow on the bottom. What fertilizer are you using?

The smaller seedlings may have been compromised by having too many seedlings in a small pot and if you transplanted them. Some of the seedlings may have had transplant shock. Your potting mix was not evenly moist, so I don't know how that affected your seedlings. Seedlings will be more particular about even watering and may require more nutrients when they are in a rapid growth stage. I think your plastic cups were probably the right size for a single seedling and was probably more evenly moist. Terra cotta dries out especially on the outside and moringa grows incredibly fast so you would not want to have multiple seedlings in a container. It would have probably have been better to cut the extras rather than try to separate them and risk damaging the young roots.

Even your taller cuttings now are starting to yellow. I may be pests although moringa does not have many pests, or it could be nutritional. You will need to keep potting up, the taller one looks like it may need to pot up again soon.

Moringa is kept in pots on the mainland, but in the ground here, it cannot be kept short. A single branch will go out 20 ft and the only way to shorten it is to continuously harvest the leaves. That is one of the reasons moringa is such a good sustainable forage tree. I have never actually seen a moringa in its' natural form here because it is always being hacked for the leaves and people also like the fruit when it is in season.

Hi imafan26,
I really appreciate your extensive reply that contains a lot of useful info. I am completely new to growing plants and my incompetence is kind of legendary among my friends as I managed to succeed in the almost impossible task of killing an euphorbia, after it had survived for 22 years with me. I had no idea what root rot was, so my automatic reaction to seeing the plant deteriorating was giving it more water. Great. It was that event that pushed me to learn more. I am even trying to grow some cuttings I took from the late euphorbia, but considering the way it looked, a successful result would be more a matter of black magic than botanics.

As I recently came across a few articles describing the nutritional benefits of moringa leafs, I thought that trying to grow it from seeds could be a good way to start a potential new hobby. I live in San Diego, so the climate should be good for moringa all year round. The negative aspect is that I live in an apartment, so I can only grow potted plants on my balcony, which receives direct sunlight for maybe 3 or 4 hours a day, and always filtered through some trees.
I have not used any fertilizer yet as I had no idea whether it was good or not for plants so young nor which one to select. Which fertilizer or nutrient would you recommend? I just used the organic soil shown in the pic below mixed with perlite in a ratio of about 3:1 or 4:1. I had read that moringa seedlings suffer being repotted and I followed the suggestion of using some granular mycorrhizae to help them cope with the shock. Not sure if it was a good idea.
You are right, not only the larger plants have yellow leaves at the bottom, but now even some upper leaves start showing white spots. Lack of nutrients or pests? Tomorrow I will take some pics that might help in the assessment.

Mine died so my advice may not be so useful, but the one I had growing went through several iterations of almost exactly the leaf loss in yout photo.

I don’t know exactly what I did wrong, but mine did come back several times so I think you still have chance.

Don’t fertilize the ones that lost leaves — treat as they are in rest period: Not too much water but not drying out. No direct sun, but dappled with lace curtains or through slats of blinds for 2-4 weeks.

(BTW — One way to mildly fertilize container plants is to give them your leftover (non alcoholic) beverages. Last mouthful of coffee it really in you mug, fill mug with water (at least 10x dilution or more) and water with it. Same with milk and juice, even soda (soda contains P). Rinse the last bit out of cartons for your plants. Just don’t give them things with preservatives in them or too much sodium.)

Mine ultimately succumbed to aphids and then MASSIVE infestation by scale insects — look for bumps of same color as the bark and even on leaves and leaf stems. If not sure, dip a cotton swab in alcohol and stroke a suspect area of the bark several times. Brown red streaks on the cotton swab means definitely scale insects.

Actually, although this may not help in your situation, this is how I planted Moringa. I got a 4 ft branch a couple of inches thick freshly cut. The soil in my garden is rich, so it needs no amending. I pushed the branch about 18 inches into the soil, so it was stable. Nothing special. It rains almost every night, I watered twice a week at my community garden. I really did not pay attention to it. The branch sprouted leaves and put out 20 ft branches, which I kept cutting back. It would resprout from the side another 20 ft branch. I ended up taking it out because I could not keep it within the 15 ft height restriction at the garden. There are so many trees around, that it is not hard to get leaves from a tree. People actually plant them outside their walls on the road easement. All I really need is a machete to get the branches.

Thanks both for sharing your knowledge.

imafan26 definitely our situations are not comparable as your starting point, a 4ft branch, is probably close to the max size of plant I can have on my balcony lol. If I manage to grow some of the moringas, my plan would be to constantly prune them to keep their size fit the space of my balcony (say more bush-like than tree-like). Not sure if the root growth would render this plan unfeasible.

applestar, thanks for all the tips. I put the plants with no leaves inside the closed transparent box where I have the euphorbia cuttings, which I keep out of direct sunlight with humidity mantained above 90%, so I will no water them. Is that a good solution?
Thanks for the tips on home-made fertilizers. Now that you mentioned, I remember my grandma saving the coffee powder from the filter for the plants. However, is that a good thing to put in the soil? Probably not since you say a dilution 1:10 is needed with coffee. Is spoiled milk good as well?
By the way, I found these two products in a closet. From the look of it they seem to be pretty old, maybe 5 years if not even 10. Not sure if this type of products has an expiration date or whether any of the two would be appropriate. Any recommendations other than throwing both away?

I had a better look at my moringas that stilll have their leaves and they do not seem particularly healthy either. The leaves have a lot of whithish spots. My limited knowledge and experience do not allow me to understand if it's due to lack of nutrients, pests, inadequate watering, root rot or any other cause. The only thing I can say is that I don't see any obvious moving critter. Below are some pics of the largest plant. The stem look pest-free, but not smooth, kind of wrinkly, the worse being at the base.
Do these pictures allow a clear diagnosis?