Protecting moringa trees from frost

I’ve posted on moringa before and mentioned that I protect moringa trees from frost with a ring of chicken wire stuffed with leaves or straw or pine needles or whatever.

This is how I do it:

Protecting moringa trees from frost

Can you make out the moringa tree in all that mess? Though the top of this tree is now roasted by frost (this picture is from December of last year), the trunk is fine and keeps putting out new growth during warm stretches. When you’re protecting moringa trees from frost this way, make sure you cover the top of the rings somehow so the rain doesn’t get into the leaves/pine needles/straw, etc and rot the tree while it’s sleeping.

We’re probably home free at this point of the year, so it’s about time to pull the chicken wire off and spread the pine needles around my blueberries.

I would venture to say you could grow Moringa trees through most of Georgia with this method – the species is very tough, provided it doesn’t get frozen. If I lived that far north, however, I’d probably cut the tree lower, make a larger diameter ring of chicken wire, then pile on plenty of leaves as a thick blanket. It’s definitely worth the effort.

The trees that I’ve protected produce a significantly higher amount of leaves than the ones I allow to freeze to the ground. It only takes a few minutes to do – and the results are excellent.