The Magical Tree with Compound Leaves (2021-22)

Moringa Oleifera, timelapse camera, and growing diary

ABOUT

From composition, electronics, and installations to organic materials, discovering that all living creatures carry different electrical signals, and then exploring the uniqueness of individual performers, body, and spatial perception, everything was an amazing journey. In 2021, I planted moringa seeds on the fifth floor of the National Taichung Thater From the seeds sprouted to grow into trees, they accompanied me the residency all the way and also inspired the work.

Moringa oleifera, also known as the Miracle Tree, originated in India and Africa, and belongs to the category of perennial tropical deciduous trees.

The planting location is selected to have the architectural features of an opera house: a tranquil outward-facing space, gazing upon the surrounding high buildings. During the two-year residency, a time-lapse camera was placed in front of the trees to record their growth. The trees grow over time, and any interactions with the trees such as caring, repotting, and changes in the surrounding high-rise buildings, everything is documented.

REFLECTION

• Discovering similarities between the growth status of plants and human

Different plants are like people with different personalities/physiques, they require different environments: lighting, water, air, and nutrients. Some plants require more light, some less water, and each type of plant has its own preferences. Even seeds from the same mother plant can grow differently.

Some plants are adaptable and can thrive in different environments, while others may droop or lose leaves when their surroundings change. However, with proper adjustments to lighting, water, and ventilation, even the droopy plants can recover.

Metabolism in plants is similar to humans. Cutting off sick or withered leaves can lead to the growth of healthy new leaves, like the benefits of donating blood.

Avoid excessive attention. Overwatering or over-fertilizing can kill a plant, much like how overeating can cause health problems in humans. Once you understand the lighting and water requirements of the plant, it's best to leave it alone and not fuss over it. The less attention you give, the better it grows.

Compared to many other organisms, plants are considered "social" beings, at least in the primitive natural world. Two plants are better than one, even if they are different species, as companions or competitors can stimulate growth. Planting two seeds in the same pot seems to make them sprout faster than just one. However, limited space cannot accommodate excessive growth, and eventually, everyone may droop together. It takes repotting, transplanting, and pruning to slowly restore balance. Ah, it's like the state of the entire environment.

P.S. The growth process of seedlings seems dancing.

• Inspiration from the Growth Process of Plants

Although it has only been two months, the messages that the young seedling has given me have exceeded my expectations. Whether in terms of creative content or connections with other things, everything is interconnected like the veins of a leaf.

In the past few years, my research on individuality has revealed that the diversity of plants is similar to humans: every natural life form is unique, and there are no completely identical trees.

Observing the growth of plants, from the condition of the leaves to the soil, has allowed me to learn about the signals released by plants and their surroundings. Because of this young seedling, I started to study plant communication, soil, air, and other media, and discovered that the communication between all living things is related.

• Plants grow in an antigravity or levitating manner, with their roots anchored in the soil below and the rest of the plant guided by sunlight and air above.

• Plants are moving continuously , but at a much slower pace compared to humans.

• From communication with plants to communication with humans.

In addition to sunlight, air, and water, soil also plays a significant role in plant growth. The soil directly affects the growth cycle of the roots. As a beginner, I made the mistake of not using a small seedling pot for my seedling. This isn't just like wearing oversized clothes, but rather giving it a circulation system that it can't handle. Using a small pot for seedlings and larger ones for trees is important. A smaller pot environment provides faster circulation of water and nutrients than a larger pot. Despite facing strong challenges, my seedling has grown stronger and continues to thrive.

Moreover, air quality and lighting conditions can also affect plant growth. Plants can influence each other, such as soil connection (ground) and respiration connection (light, air).

In some ways, plants are easier to communicate with than humans because they are open to receiving environmental signals and providing direct feedback. However, as humans grow up, they may sometimes forget how to breathe, receive messages, and listen to others.

Returning to communication among people, values are like invisible containers that can easily create barriers between individuals. Different cultures, races, generations, etc. naturally have different values. Unconsciously imposing our values on others often occurs in Asian societies. I continue to learn not to impose my values on others, especially when teaching. Everyone should respect each other, as open as plants.

The survival elements that plants need are actually similar to those that humans need. Food is supplied by the earth, and the five senses need light and air to function. For example, without light, there is no sight, and without air, there is no hearing or sense of smell. Touch and taste are two active senses that have a strong connection to the earth.

• Plants can communicate with the land or with individual plants.

• When growing plants, using a small pot will lead to faster nutrient and water circulation compared to a large pot, which is better suited for mature trees.

• Although the pace of plants is much slower than that of humans, they continue to move.

• Plants are more easily connected to all things than humans, and it is not that humans are dull but rather that they become overly focused on themselves during their growth.

• While plants have a sensitive perception of all things, their growth process can restrict this perception.

• Research on plant perception in the past has had a strong connection with electronic instruments. I also unexpectedly stumbled upon the study of life forms through electronic music. For example, in the 1960s, Cleve Backster discovered plants’ primary perception through a polygraph machine, which led to a series of research on physiological signal sensing (ECG, EKG) and plant communication. All of these studies indicate that plants have the extrasensory perception (ESP) or a sixth sense.

  https://youtu.be/bYm_YWN8JSo

DIARY

11/30/2020

The tree-planting project was not initially part of the Opera House residency plan. It was a spontaneous idea that came up during a mountain-climbing trip with an old friend. Choosing the moringa tree was also a serendipitous moment. While sorting through his bookshelf one day, I came across a poster for John Newling's "Miracle Tree" exhibition in London from 2014, which had been hanging on my apartment door for three years. I felt that the moringa tree was the only tree suitable for the project.

When searching for a location to grow the seedlings, I explored several spots in the Opera House. Public areas were not feasible as may afraid of damage from the public or lack of power supply. Eventually, I found a deep platform in the office area, which resembled an air vent for the Opera House. Without hesitation, I decided to use that location. Besides, the balcony even had regular electrical outlets, I was curious about how Tadao Ando had designed the space.

1/1/2021

On the day the seedlings moved in, it was placed in an isolated cave-like opening on the 5th floor of the opera house. It seemed to cut off from the outside world, but the organic shape of the cave gathered and refracted the sounds from the outside. Despite its appearance of tranquility and isolation, the cave constantly received the sounds and activities of people and things from the plaza in front of the main entrance of the opera house.

2/10

During today's check on the status of the seedlings, I discovered that black fungus gnats had infested them. The pot of seedling number one had a high number of larvae, and its roots had almost all been eaten by them. It's a reminder that young lives require even more careful attention.

Seedling number two has taken over and the soil in the position of seedling number one, which was full of bugs, has been isolated and sprayed with potassium bicarbonate to sterilize it.

Upon reviewing the footage from January 1st to February 10th, I noticed that a sparrow likes to rest on the glass edge on the right side of the screen. The video also shows the light status of the opposite residents every day, with three households almost never turning off their lights.

The cleaning lady comes to clean this platform once a week and she does a thorough job of sweeping and mopping everywhere, including carefully cleaning the glass.

On two days, the moon was very low, and the footage captured the moon rising from the left side.

2/19

Concerned about the condition of little sprout number two after number one’s dead, I went to check it after the lunar new year holiday immediately. Although it looked a bit unwell, the upper leaves are still growing steadily.

I set up sticky flypaper and the soil is currently kept dry. The root system of number two still looks healthy, and although there are still black fungus gnats flying outside the pot, there it doesn't seem to be many larvae inside the pot.

To prevent insufficient light, I also added a plant lamp.

3/3

The seedling seems to have improved in spirit, but the lower leaves have turned yellow and withered. There were quite a few small black mosquitoes after not watering for a while, so silica sand was added to the soil for sterilization.

3/5

The seedling has grown quite a bit, although the lower leaves have withered, the new leaves on the upper part are still growing.

Although the number of black mosquitoes has decreased, they still exist and spraying chili water in the hopes of effective elimination.

A small amount of liquid fertilizer was applied, hoping to invigorate the seedling.

Taking inspiration from Plantasia, I picked some music from my past works that I want the seedling to hear, hoping they would enjoy it.

3/16

It seems that a bird has been eating the leaves of the small seedling, leaving it with only half of its leaves. It looks like it's barely hanging on, but hopefully, its roots are healthy enough to sustain it.

Regarding the mysterious leaf loss of the seedling, when asking friends for explanations, the following theories were given:

• Plant: It could be due to too much stress or lack of water causing leaf drop. Suspicious point - the remaining leaves are in good condition, and the location and method of leaf drop are unreasonable. Additionally, leaf drop only occurs during the daytime.

• Bird: It's likely that a bird ate the leaves or used them to build a nest. Suspicious point - the location and quantity of the missing leaves don't match up.

• Wind: It could be due to strong winds during those few days that caused the leaves to drop. Suspicious point - the location of the leaf drop is not natural.

• (Scarecrow, speaker, and new companion.)

• Cynical theory: Even a seedling is not spared from someone's deliberate cruelty. Suspicious point - it's unreasonable to use such an elaborate method to pluck the leaves and to do it five times in front of a camera.

3/21

Adding a scarecrow to the garden to keep the birds away is a good idea. I also brought in two newly planted Moringa seedlings (number three and four) to accompany number two.

3/27

Opera House posted a video on Facebook showing the seedling with missing leaves.

4/2

Understanding the balance between the black mosquitoes and plants.

Looking back at the state of the seedlings, although it is worrying that the larvae of the black-winged fungus gnats may eat the roots and cause them to rot during the period of rampant infestation, the seedlings actually grew well during that period. On the other hand, after the elimination of the fungus gnats, the seedlings began to decline and lose leaves. Perhaps there is a balance between these organisms in their growth, and all I can do is observe and assist from the side.

4/5

As the spring weather begins to warm up, the seedlings have started to revive and are growing rapidly during the holiday period.

4/ 9

As the spring weather turns cold again, the temperature drops. The seedlings are moved outward to a new location to get more sunlight.

4/15

After two new seedlings were added, the growth rate of the original seedlings doubled, highlighting the evidence found in research that plants are social beings that thrive in a community.

5/11

The height and root system of the seedlings have grown to a certain extent, so it's time to repot them. During the repotting process, a beetle was found in the double pot. Later, a video was posted showing that the golden turtle was happily eating two pots of moringa seedlings.

After experiencing the fluctuating temperatures of spring, the seedlings were unstable and shedding leaves. However, in April when the temperature began to rise, the seedlings stabilized and started to grow densely.

Based on research indicating that plants are social beings, two new moringa seedlings were added as roommates for the number two seedling on March 21st, and the second generation of seedlings started to recover noticeably. The three plants seemed to communicate and maintain a similar height, despite being planted at different times. Even when separated in different pots, their leaves eventually interweaved together. It's unclear whether they affect each other's growth space, but even when separated by a distance, their leaves grow quickly and entangle with each other.

On May 11th, during the repotting process, some leaves had holes and the culprit was found, a well-fed beetle happily eating the leaves of two pots of spicy wood, including three seedlings. It was captured and released on a neighboring balcony, but it's uncertain whether it will come back again.

After repotting, the COVID-19 outbreak occurred and the country entered level three alert. During this period, the temperature continued to rise, and the seedlings grew faster and denser. In just two weeks in late May, they grow doubled in height. The leaves of the moringas grew so quickly that it seemed like they were calling out "eat me, eat me" and could be harvested. Interestingly, many plants seem to grow well during the global pandemic, with good vegetable and fruit harvests and more flowers blooming.

7/16

After the outbreak of the epidemic, it has been almost two months since I last checked on the seedlings. The growth rate during this period was so fast that it was truly impressive.

Although I only repotted them in May, it seems like they need repotting again now. Unfortunately, I can't find suitable pots to buy at the moment, so I will have to slow down their growth for now.

I pruned some branches and also separated the two plants into different pots.

10/15

The saplings have been over 2 meters tall for some time now, and today is the second time they've been repotted. This time, they were repotted into extra large pots. As we enter the fall season, their growth rate may not be as rapid as in the summer, so repotting was done to ensure that the root system has enough space to grow.

10/25

The plant has been growing steadily after repotting.

11/13

The sapling has developed a lot of withered leaves, which indicates that it may be sick. However, due to a busy work schedule, I haven't been able to visit it recently.

11/19

Today, I added soil, applied slow-release fertilizer, and pruned a large number of withered branches. Upon examination, the withered branches were caused by spider mites, so I removed as many affected branches as possible. I hope that with these measures, the tree will be able to grow new branches and leaves.

12/1

Recently, the weather has turned cold and the condition of the saplings doesn't look good, especially the number two which still has withered branches even after pruning.

1/11

In the beginning, the condition of number two was relatively poor, but it seems to have improved after pruning and has grown many new leaves. On the other hand, the third and fourth trees are not doing well.

Perhaps the tropical Moringa is going into hibernation during the winter...

2/7

The new sprouts seem to be growing less smoothly, and both trees filmed by the camera have leaf spider mites. The tree that is less exposed to sunlight on the inside actually has denser foliage.

3/3

All branches affected by spider mites were ruthlessly pruned, hoping that new sprouts will grow even without leaves.

3/12

Fertilizer was applied in hopes of helping new shoots grow smoothly.

3/23

The branches that were cut off have successfully grown many new leaves.

Afterword

In the moringa project, I grow three trees successfully in the end, one died under the pressure of high anticipation in the very early days. The process told me many stories, and the most important information for me was "individuality" comes from nature, and we human beings are part of nature as well. However, humans think of controlling things too much and often forget to respect nature.

From observing those trees, I found every creature has its will, even though I could control the condition for growing, but it's the plants decide how to grow, and at some point, they might decide to die.

Moringa is a kind of tough plant. I could see those three trees were not always in a good shape, but they keep fighting and survive till the departure day. Even growing together, they have different pacing and state, and they always affect each other: to get sick together, sometimes one is better, one is worse, and to recover together.

However, when the trees move to the countryside, no one takes care of them or gives them attention anymore, and they grow even better. Then, I realize they just need to be in the better nature: with outside sunlight, rain...etc. not our human beings' attention.

How you would grow, I would never control. Individuality is for respect, not necessarily to understand, or to control.

Thank you for those fighters.