It's easier to grow a Kratom plant than one might think! Despite its particular natural growing environment, Kratom trees are very adaptable, forgiving, and fast growing!
In nature the Kratom plant grows in humid and hot climates. It's always best to try and mimic the plants natural environment for optimal growth....although, kratom will grow in a wide range of humidity's and temperatures once adapted to its new climate.
ACCLIMATING YOUR NEW KRATOM PLANT
It's important to note that once you receive your kratom plant in the mail it needs to be acclimated to its new home! Shipment stresses plants out! They've been in a humid, stale aired, and dark environment for several days and suddenly bringing your live kratom plant into lower humidity, intense sun, or windy conditions will dry out the leaves and cause further stress or even kill it. This is because while stressed from travel plants will not be able to soak up the water that they need fast enough to replace what is lost from the rate of perspiration that occurs with increased sun, heat, wind and drought.
To get the plant used to its new environment it needs to be placed in an enclosure that holds humidity well and is protected form other harsh elements and then slowly introduced to the enviorment where you want them to grow. This can be something as simple as a clear bag with a few holes in it placed over the top of your plant or a soda bottle with the bottom cut off. As long as it helps keep the humidity up and is clear. It's important to note, however, that placing plants that are in a humidity enclosure in the sun can cook them! Leave them in the shade, indoors, or under weak grow lights while it's acclimating to the open air.
Your main goal here is to slowly introduce your plant to lower and lower humidity until it is happy in the open air and then on to other more intense elements like the sun or wind.
please see the caring for your new plant upon arrival section for more details.
HUMIDITY
The kratom trees natural environment of southeast Asia is very humid, but will still grow well and can even thrive in low humidity when given proper care. Even in the second driest air in the United States kratom plants do well!! The Bounty botanicals garden resides in the heart of Arizona where our outdoor kratom thrives! Beyond adapting your plant to its new environment upon arrival working to keep the humidity high is probably more trouble than its worth, but if you would like to arificially increase humidity for your plants a greenhouse for outdoor plants or a humidifier for indoor plants will work just fine.
TEMPERATURE
Being from a tropical environment kratom loves being warm. Temperatures of 80 to 90 degrees seem to be ideal, but it will tolerate temperatures from the low 30s to past 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Consistent temperatures in the low 70 degrees will not necessarily harm your plants but growth will be slowed and may even stop and drop its leaves if exposed to low temperatures for an extended length of time. If the leaves do drop, don't panic! The plant has just gone dormant and will resume growing once the temperatures rise. It is however important to protect your kratom plant from freezing or close to freezing temps by using a greenhouse, bringing them indoors, or other means you'd like to implement to keep the temps up.
-When growing indoors temperature shouldn't be much of a problem but i recomend a minimum of 74 dregees in its grow space for addiquite growth. If it tends to get chilly at night it's best to have the lights on during that time and off during the day.
LIGHTING
kratom trees can handle A LOT of light...even arizona light!, but a study I read suggests a larger yield of leaves when grown under a shade cloth. For indoors H.I.D. lighting or leds will work well, but T5 or even T8 fluorescent bulbs will do for smaller plants.
SOIL
Mitragyna speciosa likes soil that is rich in nutrients to support its super fast growth, retains plenty of moisture, contain lots of organic matter, and is slightly acidic with a pH around 5.5 -6.5.
It doesn't have to be fancy specialty soil....just a soil that retains plenty of moisture, is fertile, and is slightly acidic. This makes most quality potting soils suitable for kratom plants to grow in. I like to use a mix of Happy frog and Ocean forest ...r happy frog and auroras original.
WATERING
Kratom plants enjoy plenty of water! You can water just about as often as you like. It's hard if not impossible to overdo it with kratom. Some folks even place their pots in a dish of water!
FERTILIZING
As your plants grow and use up the nutrients around them they will need regular fertilization. Your typical potting soil only feeds plants for around 2 weeks to a month. After this point it is a good idea to start feeding your plants a fertilizer... as long as they are actively growing. An "all purpose" plant food will do, but one geared towards vegetative growth(higher in nitrogen) is ideal. Fish fertilizers and kelp fertilizers are amazing for kratom growth!
Don't over do it though! More does not always equal better! A common train of thought is, "Hey, if I give it more fertilizer, it'll grow faster and bigger!" Plants need fertilizer to grow, but it is not their main source of fuel or food. In reality the fertilizers are only a small fraction of what makes up a plants mass. Plants actually get their bulk Mass from carbon which they pull right from the air! That's right, most of what makes up a plant is carbon...and it's from out of thin air! Not from the soil, not from the nutrients, but from the carbon in the air! AMAZING I KNOW! Giving your plant an overdose of fertilizer will give you nothing but burnt plants and heartache!
THE THREE BIGGEST TAKE AWAYS FOR SUCCESSFULLY GROWING KRATOM PLANTS AT HOME IS THIS : KEEP THEM WARM...KEEP THEM WATERED...KEEP THEM FED.
That's about it folks! Happy gardening!
GET YOUR VERY OWN Kratom plant <<<