How to Cultivate Kratom

With the many health benefits of the Kratom plant, there has been a sudden interest on how this Southeast Asian native plant can be cultivated. Is it really possible to grow Kratom in other areas besides tropical countries? Can it adapt to other habitats?

The website Gardening Know How has shared an article that discussed how Kratom is grown and how it can be cultivated in colder climate. In the article they mentioned that if allowed to grow in its natural habitat, the Kratom plant can grow into a tree of up to 100 feet.

“Native to the tropics, this tree can grow very tall in its natural habitat. In cooler climates, it has to be protected from the cold, which means it will likely have to be grown in a container. This will keep it from reaching its full height, which is probably a good thing unless you have the space for a very large tree. It can also be treated like a houseplant, spending spring and summer outdoors, and then bringing the plant inside with the onset of cooler temps in fall for overwintering.”

Check out the rest of the write-up here.

Planting from Seeds

The Vegetable Gardener meanwhile shared in-depth information about growing kratom p[lants and mentioned that it could be difficult to propagate, In their write-up, they also mentioned that high-quality seeds is the best way to go when cultivating kratom. 

“You want humus–rich, fertile, moist soil that drains well, but not so much that the soil will not remain rainy virtually all the time. One of my earliest discoveries is that no matter how much water you gave the little seedlings, they actually needed more and when one of your pots got blocked at the bottom, you should leftover it as an experiment, just to see what would happen. What happened is that the one that had poor drainage grew faster than all the others!”

The rest of the information can be found here.

Plant Description

WikiPedia meanwhile described in detail how Kratom Plant looks like, and how it is when cultivated. It also described the kind of habitat kratom thrived in.

“Mitragyna speciosa is an evergreen tree that can grow to a height of 25 m. Its trunk may grow to a 0.9 m diameter. The trunk is generally straight, and the outer bark is smooth and grey. The leaves are dark green and glossy and can grow to over 14–20 cm long and 7–12 cm wide when fully open, are ovate-acuminate in shape, and opposite in growth pattern, with 12–17 pairs of veins. The flowers grow in clusters of three at the ends of the branches. The calyx-tube is 2 mm long and has five lobes; the corolla-tube is 2.5–3 millimetres long.”

The full article can be found here.

Kratom is indeed possible to cultivate as long as it is well cared for.