Hi,
Maybe Stonhenge can advise me on this Kratom cutting.
I got it January 5th from Australia which is in summer right now.
I had to uproot it and wash off all the soil because there were black bugs on the stem and repoted it in a good moist soil mix in 6 inch clay pot.
The roots were abundant, very white & strong looking.
Here it is winter and the room temp is anywhere from 10-22c.
I have coke bottle with holes cut in it over the cutting because the humidity levels are so low. The new leaves in the center, sort of got very limp and I had to increase the humidity via the coke bottle as it would wilt, even in the mini greenhouse at 60% humidity. I am watering and spraying it only with pure well water.
The leaf edges are going red and I fear it may be a rather bad sign of something worse to come. Torsten said it didn't look that bad and it may have been caused by excess water laying on the leaves after misting. He suggested I try to wean it off such high humidity over a 30 day period by cuttings holes in the coke bottle.
Just wondering if Stoney has also experienced this sort of problem and if there is any way around it?
I have ceased spraying it but the humidity dome is still needed as it wilts after an 30 mins of being in this dry air. Sort of a catch 22 situation.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
This is how it looked Jan 8th
(//http://img212.exs.cx/img212/1429/kratomjan84bj.jpg)
This is how it looks now Feb 5th.
(//http://img212.exs.cx/img212/8551/redleafkratom8av.jpg)
OK Bongo I'm going to take special notice of replies you get as I shall soon 'hopefully' be getting a cutting myself.
You mentioned little black bugs, have you identified these? Are there any bugs or larvae in the root clump ?
Booosh
The bugs looked like a small version of a black "ladybug" or "ladybird" with their wings tucked in. Can’t remember what they were called but the guy I bought it off said that he has a problem with these things but they do not seem to do any harm to any of his plants. Any larvae or such was my main concern which is why I uprooted it and washed all the soil from the roots thoroughly. There were none that I could detect in the soil, they were just sort of clinging to the stem like tiny barnacles. Didn't want to chance any infection to my Salvia collection though.
Washing the roots was not really a good thing to do as apparently you should not disturb the roots of Mitragyna Speciosa in an environment which it will go dormant. That being the temp going below 25C at any time during the day or night. The reddening on the plant may just be stress related or the temp going down to 10c or a less at night in an unheated room. You should also not keep them quite so wet in the dormant period like you would during their active cycle.
QuoteWashing the roots was not really a good thing to do as apparently you should not disturb the roots of Mitragyna Speciosa in an environment which it will go dormant. That being the temp going below 25C at any time during the day or night. The reddening on the plant may just be stress related or the temp going down to 10c or a less at night in an unheated room. You should also not keep them quite so wet in the dormant period like you would during their active cycle.
You may have answered your own question there. The red spots are probably stress related as you noted.
Could you elaborate on the dormancy periods, and what conditions cause the plant to go into dormancy a little more? I am going to be shipping some plants roughly the size of yours soonish, and this is the first I have heard of their dormancy periods. I'd like to be able to take it into consideration.
The kratom in the photo looks fine. The red color is normal and is a natural reaction to stress. Cold, in particular can make kratom leaves turn red. They like frequent watering but do not keep the soil damp all the time. They like high humidity but can adapt to lower levels. I would definately have holes in the dome over it. Not having any holes at all will lead to a mold/ fungus problem which will be a real problem if it comes up.
When you washed the soil off and repotted it, that introduced a stress right there. I don't know what the black bugs were or if they were harmfull to plants. You could have given a neem oil spray and gotten the bugs or else safer's soap. Both of those are mild on plants but will kill bugs. Do not give direct sunlight to the plant right now. Give it indirect light or floro until it gets larger. Then, introduce it to the sun gradually. They like warm temps and will take off when spring comes. Always take it in when it's supposed to get down to or near freezing.
Stoney
Thanks for the info.
Yeah, I have a fluro on it at night and there are a few holes in the dome half way down for ventilation.
It gets a lot of filtered light durring the day via a south facing window with curtains but, not direct sunlight as I read that for the first 30 days or so it best not to give it direct sunlight.
maybe I should try putting it outside durring the day while it is warm and sunny and bring it in at night?
Is basically any good moist potting mix ok for these things?
With any plant you want to introduce it to sunlight gradually even if it's a type of plant that likes sun. In the same way, if you had been indoors all winter you wouldn't go outside and lay in the sun all day long the first warm day. If you did, you'd pay a price for it. Plants get burned also and often die from it. Give your indoor plant an hour the first day, a couple hours the second and over a week or so get it used to the sun. Even then, they seem to like no more than half a day of sun per day until they get pretty large.
Stoney
Yeah, that was the general idea.
I will put it out in a place where it can get some filtered light first and increase it slowly.
Quote from: "Vpirate"QuoteWashing the roots was not really a good thing to do as apparently you should not disturb the roots of Mitragyna Speciosa in an environment which it will go dormant. That being the temp going below 25C at any time during the day or night. The reddening on the plant may just be stress related or the temp going down to 10c or a less at night in an unheated room. You should also not keep them quite so wet in the dormant period like you would during their active cycle.
You may have answered your own question there. The red spots are probably stress related as you noted.
Could you elaborate on the dormancy periods, and what conditions cause the plant to go into dormancy a little more? I am going to be shipping some plants roughly the size of yours soonish, and this is the first I have heard of their dormancy periods. I'd like to be able to take it into consideration.
Oh, sorry I missed your post there.
I believe that the temp going much under 25C will force the plant to go dormant. This figure of 25C is actually the minimum figure for an environment to called tropical.
As these plants are in fact native to Thailand which is tropical, it figures that any temps drastically below 25C will send it into dormancy. That said, the plant may well be able to adjust to lower temperatures and not go dormant. However, it is very hard to keep a house at 25C or even 20C continually if you are not in at least a subtropical climate.
This is the problem I am faced with in as much as the temp in any room in winter will go down to at least 15C and probably even as low as 10C overnight.
Actually, total dormancy may actually be more desirable rather than having extreme temperature swings such as being in a room that is heated during the day and then gets cold at night.
What country are you in there? I am simply asking because I want to get an idea of the ranges that Mitragyna Speciosa will do well in.
I am here in Japan which is reasonably warm between April- October durring which time the temp can be anywhere from 20-40C.
My SD plants managed to survive the 40C temps and seem quite happy in the winter in a mini greenhouse indoors.
My kratoms grow fine at temps below 25C. I would estimate that temps below 16c or about 60f cause slow growth and can trigger dormancy. They are not harmed by temps above freezing if they have had a chance to get used to them. Moving a kratom from a heated environment to a few degrees above freezing will likely kill it but if it's been outside for some time and gotten temps in the 60's then the 50's and 40's, it won't die if it gets down to upper 30's. Mine have made it through that with no problem. If actual freezing or close to freezing is predicted I'll take them in.
As far as dormancy goes, the plant seems to just stop growing when it gets cold and starts up again when it's warm.
Stoney
Update? How's that plant doing?
Quote from: "Vpirate"Update? How's that plant doing?
Well, it is hanging on in there as spring is nearly here.
There are now only two leaves on the stem but they are for the most part a healthy looking green color and are starting to get larger.
The stem seems to be getting thicker and is very green.
PS: Mmm, it must have been my imagination as after viewing the pics above again, I can see that it is almost the same condition apart from the stem maybe being thicker and those two leaves being a touch larger.
Poor thing....Hope she pulls through.
Signs of growth mean you are in good shape. You should see my kratoms, they are down to a few leaves and looking rough but they will burst forth in spring.
My largest plant dropped all but two leaves about a month ago. Right now it looks like a small bush with giant leaves. It's formed four new branches within the last week, too.
Sometimes they seem not to grow at all, and then BAM!!
It will pull through, have faith. :)
Vpirate.
Did you have any problems with the leaves going red like mine in the photo above? I am wondering if this one went dormant after arriving from a hot climate in the season of summer to winter here.
Unless one is going to heat the room 24 hour a day everyday, I see no way to avoid this. Maybe even a heat pad would not work and might actually be worse. What season and temp ranges do you have there right now?
Yes, I've seen parts of my leaves go red, usually due to damage of some type, but not so much anymore since I stepped up watering and feeding. Temps here are still quite low, it'll probably snow again before spring really hits, although I doubt my kratom notices since it's in the plant room which usually stays around 80f, under some flouro tubes and a few cfl's.
Thanks for the info which confirms that the cold is probably the culprit in my case. Here overnight temp can get as low or maybe even a little lower than 60F. I imagine when the temp range reaches a more constant 70-80F things will pick up. Hopefully. :roll:
I'd have to agree it's probably the cold. I recently had some problems with mites, as part of my plan of attack against them, I sat my smaller plants near a window in a humidity chamber. The past couple nights have been much cooler and a leaf on one of them got speckled with the red. I have no doubt that cold will cause this reaction. I'd be inclined to agree with Stoney and say that any reddening is due to some form of stress, but in your case it is likely shipping/temperature related.
Keep the soil moist, but constantly moist, of course. Put him near a decent source of light and if you fix the temperature problem I'll bet that within a couple weeks you'll start to see some new leaves forming.
Vp, that's good advice but I think you left out a word here:
"Keep the soil moist, but constantly moist, of course."
I think you meant not constantly moist. They do like moisture but let the soil dry out now and then. Or you could put them in hydro but for that you want to aerate the water. Standing water will run out of oxygen and harm the roots. I'm not really sure how much their roots can take long term flooding but they do grow in an area with a lot of wetness.
Yeah, moist yet not standing in a puddle is the route I have been taking with a soil mix that contains something called KANUMA TSUCHI or "Deer swamp soil" that retains moisture but drains reasonably well.
The main problem with the temp is the overnight cold, as I have to turn the heating off at night. Actually, I am only heating the room when it gets unreasonably cold as, extreme temp swings waking it up, is probably worse for this plant than letting it stay dormant till spring really arrives.
Yep that's what I meant, Stoney. Thanks for clearing that up. :)