Kratom SOS. May be too late.

[Bongo]

After being in bed for 3 days with Influenza I decide to make the supreme effort & go visit my plants only to find my Kratom plant in this poor state. I fear it is on its last legs. Yesterday, I removed it from the pot to inspect the roots and found they were very few, brown, stringy and broke easily.
I fear root rot has set in even though I have not kept it sitting in water but the soil mix did not dry out that well. As a last ditch effort I repotted it in a light mix with a lot more vermiculite and perlite but, I doubt it is going to survive.
Just wondering if I should try to make a cutting from the part of the stem that is still green before it all goes brown and shrivels up?
Although, there isn't much of the stem that is still green. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Anyone know of a reputable place that will ship a plant internationaly?

   

     

     

[Stonehenge]

Sorry to hear about your plant, Bongo. It's rough to lose one especially one like that. Unfortunately, there seems to be little hope. Rooting cuttings is extremely hard under the best of circumstances with kratom although one or two people seem to have a lot of luck with it. Cuttings from a dying plant do not root well.

How long have you had the plant, did it grow much while you had it? I've never heard of kratom suffering from root rot though it's certainly possible. It may have been underwatering if it dried out at all. They don't tollerate drying out very well. Did you have it in the sun or how much light did it get? Did you fert it and how much?

[Bongo]

Thanks for the condolences stoney.
I had it sent from AU at the end of December last year which was probably a mistake coming from mid summer to mid winter but AU had set the date for the MS ban and I had to chance it. Also, the thing was infested with black bugs which forced me to remove it from the pot and wash the roots as soon as I got it because I was not going to give these unknown bugs the chance to infest my SD plants in the same mini greenhouse.
It was not in direct sun and had the equivalent of a 100 watt light on it till 1 am every night and I did not feed the plat at all as it went dormant.
I am just hoping for a miracle that maybe a new shoot will popup from around the base even though I know there is not much chance of that unlike the manner in which SD does that sometimes.

[Stonehenge]

There is still a slim chance it'll pull through. They tend to go dormant in winter and leaf dropoff is common. I wouldn't toss it until it had been in the warmth for a couple months. They are slowly getting more affordable and occasional trades pop up.

[Bongo]

It has now truly gone to that great compost heap in the sky after going totally brown and shriveling up. I feel almost like doing likewise after I was so looking forward to growing it and after all the hassle incured getting hold of one. Boooo Hooooooooooooooooooooooo. :cry:  :cry:  :cry:

[Stonehenge]

You'll find another one. There are places in europe that ship them.

[Bongo]

Yeah, when it warms up in Europe I am sure we will see them pop up on the web. Thanks for the moral support there Stoney.

[Stonehenge]

One of my own kratoms has been under attack lately. I found a bug infestation a few days ago. There were hundreds of small green bugs with legs. They were almost round and about 1/16" or so long. Safer's is making short work of them but they keep coming back. Now today, I found over a dozen tiny orange grasshoppers on it. I sprayed them too but this is getting ridiculous. It's like the word got out that it has lots of young tasty leaves. It's just starting to burst forth in spring growth and the bugs want to kill it dead. Instead, they will be dead. On the plus side, I saw several lady bugs that came around for the feast.

[Jacko]

Sounds like aphids Stoney.  Any soap based spray should make short work of those (a little Dr. Bronners soap n' cold tobacco tea could work some wonders).

[Stonehenge]

Yes, they may be aphids but look a little large for that. I never had an aphid attack before but when they come it's in droves. They have some sort of pupa stage which is a green egg like structure growing on the leaf. Safer's soap kills them right away but I have to check it every day. The orange hoppers turned black later in the day and are the kind we usually get. None of my other plants are being hit with this junk.

[VajraPirate]

I hear ya guys. My small tree is having some problems too, but atleast growth is robust.

How often do these guys need repotted? I've had mine in a six inch pot for quite awhile. It's probably rootbound. Is that a bad thing?

I've been noticing holes in the leaves usually two of them near the base of the leaf one either side of the central "vein" and the edges are looking jagged, but I don't think it's pests this time around, I've been keeping a very close eye out for them and have noticed none. Could it possibly be radial heat damage or a nutrient problem?

Any help would be great, I don't want to see this plant go downhill again.

Stoney, you've always been helpful with my kratom questions, whatcha think is going on here?

[Stonehenge]

Could be most anything, Vp. I would have no idea about the holes. Could be insect damage, wind damage or lack of nutrition. They grow a large root system so if yours has been in there a while and is getting large, it probably needs repotting. I use the old pot to form a hole in the soil of the new pot. Then, make sure the soil is moist and slip the rootball out of the old pot and into the hole you made. If you do it right the rootball fits into the hole and no transplant stress.

[VajraPirate]

Yeah, I'm stuck. I don't know it could be insects, but they must be almost microscopic if it is, either that or REAL sneaky. I've been hitting it with a light neem spray every few days as a preventative measure if it is pests. For all I know it could be the neem that's causing the damage.

The plant spreads out about 16 inches and stands 12 above the pot. To me that seems a little big for the six inch pot it's in.

I've been feeding it 7-7-7 every other week. Do you think that's often enough? Information on the cultivation of this plant is rare on the net, so it's been kind of hit and miss with me so far. Luckily there are others who have more experience growing this than I.

Growth has been quite dense within the past month, inside under flouro tubes and a group of cfl's. I've been doing something right! I just wish I knew what it was. I don't see how repotting it could hurt so i'll go ahead and do that soon. Thanks for the advice, stoney.

I know it's probably pointless but I've made some recent attempts at rooting leaf cuttings, I seriously doubt I'll have any luck, but if I don't I can always let them dry and store them for awhile, until I have enough to bother with.

edit: goofed up the post.

[Bongo]

Oh, Man.
I may this evening have stumbled on a nearly 9 foot Kratom tree in my neighbourhood.
As you may know, I live here in Japan where the climate is not that cold and things like coconut trees survive the winter.
This thing is growing against a South facing wall of a small garage.
Tommorrow, I will take photos, cuttings and some seed pods which still seem to be hanging off the tree. Hopefully someone here will be able to tell at glance if it is or isn't what I hope it is.

[senorsalvia]

Wishing you the best on your find!! ----  Do let us know---- senorsal