What I did this winter was put them in as sheltered location as possible and then lay them completely flat on the ground. I then took heavy blankets and covered them (most of the winter nights actually). By the time the spring came, they were fairly beaten up and there was a lot die back. But now with a lot of TLC, the hot summer, and worm composting for fertilizer, you can see that they are growing like crazy!

Kratom Plants

I placed these  along the back wall so that you could get a feel for the size of them. I have two different varieties, and the tallest is about 7′.  I had to give many of my kratom plants away last year when I moved to my new location, or otherwise I would have a kratom forest! I am now taking kratom cuttings, and hope that these plants will be old enough this fall to display their lovely yellow flowers. From those, I hope to capture some much sought after fresh kratom seed.

Kratom has been used traditionally for pain in Thailand and other parts of the Pacific.  One can buy kratom in the US in the form of  dried leaves, kratom extract 15x,  kratom tinctures, and so forth.

It is a lovely plant, and I am always drawn to rare and hard to find plants anyhow. I also like plants that are challenging to propagate from seeds and cutting.

Be sure and check out my earlier article on my kratom plants.

Anyhow, for those not familiar with Kanna, it is a succulent herb commonly found in South Africa, and is also known as Channa, Kougoed (Kauwgoed) – which literally means, ‘chew(able) things/goodies’ or ‘something to chew’. The plant has been used by South African peoples as a mood-altering substance from prehistoric times. It has also been referred to as “the happy plant” and is under current research as a possible antidepressant and for anxiety.

The traditionally prepared dried sceletium was often chewed and swallowed, but it has also been made into gel caps, teas and tinctures. It has also been used as a snuff and smoked.

After ordering and receiving about 50 seeds, I sowed them inside in the late winter.  Many people have a hard time germinating these seeds, and because  my research revealed that they liked a little alternate temperature treatment, I would occasionally move them between indoors and outdoors to accomplish this (between approximately 50 and 75 deg).  I succeded in sprouting 9 seedlings after a couple of weeks (pictured on the left after approximately 1 month).

I also ordered a more sprawling and hardy variety from Sacred Succulents that is called Kanna Nova. It supposedly has the same mood and anxiety effects, but I haven’t personally tested this. Anyhow, here is a picture of my Kanna Nova on the left and sceletium tortuosum on the right – taken a couple of months ago. Finally, these plants do not like a lot of heat and humidity and so it’s probably best to bring them inside during the summer (if you live in the southeast as I do).

What can I say; I am a sucker for novel and hard to find plants. Anyhow, in the past couple of years, I found myself with an interest in traditional, ceremonial, and ethnobotanical plants and learned about Mitragyna Speciosa – aka the Kratom plant. This is a tropical plant native to Asia that is related to the coffee tree, and as such it favors a warm, sunny, and tropical environment. As such, it is not tolerant of winter temperatures below about 40 deg, and must therefore be protected. With the proper light conditions, it is  grown by some as a fine indoor house plant.

Though Kratom has the potential as a lovely specimen, its main use in Southeast Asia was for its pain numbing and stimulating effects. It is said that workers and manual laborers would chew the leaves (or otherwise make a concoction) in order to alleviate the psychological and physical misery they were experiencing. Kratom contains many alkaloids including mitragynine (once thought to be the primary active), mitraphylline, and 7-hydroxymitragynine (which is currently the most likely candidate for the primary active chemical in the plant).  Kratom also contains alkaloids which are thought to play a beneficial role on the immune system and lower blood pressure, as well as epicatechin, a powerful antioxidant also found in dark chocolate and closely related to the compounds that gives green tea its beneficial effects.

In its native environment, the Kratom plant can quickly grow into a large tree topping 50 feet, and thrives in a rather wet humid environment. It has rather large, lovely leaves that can reach 10 1/2″ in length (The red vein leaves I am holding measured this length!). It is extremely difficult to grow from it’s very tiny seeds, and more so due to the fact that these seeds do not stay viable for long. I tried unsuccessfully on two different occasions to grow from several seed pods which I had ordered – totaling 100′s of seeds sown.

As it turns out, the only practical way to grow this plant was to acquire cuttings.  I ordered one 10″ rooted cutting from one vendor (a more ‘red vein’ variety),  and then another two later on from a different vendor (that had slightly different characteristics).  As you can see from my pictures, after a few months, these plants really took a liking to the Florida heat and weather. I used 10% home-grown worm castings mixed with potting soil and perlite. As you can also see from the pics, I took several cuttings and was able to reproduce the original stock. From the first three cuttings, I ended up with some plants 6′ tall and a total of 10 plants after several months.

I had intended to plant some of my larger plants in the ground, but because of the fact that I had to sell my home, I had to part with about half of my plants. However, I was able to take a couple of larger specimens with me – and some smaller cuttings which I have continued to produce.