To those growing a Kratom tree in a pot. Warning

[labdog03]

To all those that may be nurturing our beloved tree indoors, or wherever, in a POT. This is the time Kratom growth will slow way down, possibly even stop growing all together, and maybe drop its leaves. Do not despair, this is NORMAL...It will sprout right back out come Spring (as long as it does not FREEZE, so protect your seedlings, preferably INDOORS)...The MAIN THING to be careful with now is OVER WATERING. Now that they have stopped the growth phase for the year, they need very little water. It is VERY easy to over water. I have been bringing my pots in and out with the cold fronts already (uughhh), and not paying attention I have overwatered a few of them. Particularly the tiny ones. Main symptoms are browning and curling of the leaves around the edges. Funny cause it almost looks like they are wilting from LACK of water. This not the case. Try lifting the pot and "feeling" its weight to see if it's dry or not...This is the easiest way to KILL your baby, so please be aware, and be careful not to give them too much water. Good Luck my little friends, dream of the tropics and vigorous growth while you sleep, haha. Till next year....

[whiffypants]

THANK YOU, Labdog!

Yup, Bobby's definitely nodding off and heading into sleepytime. He's got some leaf blanching and ugliness, but nothing that makes me think he looks sick so I haven't been worrying. Because of your careful instructions when I got him I knew to expect this, but others may not, so...

In other news, I got a little lemon balm plant a couple months ago, and she brought fungus gnats with her, so I've been keeping a VERY close eye on him because fungus gnats can ruin even the healthiest kratom tree.

I don't want to go with non-food-safe chemical treatments, but between H2O2, diatomaceous earth, neem, chamomile and cinnamon he seems to be doing fine. The H2O2 and diatomaceous earth didn't seem to do much, but the one time neem oil application plus ongoing addition of chamomile and cinnamon to regular watering seem to be doing the trick. They got my green onions, but Bobby and Basil are doing fine, as well as the lemon balm that brought them in.

Here he is today:

[brave777]

I am glad you posted this, i over watered my baby, because leafs all turned brown and some spider web on top. i trmed the top off, and added more water. I thought it was dead, but since you mentioned not to over water, i need to figure how to get the water out now.. I kinda gave up on it but you brought some hope, i ll see what i can do. thank you for this post. if my plant lives, you saved it.

[whiffypants]

Brave, without knowing whether your guy is indoor or outdoor, I can tell you that if you have adequate drainage in your pot, just let him dry out naturally over the next few days. Your pot should have enough holes in the bottom to where excess water drains out every time you water, so if that's the case you're golden. Just don't water as frequently or as much going forward.

If your pot doesn't drain, or you feel like he's flooded, carefully unpot him over some newspaper or what have you (Google how to do this, it's easy if the plant isn't very big) drain the excess water from the pot, and then gently put him back in. As long as you are careful not to disturb the root ball you're golden. But only do this if you know he's flooded and you know you don't have good drainage.

To me, if your guy is outside and turned brown, he's doing what he's supposed to. But if he's inside and doing that, you might have a problem.

My two cents, anyhow. Labdog is the expert so if he says different listen to him instead, of course.

[Kunlong]

(This is a Great thread! Should be pinned for pilgrims?)

I had a friend that thought his had died because of season drop.

Colloidial silver, watered down, is used to kill bad molds but it kills all fungus (the good ones too) and can actually leave your plant less fed and protected. It works! All to well and changes pot plants from female to male! (Aggh!)

So the above method seems a lot better?

If you did silver your plant and its not sick or really thriving, repot in new soil with Rhizome microbial for the restoring of its "good" mycos that get more water into roots and resist mold.

People read the "greenhouse secret" but it never seems to tell the whole thing, just "it kills mold!" Not enough about restoring or genetic changes. But repot/rhizome and it will thrive again.