KRATOM GROWING PART 1: SETTING UP A GREENHOUSE WITH PROPER HUMIDITY AND LIGHT LEVELS IN ORDER TO SIMULATE A TROPICAL RAINFOREST - Kratom Cafe
I have been using Kratom for 10 years, and during those 10 years I have always dreamed of growing my own Kratom tree. I’ve tried a couple of times before and failed. The first time I obtained seeds but they were extremely old, the second time I tried to root a cutting and over watered it and didn’t give it enough sunlight.
However, I managed to get in contact with a local grower, and he brought me over this wonderful Kratom tree. Apparently it is 2 years old, which is a major positive, since younger plants can die for numerous reasons, while slightly more aged Kratom trees are much more hardy. Here is a picture from the day I received it.
Once I received the Kratom tree I ordered everything I needed on Amazon in order to create a simulated tropical rainforest environment.
Indeed, although the Kratom tree was receiving direct sunlight through an eastern window in the early morning, it was nowhere near enough sunlight since it is just for a short time each day, and the humidity and temperature in the house is too low. If left as is the tree would barely grow, and could possibly die.
The first major essential is a grow light, which has powerful enough light for plants to thrive indoors. I researched for many hours on Amazon, and eventually found a 1,200 W light. The major points of this light were that it came with a hanging kit, so I could hover it over the Kratom tree, and it had red/blue light.
Essentially, red and blue light is the best sort of light for indoor plants to proliferate. In this case, I am using both red and blue light, which creates a deep purple glow. Also, there are some white LED lights embedded within the red and blue LEDs, so this grow light truly gives the Kratom tree every frequency of light that it needs.
The next major ingredient is a greenhouse. The greenhouse is literally like a sealed in bubble, so I can create tropical rainforest conditions in the greenhouse without turning my house into a tropical rainforest.
Finally, another major ingredient was a humidifier. Basically, the greenhouse alone traps heat, and theoretically could increase humidity if I really watered the plant a lot. However, the humidifier is a much better way to increase humidity in the greenhouse, since it shoots out steam and rapidly raises humidity level, without having to depend on watering the plant to generate humidity, which could lead to overwatering.
I assembled all the pieces together and hovered the grow light over the Kratom tree, as can be seen in the article image.
I then noted the humidity levels in the house were near 55% with a temperature of 75 F, which is far too little humidity for a Kratom tree, and also the temperature is a little too cool for Kratom to thrive.
I turned on the grow light and sealed up the greenhouse, and the temperature rose to 78 F, but humidity dropped to 51%. Indeed, when you increase the temperature of a parcel of air the humidity will drop, and this is bad for the Kratom tree, since the air will literally be sucking moisture out of the Kratom tree at a rapid pace.
I then turned on the humidifier, and the temperature rose to 82 F, with a humidity of 90-100%, which is perfect growing conditions for a Kratom tree. Indeed, this is similar to the conditions in a tropical rainforest, if not a bit better, because it’s a good temperature but not scorching hot.
Notably, the whole greenhouse began to fog up as can be seen above. I then turned off the humidifier so that the grow light would not get damaged from the condensation. I then tracked humidity over the course of the next couple of hours, and it remained near 90% for a long time before slowly dropping to 70%, at which point I turned the humidifier back on.
Basically, it seems I will be needing to turn on the humidifier every couple of hours, and will raise the humidity to 95-100%, turn off the humidifier, and then turn it on again when it drops to 70%. I can probably seal up the bottom of the greenhouse better so that the humidity remains elevated for longer.
On a final note, the Kratom growing expert who gave me this tree advised me that the best fertilizer, until it gets comfortable in its new environment, is coffee grounds. In-fact, this tree has been apparently fed coffee grounds every morning for awhile.
I found out from another Kratom growing expert that Starbucks gives free coffee grounds to gardeners, and so I went to Starbucks and got a big bag, as can be seen above. I am just mixing a small amount of this with water and applying it to Kratom tree occasionally (not every day).
Interestingly, Coffee grounds really are a fertilizer. They contain the minerals and nutrients from the rich volcanic soil that coffee is grown in, and indeed, that is the same sort of soil that Kratom thrives in over in Indonesia. Basically, Coffee grounds are exactly what Kratom trees need.
Stay tuned for future articles on Kratom Cafe as the Kratom grow op continues!
