Print

[SoulGrower]

Well.. my speciosa is finally large enough that I can start taking some cuttings.  And I realized, after some requests and feedback from STS members, that it isn't as prolificly available on here as it should be    And perhaps it's bc it's a little tricky to clone.

As an experiment, I took a couple of green cuttings and put them in cups of water.  After a couple of weeks, no roots.  So they don't seem to readily root with just water.  After researching a bit, I found there was little out there, other than confirmation that it can be challenging.  Seemed airlayering (and even burying a low lying branch) was somewhat succesful. 

But today, I stumbled across an old thread on another forum and thought I would repost here for the info:


"Problems rooting Kratom cuttings ?... It just isn't that easy, unless you know what you are doing ...

Cutting Selection : Find a branch tip with short inter-nodal spacing. Nodes are the little bumps on the stem where the leaves grow out. Find a branch tip that has a lot close together. It's alright if the whole cutting is green, but more desirable if the base of the cutting is brown old-growth. Make sure that there are at least 4 if not 6 nodes in the cutting.

Cutting Preparation : Seperate the cutting from the tree with a sharp knife. It is not necessary to make the cut on an angle, perpendicular to the stem is fine. Carefully remove all the leaves except those at the top 2 nodes. If these leaves are large, cut away half of each leaf.

Container and Environment : Fill a 4" square pot (or larger) with soil (I use FoxFarm Ocean Forest) mixed with 20% (small) Perlite and 20% Vermiculite. Soak the soil. Place the cutting as deeply as possible in the pot and place the pot in a humidity tent. I used 40 gallon, clear plastic RubberMaid totes with lids (it fit's about 30 cuttings). Place the tote in partial shade and open the humidity tent everyday to change the air. Check that all soil is at least moist, if not soaked.

Care : It will take at least 3 weeks for rooting to start, some won't start for as long as a month. Leaves may fall, but do not discard the cutting unless all leaves fall and the tip turns from green to brown. After 6 weeks, transplant all cuttings to larger pots.

Earlier this Fall, I cut 40 and had 38 rooted 8 weeks later. Cuttings taken in the late Spring to late Fall seem to strike best. Don't even try it (outside) in the Winter !

This may not be the right way, but I get a 95% strike rate"



Interesting to note that later in the thread he says he got about 50% success burying limbs.  I'll be giving this a go and will follow up with how it turns out 

1 Like fairdinkumseeds likes this.

[Frog Pajamas]

Good thread! We need more mitragyna speciosa to share and trade around here.

I've tried rooting three cuttings in water without a humidity dome. Two have rooted, albiet very slowly, with one dying after being transfered to soil. The first one took five or six weeks to show any signs of roots, while the second one took about three weeks. The attached pic is the second one at about five weeks since taking the cutting, so these tiny little roots are about two weeks of growth.

[SoulGrower]

Nice FP!  ..like usual, I was prob just too impatient 

And after posting this thread, I went out to look for an appropriate cutting per the above post.  I couldn't find a branch with 4-6 nodes that weren't spaced out over 12"    Thinking that's a bit long of a cutting to bury all the nodes..

I've had it in pretty deep shade, so I think it's time to move to a sunnier location and hopefully get some nodes closer togther on the new growth.

[Frog Pajamas]

The ones I've tried so far have had the nodes spaced pretty far apart too, though I have used cuttings with 4+ nodes each time per nobody's advise. I plan to keep taking cuttings periodically, so I'll update progress here and hopefully we can get some good tried and true methods.

My plant loves full sun, though it also drinks a ton of water out there (like a gallon a day! ). When it was moved from indoor grow lights to outdoors, some of the older leaves yellowed during acclimation, but the new growth since it's been outside in full sun are a beautiful color and it's just constantly putting out dozens of new sets of leaves, albeit not much closer together than before.

[Saros]

Although not ideal, I recently found out that a 2 node cutting can be rooted. I only know because I broke one off my plant while I was watering and being clumsy. It took a a couple months, but it did finally root and I'm starting to see new growth.

Dipped in rooting hormone, one node below soil, one above with leaves. I thought it was a long shot with such a small cutting, but heck, why not try:) That was in a humidity chamber (old aquarium) that I use for rooting things. I doubt it would have been successful without it.