How to Grow Kratom: An Essential Guide [+Tips]

Kratom is one of the up-and-coming contenders in the category of psychoactive plants with practical uses. An enticing thing about using this plant is it can be cultivated right at your home. If you’re looking for info on how to grow kratom, you have come to the right place.

This plant is one of the most rewarding plants to propagate, especially as they offer a whole lot of benefits, but they have very specific needs. 

The good news is you can successfully cultivate this plant in your garden or backyard by implementing proper growing techniques. If you are interested in growing kratom trees in your backyard, here’s what you need to know.

What You Need to Know About Kratom Seeds

Not all kratom seeds are built the same. Some of them are just not viable and will refuse to sprout regardless of the planting methods you use. Because of this, you need to look for a batch with just the right viability rate

Fresh seeds are an excellent choice as it has a viability rate of around 20%, while below-average ones have at least 10% viability rates. This means that you need to plant five fresh seeds in one hole or 10 not-so-fresh ones to improve your chances of getting seedlings.

You can easily differentiate fresh from dried ones by looking at their texture and color. Fresh ones have a pleasant green color and have smooth surfaces, while dried ones are brownish in color and have a leathery feel.

The thing learning how to grow kratom is that its seeds tend to lose viability the more time you wait to plant them because they dry out more and more. 

If you are not sure how to pick the most practicable batch of seeds, your best bet is to ask your seller how long the seeds have been harvested.

Finding the right seeds can be difficult, especially as they can lose all of their feasibility during the transport from the farm to the seller. The rule of thumb is the nearer the source is, the better. This is why many retailers indicate where the tree was cultivated.

Is Growing Kratom Legal?

Knowing how to choose the right seeds, you might think you are ready to learn how to grow a kratom tree. Well, there’s one thing you might want to know and that is the legality of kratom in the United States. 

You will be glad to know that this plant is not listed under the Controlled Substances Act, despite the Food and Drug Administration’s stand that mitragyna speciosa does not have worthwhile therapeutic merits.

The better news is it is legal in the majority of the states, including DC. Only six states ban this tree namely Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. 

So, if you are not a resident of any of these states and you want to cultivate your own, the best move is to learn how to grow kratom. Just watch out if you are in Sarasota County, Florida as it is banned in that area. 

How to Grow a Kratom Tree?

Let’s move on to the part you’ve been waiting for: home-growing kratom. Say you have your well-chosen seeds at the ready. Your next step is to find a sunny and breezy place to plant them, then look for the best soil for this plant.

One thing you should remember on how to grow kratom is that, first and foremost, it is a tree. Trees typically take years before they mature and provide consistent yields. For kratom, the timeline can be anywhere between two to three years. 

Make sure to give your seeds a few weeks to grow into seedlings from the time you sowed them. Your plant will grow roots during the first few weeks of the seedling stage. 

Your kratom will take a few months in this phase. The good news is you will need to trim the seedlings from the first few weeks and months to prevent excessive water loss, so you will have a supply of leaves to test its benefits, albeit small. 

Around the second year, you will be ready for your first harvest. The third year is when your tree will be mature enough to handle monthly harvests. 

Now, let’s say you do not have a garden or a backyard where you can plant your kratom tree. The best alternative is to cultivate it indoors in pots with the help of growing equipment. 

What you will be happy to learn about is that you can propagate this plant by cloning. This is the process of cultivating a genetically identical plant from cuttings. You can use leaves or steams from one kratom plant and cultivate it to grow a new one. 

Your plant can take a shorter time to become a sapling compared to growing it from scratch using seeds. 

Best Environment to Grow Kratom

Above, we discussed the essentials of how to grow kratom, which can only grow under the right conditions, including the plot, environment, and soil you use.

The first thing you should keep in mind when looking for a great plot to sow them is that kratom is native to Southeast Asia, a region with a tropical climate. This is why this tree naturally craves wind and plenty of sunlight. Sufficient water is also imperative.

If you fail to find the perfect spot for your tree, then the best way to go is to try to recreate conditions similar to its native environment. To mimic the amount of sunlight, you can use grow lights, especially if you are growing your tree indoors.

Locations with enough light but with minimal wind can be easily remedied by taking a fan and letting it blow air toward your tree. 

Of course, you should always make sure that your plant is well-watered, but not too much during the seedling stage. Once it grows into a tree, you can water it a lot as it is used to moisture in its original tropical environment.

When learning how to grow kratom what you should watch out for is failing to water your tree adequately, especially if it is in a well-lit place outdoors or if it gets enough heat and light for LEDs. Light can dry out the soil, preventing the tree from getting the water it needs to sustain itself.

Temperature is also an important factor that can facilitate the growth of a kratom tree. Remember that it is a tropical plant, which means that it is used to high temperatures. 

If you live in an area where temps never fall under 60 degrees F, then you are in luck. Anything below 50 degrees can kill your plant, so temperature control is a vital thing, which can be easier for indoor cultivation but harder for outdoors. 

Now let’s talk about soil. What you should know about kratom is it nutrient-hungry, especially as it natively grows in rainforests where the soil is rich in nitrogen. 

You want to choose soil that is fairly acidic and packed with nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. The ideal pH level for this tree is 5.5 to 6.5. 

Make sure to keep a close eye on the acidity level as the plant’s growth along with constant watering can affect the soil’s chemistry. Anything beyond this threshold can wreak havoc in your plant’s biochemistry, particularly its efficiency to absorb nutrients.

From sowing your seeds to keeping an eye on the growing sapling, your job will be quite challenging. Thankfully, you can get help from fertilizers when it comes to providing sufficient nutrients. A great choice would be a 5:1:1 ratio of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.

How Cost-Effective is it to Grow Kratom?

If you are looking to buy and grow kratom seeds, chances are you are familiar with what this plant has to offer. In light of this, you might be wondering if learning how to grow kratom will be more worth your time, effort, and money.

What you need to remember is without a tree of your own, you will need to purchase kratom products to get its benefits. This means that you are constantly spending money on kratom.

This is not to say that you will not spend a dime when preparing for a small home farm. You will definitely need to shed a few bucks between purchasing seeds or cuttings to preparing your plot or pots.

You also need to spend more in case you need help from growing equipment such as LED lights, fans, and temperature control systems. Plus, you can bet that these machines consume a lot of energy, not to mention the tree needing a lot of water.

What makes growing kratom cost-effective is your long-term savings. Your tree is a renewable source of leaves making it a much more sustainable choice. With how hardy these plants are, you can get yields from them for a long, long time. 

Closing Thoughts

Now that you know how to grow kratom, you are on your way to getting your renewable source. While waiting for your seed to grow, your best bet is to purchase kratom products from Kratom Krush. Browse our online shop now to get your items delivered right to your doorstep.