Here at Kratom Cafe we have been growing a Kratom tree, with a tropical rainforest microclimate being setup in part 1 via a greenhouse, grow light, and humidifier, and hay being added in part 2 which led to a proliferation of Kratom leaves.
Now it’s been 5 days since part 2, and things have progressed rapidly. The best way to describe it is this is like the movie ‘Evolution‘, where a meteor crashed to Earth and the cave where it crashed quickly turned into a flourishing alien ecosystem and then into an alien civilization.
Basically, there is now an entire biome worth of various insects, including ants and some small flying insects, and many others which I can’t identify, which have built their civilization in the Kratom tree. It seems they really love the hay that I added, and have turned it into a home.
Literally, whenever I water the Kratom tree, a trove of insects begin scurrying everywhere. Also, anytime of the day I look at the Kratom tree, there are insects crawling over the leaves.
Additionally, there is a fungus growing across the hay.
This might sound really bad, especially to people who have phobias of insects, but this is actually exactly what a tropical rainforest is like. At the base of every Kratom tree in the wild there is all sorts of insects and fungi. Indeed, these insects came with the Kratom tree, since it was outside for 2 years, and they simply began to flourish thanks to the hay and constant 90-100% humidity.
Importantly, it seems the insects are not eating the Kratom leaves at all. Indeed, Kratom’s alkaloids are actually meant to deter pests, and therefore the insects get no benefits from the leaves, and don’t bother the leaves at all.
Further, I dare to say that the insects and fungi and all the other microorganisms that have built their civilization in my Kratom tree are beneficial to the Kratom tree.
Theoretically, the insects probably produce all sorts of fertilizer in a natural way, and indeed, soil on Earth comes from plant matter, like the Hay I added, decomposing into soil via the action of insects and fungi.
Although I don’t have any direct scientific proof for this theory, that in this case all of these insects and fungi are good for the Kratom tree, there is plenty of subjective proof. The Kratom tree has been absolutely flourishing, with new sets of leaves popping out every day.
I received the Kratom tree less than 2 weeks ago, and there must be dozens of new leaves already, most of which has popped out in the past few days, and these new leaves are growing to full size within a week of first appearing.
A picture of this new growth can be seen below. In this picture, the two large leaves came with the tree when I got it, and everything above that is new growth. Literally 6 new healthy leaves in just 1 part of the plant.
Most notably, when I first got the Kratom tree there was one main trunk which had lots of leaves, and three side branches which looked quite dead, with barely any leaves on them. Suddenly these branches are coming to life and sprouting lots of new leaves, and it seems they are on track to become lush Kratom branches. Pictures of these revived side branches can be seen below.
Thus, the Kratom tree is flourishing in these rainforest conditions, and it seems the insect civilization that has arisen is only helping. Considering this, I am just watering the tree once a day or every other day, and keeping it at 90-100% humidity, and other than that letting nature take it’s course.
Stay tuned as the Kratom grow continues on Kratom Cafe!