We are having a special sale on unique defoliated genetically diverse rainforest-bred seed-sown mitragyna speciosa specimens. Rare kratom. Unique genetics.
It's June and it's hot and we're having a blowout sale. Over the last two months we transitioned a huge assortment of unique and genetically diverse kratom plants out of our greenhouses and into the great Oregon outdoors. This week we defoliated them.
Removing the leaves triggers increased alkaloid production and massive regrowth. Wherever a leaf once was, a branch will now grow in that socket.
Look at the beautiful tea the leaves made.
Deep ruby red in color, the brew put a noticeable uplift on an otherwise hot and stifling summer afternoon. The elixir was made from a variety of leaves with varying vein colors: peach leaves with orange veins, purple leaves with red veins, green leaves with pink veins, yellow leaves with green veins and (one of our favorites, pictured above) dark olive leaves with ruby red veins.
To fully appreciate the variety, look at the colors and textures of some of the leaves, up close, using a 60x magnification lens. The reason they look so beautiful and different is due to genetic diversity and the species' strong environmental adaptation response.
It is important to acknowledge this variety is a result of genetic diversity. What you see here are fully developed seed-sown specimens, not clones.
Most live kratom specimens for sale in the US are not whole plants but cuttings from one or two common clone lines. These are little pieces snipped off a bigger tree, and they are not genetically unique. If you look at a greenhouse full of a hundred clones, you are not looking at 100 different trees, you are looking at one tree cut into a hundred little pieces. That means if you get two of them, you really don't have two trees, but two pieces of the same tree... and it's the same tree everyone else has. In fact, most everyone in America with a kratom tree has a little piece of the exact same two trees, known as rifat and bumblebee. There is no genetic diversity to speak of.
As Earth stewards we stand behind genetic diversity. That's why we are offering many unique trees with their own genetic codes and diverse genetic traits, sourced from places like the 140 million year old Borneo rainforest, deep in the Costa Rican jungle, and from plantation farms and wild forests throughout southeast Asia.
As we forge the new frontier of American kratom, it is up to us develop as much genetic diversity as possible, giving this species the best possible chance to adapt and evolve in our climate. We can then consciously select the specimens with the highest tolerance for American temperature extremes, insect resistance, growth factor expression and sexual organ development for intentional cloning or cross breeding. To do either of these things successfully, growing from seed is imperative, making genetic diversity essential to the broader future of kratom in America.
At Magick Powers Potions, we put insurmountable passion into acquiring the very best genetics from numerous sources, hunting tirelessly for the most productive and ancient mother trees in some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth. From hundreds of thousands of seeds, we have grown close to a thousand plants, lovingly nurturing hundreds past the threshold of harvest maturity, with hundreds more up and coming.
We are not fulfilling orders by taking cuttings from one or two big trees, although that would certainly be easier. But lot of people already do this, and they do it well. Instead we are cultivating, housing, managing and studying enormous numbers of genetically diverse specimens, and from this large and contrasting collection we offer you our products. This is not to say we have anything against those who clone the common lines ----- we just want to do something different.
Our way is not the cheapest way. There are a lot of costs involved with growing this many plants and sending people 50 feet up into trees to collect pods in remote jungle locations. But we feel so strongly about the future of American kratom, we will go to almost any length to curate the best and most genetically diverse seed-sown stock we can. Together with other likeminded lovers of this species, we hope to make an impact on its future in America.
You can be part of this pioneering effort by purchasing genetically diverse specimens for your garden and posting photos of their development in the Magick Powers Potions Group.
Our special this month is on our recently defoliated standard specimens. 3/$120. This is a variety pack, and shape, node number and geographic origins vary. All have reached the initial threshold of harvest maturity. Mothers and varying larger and smaller sizes are also available. Inquire for additional options.
These are the trees from which all the leaves in this blog's photos were taken.
Defoliation triggers alkaloid production and massive regrowth, and makes transplanting and rehoming easy. When the leaves grow back, they grow back perfectly acclimated to the plant's new environment. This is a built-in mechanism of the species' intelligence.
In the photo above, you can see two average examples of the specimens available for this promo. With approximately 8-12 defoliated nodes on each plant set to sprout new branch pairs, these beauties are ripe for a growth explosion. All up and down the stalk, foliage will explode outward as the top terminal buds continue to unfold upward with more and more leaf pairs. These specimens will take off both vertically and horizontally.
Genetically, several geographic regions are represented in our promo selections including Borneo, the island's Kalimantan region, Bali, Costa Rica and Thailand.
We have been controlling the growth of these specimens by keeping them in very small containers, allowing their roots to drink from a modified hydro set up, but they are ready to blow up in nice big pots once they get to their forever homes. Expect lots of new leaf and branch growth over the next few months with proper light, water, nutrition and love.
For these acclimated kratom specimens, it is perfect weather outside in many States right now, and less than ideal climates can still be home to kratom with the help of indoor grow setups. If you are thinking ahead to the winter, remember you can bring your specimens indoors when the weather gets too cold or windy.
We can ship to all 50 states for ornamental purposes.
Here is a fun little clip showing what we did with some of our leaves in the process of defoliating.
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To learn more about genetic diversity and the difference between common clone lines and our wild-sourced rainforest seed stock, read about how we're different.