Interested in starting a new small Kratum plant from a large 4 year old one

Question

Does anyone know how to start a new Kratum plant from an old one?

For a little context, my young cats are attacking my large, four-year-old Kratum plant since I brought the plant in for the winter. They generally only bother it when they want my attention, but I suspect it will not last the winter.

I've put the plant inside a cage. Beyond that, there's not much I can think of doing to protect it because there are two cats, both of whom are only a year old and very inquisitive, and they've figured out that I'll get up and stop what I'm doing once they start digging up the soil and tearing up the leaves of my plants.

All my other plants are smaller and I've put them inside larger, enclosed containers. Sadly, the Kratum plant is a little too large for that - about three feet tall and more than a foot or so wide.

Because of the cats' treatment, the poor thing is not doing well anymore. About half of its leaves are shredded and I keep finding its soil dug out so much that its roots are bare several inches down into its pot. I'm considering moving it into the basement with a plant light to allow it to recover, but that's not a good longterm solution. I'll almost definitely forget to care for it down there any longer than a few weeks.

This brings me to my main question. I'm thinking that a good approach might be to start a new, smaller Kratum plant from the old, larger one while the larger one is recovering in the basement. If I can do that, then I can keep the smaller plant inside one of the enclosed containers with my other plants.

I often take cuttings and use rooting hormone to start new plants from old ones, but that's not working with the Kratum so far. I'm wondering if I'm just stressed about this or if there's some other way to propagate Kratum.

Does anyone know how to start a new Kratum plant from an old one?

Answer 1

I did not get an answer to this question so I did a lot of research about it.

One thing I learned is that Kratum plants are very similar to coffee plants. I therefore attempted to propagate my Kratum plant in a way similar to how I might successfully propagate a coffee plant.

I started by taking four cuttings, 3/16 to 5/16 inches or so in diameter and about 3 or 4 inches long with a couple of leaves on their ends.

I used a perlite/peatmoss mix I've used for other types of cuttings before, moistening it well before planting the cuttings.

I planted each of the cuttings in a container so that my cats could not get to them. I poked a few small holes in each container for ventilation.

Lastly, after swishing their cut ends in growth hormone, I gently inserted each cutting into one of four predrilled holes I had made in the moist perlite/peatmoss mix. Then I loosely capped the containers to keep the cuttings safe and moist.

Happily, one of the four cuttings is showing new growth already and all four are still very healthy 22 days after being planted.