Mesembryanthemum Species, Kanna

Beautifull succulent with a lush, thick leathery foliage that sometimes almost seem to reflect sunlight. im going to discuss growth requi...Read Morerements, propagation and alkaloids/medicinal usage.

I've read many peoples report and i also have experience growing this one. With seeds , germination is not always reliable sometimes you get batches that germinate and sometimes they dont. Often out of 10 seeds at least 1 or 2 will germinate but that is the minimum germination rate you can expect.

Another problem with seedlings is that they are prone to overwater, dampening off, or too much light / temperature changes. Often seedling grow extremely slow OR they somehow become dormant or stop growing altogether and die. if you are lucky in 5 months you kanna plant becomes the size of the one that is on the photo posted by little_things. Cuttings are way faster, matter in fact a cutting taken from a young plant often outgrows the original mother plant itself. i have taken very small cuttings ( maybe 5 or 7 cm ) and after 2 months they have become 15 to 20 cm ( in the right conditions ) right now they are making side branches like crazy.

Once they get mature they are actually pretty fast growing and quitte adaptable.

Light : Indoors they thrive on both southern , southwest or western window. they can actually surivive pretty low light conditions but they just dont look as good and produce little alkaloids in low light conditions. outdoors they do get sunburned if they receive sun all day without high air humidity. even here in the netherlands when we have a day where air humidity is low outdoors it gets slight sunburn.

Air humidity : They do not really care about air humidity but seems to grow faster with higher air humidity. when grown with direct sun all day ( like on a southern window or outdoors ) they do need higher air humidity to prevent sunburn. You cannot however mist them, they need to get their humidity from other plants or systems.

Pot: Always use clay pots so minerals of tapewater can leech out of the medium, do not use black colored pots or plastic that gets heated in sunlight. This plant often has a few weeks of dormancy in summer, but outside the dormancy period if temperatures get too high especially on the soil and roots it may go dormant. that is why i use large thick clay pots to keep the soil temperature constant. I always use a drip tray , i would never use a pot holder and waterproof pot that is a recipe for disaster.

Medium: Houseplant soil ( coccopeat preferred ) and make sure the top layer ( first 5 cm or 7.5 cm ) is made of fast draining cactus soil. this way you keep pests and fungi that live on the soil surface at bay. They need more nutrients/mineral/elements than most cacti or succelents.

Watering : Keyword ; water them often but make sure the soil dries out often as well. They can withstand drought but not as good as most succulents, cacti or agave. What they need is a soil that dries out fast but one that is rich in nutrients so that you can water often without overwatering it - that is the reason the top layer is cactus soil and the pot is made of clay.At my place when they get direct sun on sunny days on the southwest windowsill ( like now in summer ) the soil dries out in 2 or3 days , i water them every 2 or 3 days. Im not sure about giving cold water in the middle of the day, i did this a few times and it didn't seem to damage the plant, but i think its better if you water them late morning so there is less temperature difference between soil temperature and water. NEVER water them in the evening , dusk or nightfall. Don't water them too early in the morning ( unless you have no choice ), never water them in late afternoon unless it's summer and the soil is dry, after watering it needs to evaporate. the Underwatering or overwatering both slow down growth and make them stressed. DO NOT WATER THE STEMS OR LEAVES, WATER DIRECTLY INTO THE SOIL, cuttings have different needs( see below ).

Fertilizer : DO fertilize them often, don't treat them like regular cacti or succelents because they do need more nutrients. fertilize them once a week with a balanced fertilizer or liquid cactus fertilizer. Once the plant goes dormant ( it stops growing and flowering is minimal ) there is no need to fertilize them, but in my opinion it doesn't hurt them if you do it is just a waste of fertilizer and adds acidity to the soil.

Flowering and seeds : I do not deadhead them, especially in the flowering period they flower like crazy. deadheading them only creates more wounds where fungi and other pathogens can infect the plant. just let the flowers from seedpots and when those are dried out remove them. If you want to sow seeds from a specimen i recommend doing it immediatly when the seed has ripened.

Important note :Time to make cuttings ( im in the netherlands ) is around 20 or 25 april, at the end of april. in summer cuttings may go dormant and fail to show any sign of rooting. too high temperatures in summer do not promote rooting. autumn and winter do not have enough light hours regardless of temperature. Do not use bottom heat at all, it only creates excessive water loss and/or increase in pathogens. Temperature should be around 20 C or 18 C consistent day and night, just normal room temperature is good.

Indoor Cuttings : When a kanna plant is really happy and well treated all stems are clothed with leaves , matter in fact my large kanna plant is so thickly covered with leaves that it's almost impossible to take good cuttings. you have to remove alot of leaves and it only create more wounds where rot can set in - to many or roughly cut stems often root slower than neatly cutted stems , however often when treated well they will still root , just expect plant to root very slow or expect a certain loss of cuttings. I didn't had problems with rot etc but cuttings that have alot of damaged surface grows and roots 4 or 5 times slower than good clean cutting.

A good way to get good cuttings is to keep a plant in low light conditions for a while until it has formed longer stems with less succulent leafs ( only do this when there is no good spot to or stem to make a cutting) . those long stems are easier to cut and root and you dont have to remove leaves, if you take it below a node smaller leaves that are created in low light conditions are easier to remove. HOWEVER BEFORE making cuttings just put the plant back in full light exposure for a week or 2 to make sure they got enough carbohydrates and water stored in the stems and leaves. Make sure you make the cutting under a node where leaves come out, you also can root plain stem but i noticed you have a higher rooting % and high grow rate when you take it below a node.

IMPORTANT : make sure you let the cutting dry for 24 on a dark spot, callous tissue contains more root forming cells. People who plant cuttings without letting the cutting surface go callous often have low percentage.

what you need is cactus soil .. yes cactus soil , no soil for seedlings or cuttings just the plain cactus soil. and use small pots so the water evaporated quickly, larger pots with too much medium only hold more water. When you take cuttings use small light coloured plastic pots and no clay pots, small clay pots dry out too quickly. USE ROOTING HORMONE , i use a powdered one, this is one of those succulents that really need rooting hormone for cuttings.

place cuttings in normal depth in the soil ( just like most succelents and cacti just a few centimeters in the medium) and water them SLIGHTLY... with slightly i mean dripping some drops of water over the leaves down the stem in the soil VERY LITTLE AND SPARINGLY. let it dry for 3 days and repeat, just repeat this procedure when you are sure the medium is completely dry. meanwhile KEEP THEM IN LIGHT SHADE. a light but sunless position... so no filtered sunlight , no partial or no morning or evening sunlight -no direct sunlight whatsoever. Matter in fact for the first week i keep my cuttings for 5 days ( week 1 ) in shade, after that ( week 2) i keep them a week in brighter conditions and after that i keep them in light shade ( bright but sunless week 3 ) .

When water keep dripping drops over the leaves and stems into the soil, water VERY LITTLE AND VERY SPARINGLY. at the end of week 2 you may add liquid houseplant food the the water because kanna can take up water and nutrients through leaves and stems, just be sure to use a balanced liquid houseplant fertilizer example : NPK 8-8-8. and follow the guidelines on the container.

On week 4 i move them to partial sunlight or on a spot where to receive at least some sunlight wether partial of filtered, and if i notice any growth ( new buds , stem forming or whatever ) i water them normally like any house plant and move them in a position where they receive full direct sun all day. This period you need to put all the cuttings in full direct sun, at this time if a cutting isn't showing any sign of growth still put it in full sun and water it normally ( on the soil ).

Do not repot cuttings whatsoever , only repot them when they are getting really large and heavy ( developing new 8cm or 10 cm stems covered with thick succelent leaves ) i repot them after 2 months or maybe 3.

This is how i do it ( with a southern and southwestern windowsills)

week 1 : first 5 days shade
week 2, end of week 1: light shade
week 3, end of week 2 : bright shade ( very bright but no direct sun) start adding balanced houseplant fertilizer to water that you drip over the leaves and stem )
week 4, end of week 3 : partial sunlight
end of week 4 full sunlight exposure

As you can see my room is very light, i have windows on south , southwest and small windows north and this is just my living room. if you have a west window or not such bright room as me i recommend you keep the cuttings in Bright but sunless as much as possible. ( on a windowsill but without direct sunlight hitting the plant ) keep it in partial sunlight at the end of week 3 and move it to full sun at the end of week 4.

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mesembrine is the main psychoactive alkaloid that is present in kanna, it has a interesting molecular structure that somewhat similar to venlafaxine or desvenlafaxine. It is a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor (PED4). it also contains a ray of other alkaloids that act on serotonin reuptake inhibition and PED4 called mesembrenone, mesembrenol and tortuosamine. Only mesembrine is the focus of main research right now.

i have experiences with different extracts of kanna, UC2 extract was pretty potent. Effects are like regular anti-depressants but you do not suffer the side effects that are caused by regular synthetic anti-depressant drugs. Only side effect that you can have with kanna is a headache when you overdose it , but there is no need to take alot of kanna , often with UC2 extract or other strong extracts i would take 70 mg or 100 mg at that was clearly enough.

Kanna does have interactions with alot of other herbs and drugs, it had interactions with rhodiola and st.johnswort. with rhodiola combination i got a harsh headache and with st.johnswort i got very light in my head and had anoying ringing in my ear ( uncomfortable feeling). sometimes when i combined kanna with rhodiola and / or st. johnswort i felt somewhat a light reminiscence of serotonin syndrom in the form of headache and restlessness. some people also report negative side effects when combined with kava kava.

I wouldn't describe the positive effect as euphoria, it lifts your mood very well and indeed has potent anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects. i also noticed i had less social anxiety and more motivation to engage communication with people wether i know them or not. it also had nootropic effects and improved memory , i noticed i could concentrate and recall things better. Kanna was historically also used for its pain killing properties, i can imagine like SSRI anti-depressants it would have some painkilling abilities against certain types of pain. it is adminstered in many ways , i live in the netherlands and its popular among some folks here and there especially duch south africans. some make snuff out of it and snort it but i rather use it orally with cold water.

kanna should never be mixed with any other medicine or drug. yes i t is researched for disorders and drug addiction but combining kanna with anti-depressants or psychoactive drugs like MDMA is surely a way to get serotonin syndrom. kanna is widely know to increase the effects of cannabis and to mute the effects of psychedelics.

All in all a great plant that its getting endangered in its native habitat it's a shame , such medicinal plant should get more respect and should be cultivated by more people.

Tip : Make sure you ferment ( just like tea fermenting ) the leaves and dry them before using them. leaves and stems that are cut are exposed to stress and fermentation increases the amount of mesembrine from 2 fold to 8 fold ( varies ) .

Easily germinated in a moist, peat-based seedling mix under grow lights. Young seedlings appreciate moisture, but watering requirements d...Read Moreiminish as they get older. In my situation, only the very strongest seedlings have survived to maturity. Those that have are thriving in a potting mix consisting of compost with a blend of sand and perlite for good drainage.

Kanna behaves like a succulent, but don't treat it like aloe or cacti - young plants appreciate sunlight, but tend to get burned under full sun *and* 90+F (32+C) temperatures. On the opposite end, this species is frost tender. So while plants appreciate strong sunlight, they do not withstand extremes of hot or cold. This situation will be familiar to those with experience in growing various Alpine and Andean plants. I have noticed that plants thrive when overwintered indoors, kept around 65F (18C), under bright ambient light. As such, it will succeed nicely as a houseplant if given sufficient lighting.

I have learned that the most likely mistake one will make is overwatering this plant as it matures. When potted in fast draining soil and a well lit location, I have found success in watering Kanna only when it just begins to look a little droopy. This simple watering regimen has resulted in plants that are healthy and growing well.