Rooting Salvia: Soil Method

[sunsnail]

Rooting Salvia: Soil Method
By: Sunsnail

I've been growing Salvia divinorum for a few years now, and have propagated dozens of plants using this method. It has never failed to produce a healthy plant. Instead of placing the cutting in water, I place it in soil. This differs from rooting in water in a few ways.

Advantages of Soil Rooting
No shock transferring it from water to soil
Reduced risk of fungal infection
Produces roots quicker

Disadvantages of Soil Rooting
More difficult to check on rooting process


First: Gather your materials. You will need one Salvia divinorum plant, knife or razor, a 2L soda bottle with the bottom cut out, and a pot with soil. Any soil will work, whether its sandy, or filled with clay. I use standard potting soil.

NOTE: The pictures in this guide show using scissors to take the cutting but it is highly recommended that you use a razor or knife instead.



Locate your cutting. I like larger cuttings with 5-8 nodes on them. The plants establish themselves much quicker this way. Plants with as little as ONE node can be successfully rooted though. They just take about ten times as long to develop.


Use a sharp knife or razor that has been sterilized (by burning it, soaking in alcohol, or both) to make the cut.


One Cutting!


Strip the leaves off of the bottom 1-3". This part will be stuck in the soil. The leaves can be thrown away or used in other ways.


You can optionally dip the end in rooting powder. I've always used rooting powder, so I do not know how much it actually helps the process.


Stick the plant in the dirt, about 2-3 inches in. In theory, the more stem that is submerged in soil, the more roots.


Place the bottle on top of the plant. This keeps the plant from dying. When the leaves are much larger than the bottle, you can get them to fit in the bottle by pulling the leaves up, starting from the bottom. Think about the top of a pineapple. The leaves are facing upwards. Make sure the bottle is pressed an inch or two in the dirt


Water the plant a lot. Every 3 days at least, but every 2 days wouldn't hurt, especially in hotter climates.


Finally, place the plant with all your other Salvia plants. If outside, placing the plant behind a larger, more established Salvia gives it a good shading from the hot sun. Depending on lots of variables, your Salvia plant should have roots in 1 week. By week 2, your Salvia should be established enough to have the bottle taken off. If you take the bottle off and the plant droops down, put the bottle back on and wait another week. Take the bottle off again, in the evening. Give it plenty of water, and some tough love, and it will adjust to the climate by then.

[Paradoxic]

AWESOME guide!!! Great pictures and very easy to follow. Thanks a lot sunsnail, I hope to see more of you guides. I definitely will try this method out in the future.

[sunsnail]

Well, this plant has a well established root system and is ready to grow nice and big, or be traded for another plant.  

[Trent1080]

NEVER USE SCISSORS TO CUT A SELECTED STEM FOR ROOTING!!!!!!  The scissors crimp the zylem shut which transport water and nutrients to the plant.  When cutting off a piece of the plant use a BRAND NEW razor blade or something sharper.  This leaves the zylem intact and insures greater success.  If by chance you are rooting by using a water method submerge the section you are cutting to prevent air from entering the zylem.  Water and nutrients travel up the plant by using the tension-cohesion mechanism and if there is even one air bubble it won't work, decreasing your odds of success.  Remove the plant section quickly and submerge the stem in water.  When you change the water put the plant in another container than back in the original after new water is added.  As soon as you can see white root then you don't have to exercise such care.  This is the biggest mistake people make when trying to root any plant.  ALWAYS USE A SHARP BLADE!!

[Paradoxic]

You're definitely right, I didn't think about that. I will update this article to use a razor instead.

Thanks for the input. Genius+

[nick97]

You're definitely right, I didn't think about that. I will update this article to use a razor instead.

Thanks for the input. Genius+

Always use a razor blade at a 45 degree angle. Always trim off excess leaves, except for the top 3-5 leaves. NEVER dip the cutting into the container containing the rooting hormone. ALWAYS use a plastic spoon, and a small amount of rooting hormone, and dip the cutting into the plastic spoon. Thoroughly clean the spoon, and proceed with the next cutting. Cleanliness is key!!

You might want to add that into your nice write up.




Take care,


-Nick