Another Mystery from the west

[MstryShovel]

A sad update: Arachanphael has finally kicked the bucket. root rot. for sure after i took the cuttings brown crept up the stem untill now hes over 70% brown.  Kristina caught it a bit as well (the small sprout coming up has keeled over) and 1/4 of the stem has brown creepy but is retaining her color, and a few sets of leaves elsewhere. so im optimistic she might just get horribly scarred.  my question, should i try cuttingit off like amputating that corner of her stem (its right at the base/ground so im worried about letting more rott in... Im going to do the next watering, with h2o3 concotion to just try and super oxidize the roots. and mabey eat away the old rotted part of her roots...

In other news Kaya is still doing fine, she somehow evaded much if any harm, and her small sprout has grown by a third, and I think shes switching over to get well rooted before much more change.  Clemence is also still pushing out the leaves, like gangbusters. I upped the light hours by about 2 so now they are runnign on around 8-9 hours of constant light and WOW clemence's new leaves look almost blue, i was amazed the new growth on her is strange! but interesting the small new growth is very spiked on the edges, very un-like the set one below with very rounded leaves, strange but i think its just the new growth getting a good dose of that miracle grow

[Sea Mac]

I Am sorry to hear about Arachanphael.

I've had half rotten plants get better: you just dry them out in the sun until they start to wilt. And, yes, they do grow funny after that (if they live).

That rich Deep emerald blue green means your plant is VERY HAPPY ... You WILL Notice the Difference! They grow REAL FAST and got a lovely rich color after that Miracle-Gro fertilizer. I've seen this before ... isn't that color so COOL? Almost hypnotic ....

I wish I knew what trace elements were in there that they like. They LOVE it!

But you saw pictures of that 10 month old 9 foot tree: a Poster child for Miracle-Gro ...   

[strangeworld]

I think maybe I should try miracle-gro.... it seems to get recommended here a lot. Is there a certain type of miracle-gro that is the best to use?

[MstryShovel]

I infact use "miracle grow :houseplant food" with an 8-7-6 mixture clemence my original plant LOVES it, crazy growth from her. the other plants, I admit i got too over-anxious with, and not taking into account the slower feed times (water absorption slows in the winter) and un-attached root structures(new plantings/re-pottings) of these new and winter-growing plants, over watered them.  After the surviving ones fully dried out I hit them with a good hydro-peroxided' solution so hopefully that will help them out, the remaining plants I am very hopeful for, at the least. Im thinking of taking  a que from the S.Officianalis and Garden Thyme I just pulled out of my window, they have grown gangbusters and Ive basically been ignoring them in my window for the last month, Ive asked and hopefully they will. well what will be will be, theres some IN-Fighting for dominance but hopefully the hyerarchy will be established.

SD though, once she has gotten established roots, LOVES some miracle grow. I wish I had a good pictures of the new growth on clemence, its amazing! (and weird!(genetic variability or whatever you want to call it))

[MstryShovel]

alright heres an update right before the newyear.
Kristina, one of the plants died sadly, of over wattering, RIP.

Kaya is chugging along trying to hold on. shes been battling with the same thing, and I dont think my trip out of town did her any good, i left my roomate to water my plants and when i get home she says to me... Man your plants need water all the time! i had to water them every two days!! i freaked out and was like OMGOMG but lets hope she will pull through , im gunna try blowing some air into the soil from underneath just for hopes sake.
Heres some pictures:



Clemence is doing very well still, shes very established and i can tell she cant wait untill winter is over so she can explode with growth.



see you all in the new year and I hope everyone had a happy Winter solstace-related holiday

[Sea Mac]

Overwatering!

Oh dear! I made that mistake a LOT the first year.

If I see a plant droop a little and it's soil looks bone dry I'll soak it. Mine don't get watered much ...
And they Thrive ...


But I can't get Salvia to grow indoors! You are doing MUCH Better than I AM! Mine just slowly die ... unless I take them back outdoors again ...

Happy Growing!  

[Arcygenical]

Looks good. Do you know the pH of your soil? Your MG plant food is typically very acidic, which can lock out nitrogen, hurting vegetative growth

[MstryShovel]

I do not have any way to test that, theres those paper strips i know of , is there any specific way to measure soil? also is there a kind of device or permanent reader, that isnt horrendously expencive? also whats a good ph to shoot for, for SD?

[Darty]

I've found soil ph readers in a couple of hardware/gardening stores that weren't more than $15. Haven't bought one yet, so I can't say how well they work though. Basically you wipe it, stick it in and wait a couple minutes and it's supposed to have a meter to read the ph level.

[MstryShovel]

oh good thats what Im looking for ill stop by HomeDepo when im going to get some andti fungus/bt type stuff

[Arcygenical]

I've found soil ph readers in a couple of hardware/gardening stores that weren't more than $15. Haven't bought one yet, so I can't say how well they work though. Basically you wipe it, stick it in and wait a couple minutes and it's supposed to have a meter to read the ph level.

FYI those are pretty innacurate. For example, mine reads around 8 for distilled water, and 5 for soil, which read 7 and 6 on litmus paper (which I trust way more). But a good approximation to the 10^1-2 or so.

[tcamdg]

oh good thats what Im looking for ill stop by HomeDepo when im going to get some andti fungus/bt type stuff

if you can't find Bti in spray bottle form, the active ingredient of "Mosquito Dunks(R)" is Bti.

[MstryShovel]

alright so heres a little update, everyone is doing just fine. clemence is growing well just slowly, shes putting out little buggers like this everywhere




she was holding on to that drop of water while i ran for my camera

I also tied her up with stakes, admittedly home-made (used twine and some chop-sticks. I think she likes it.


Kaya also is doing just fine,


the large empty stem is also receeding like [url = "http://www.salviasource.org/forum/cultivation/my-plants-top-died/0/"] happened here [/url]
ill get a few pictures of it as it gradualy eats itself. 3-4 days ago the brown was half way past the last nodenow its currently eating the last full node ...
(edit: heres pictures)

ill get a couple more pics together to make a time lapse kinda thing.

happy growing guys!

[Sea Mac]

Clemence looks very happy!

I'm so glad one branch of Kaya made it! They both will bear you many cuttings ... 

Goddess bless your garden!  

[MstryShovel]

oh yes they are doing just fine! I think its all the other little plants i have to keep them company now, little babies for them to raise and keep them company (growlog comming soon) heres clemence, shes done amjazing in this last month.


here is a progression of the sprouts near her base
1.16.08

1.26.08

2.3.08

2.7.08

another view


heres a stem of hers progression aswell
2.3

2.8



Kaya is doing just great sending out her second shoot, getting aquainted with everyone.





Look how big shes gotten!

my plants are my vanity sorry for the graphics intensive post

A note about how ive been growing these kids, Starting febuary 1st-ish I added a light nutrient to my spraybottle. (basicaly had a pre mixed gallon of nute-water, than then put 3/4water - 1/4 premixed water so its about at 25% potency. but its deffinatly made a difference, Clemence has exploded like you can see, all those little sprouts are going everywhere.  I also got a thermometer/hygrometer that i keep in my grow area, humidity hovers around 20% and bounces up to 45% when i spray them (2-3 times a day) the temp is also a constant 79-83deg F