First Time Trouble

[IrishLad55]

Strain: Unknown
Lighting: SAD lamp (wattage unknown, pretty damn bright lol) 18hrs
Water: Once / week, mist 3 - 5 times daily
Grow Media/Soil Mix: soil & perlite mix
Fertilizer: none
Temperature Range: 23- 24 degrees C
Humidity: Little home-made humidity chambers
Started From: Clone
Start Date: 3 or four weeks ago (not entirely sure lol)

Hey, I'm new to this site and I hope to learn a thing or two about growing my own salvia. Unfortunately I'm too broke at the moment to afford a camera, so I'll have to do my best to explain my situation. I bought a cutting for $30 and when it arrived I understood why it was so cheap. This cutting was no more than two or three inches tall with just a few leaves. When I first got it, I potted and watered it immediately. a few milimeters of the top was black and shrivled which I figured was due to the shipping and ignored. The plant started off great and new growth was happening fast. Eventually the shrivelled black top spread slowly and I cut off the only remaining branch which is only a few centimeters itself to try and save it. I'm left with an inch tall cutting with four leaves and a skinny stem, and the stem from the original plant (I cut off the black top and planted it deeper so that only the very top of the stem is showing). Both are in soil and have a little home-made humidity chamber. Again I realize this would be a lot easier to answer had there been pictures to go up with this post, thanks for trying!

How can I get my original stem to send out new growth?
The leaves on the inch long cutting are longer than the stem itself. Will this prevent it from growing?

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Man this is going to be really tough without pictures... If you say you cut off a branch and have tried to root it directly in soil? You may find better luck trying to root it in water. Just use distilled water and keep the rooting area dark. The leaves being bigger than the stem shouldn't be a problem. Cut off any black parts that are still remaining if there are any. Your soil mix sounds good, but you probably want to cut back on misting it so much. Just try to give it an environment where there is as close to 100% humidity as possible until it gets established. New growth can be helped by giving it a lot of light (although I am not familiar with an SAD lamp). And 18hrs a day is good.

Try and borrow a camera from a friend and welcome to the forums!

JARG