JARG's First Salvia Grow (Grow Log continues at www.MichiganSalvia.com)

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Strain:  More than likely Blosser...
Lighting:  Near West Window
Grow Media/Soil Mix:  1/3 Perlite, 1/3 Vermiculite, 1/3 Potting Soil with a small bit of Coir Fiber thrown in
Fertilizer:  None Yet
Temperature Range:  70°F to 74°F controlled indoors
Humidity:  60%
Started From: Clone
Start Date: Delivered on June 4th 2008

[Will]

Welcome to the forums This site is very friendly and helpful. If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask. Welcome again and GL. -Will

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Bought this clone from Richters in Toronto. Decent price, very well packed, looked pretty healthy on arrival. This is my first time growing Salvia. I first heard about Salvia a few months ago and bought some 6x and 7x extract. I enjoyed it and wanted to start my own small garden so I started looking around for a live plant source. Most places I inquired were either backordered or way too expensive. Richters was a very pleasant experience and I would recommend them to others. Here is the plant as it arrived and then as I repotted it after 1 day of receiving it.

I am hoping that others here in the forums will help me keep an eye out for any potential problems. I am an avid gardener, but I have heard that Salvia can be a picky herb to grow.





I have also sent a letter to my senator asking to oppose the state bill that would schedule Salvia in my state. I encourage others to do the same to help keep this herb legal.

JARG

[spindrifter]

Bravo, JARG. We need more freedom-loving citizens with cojones like you.

Your plants look real nice so far!

You may want to augment your light with a compact fluorescent in an aluminum brooder fixture hooked up to a timer. Use it for 18 hours on, 6 hours off.

Also, 60% humidity is a tad low, at least to start out with. In habitat, these plants get bathed in fog all night long. Mist as often as you like with distilled water. Tap water can cause necrosis of the leaf tissue.

I'm starting to realize that the key to growing this plant well is mycorrhizae. I use a product called Epsoma Bio-Tone which contains a laundry list of mycorrhizal fungal spores and beneficial bacteria as well as animal-derived fertilizers. It has made all the difference for me. I use it more as a medium innoculant than as a fertilizer. For weekly fertilizing I use Miracle Grow in a pressure sprayer.

Your temps are great, and your medium is ideal!

Best of luck!

[Arcygenical]

Yay! Richters!

Uhm, get that plant in a cut off 2L pop bottle IMMEDIATELY. It's showing signs of low humidity stress... Richters has only high humidity salvia, so it's a HUGE change for the little guy right now...

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Report Day 3:
Temp: 74° F
Humidity: 61%
Height: 4"
Note: Plant looking healthy and strong compared to yesterday.


Thanks everyone for the input so far. After coming home today and looking at the plant, it is perking up quite nicely. It likes it's new soil and is looking much stronger. I believe the wilted leaves were more due to the days in shipping than low humidity at this point, although I will keep an eye on it. When I am gone during the day I let the house come up to 74 degrees F. Here is a picture of it just moments ago.



JARG

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Report Day: 4
Temp: 72° F
Humidity: 76%
Height: 4"
Note: Built a humidity tent...

The plant had perked up yesterday, but today as soon as it started getting some direct sunlight through the window I noticed it started to droop real bad. I figured that wasn't good and set the plant lower to get indirect light. I also took to heart about using a 2 liter bottle around the plant to raise humidity, but when I tried that, the leaves were touching against the inside of the bottle. I didn't like that either, so I happened to have some bamboo stakes and made a make shift humidity chamber. I stuck the 4 bamboo stakes in the pot and wrapped it with cling-wrap. I noticed the humidity start to raise almost immediately after doing this. I also misted the leaves of the plant with some 7.0ph distilled water. I should note that when I initially watered the Salvia I used 6.0ph distilled water. I read somewhere in these forums that Salvia likes a slightly acidic soil.

The humidity chamber seems to level off around 76%, but after misting the leaves it goes up higher. Within an hour of originally misting the plant and putting the humidity chamber around it , the Salvia came back to life and looked real sturdy. All the droopiness went away and it seemed to be saying thank you! Here is a picture of how it looks at the moment.





JARG

[Will]

looking real good man.

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Ok I have getting prepped looking for the correct fertilizers for my Salvia plant. I saw sea mac's note in another grow log to use Miracle Gro 15-30-15 all purpose plant food UPC#073561001120, however when I went to home depot to get this the formula, it was actually 24-8-16. Sea Mac if your reading this what do you use? Is it the 24-8-16 or the 15-30-15? I have found that the UPC given can be for either formula.....isn't that weird! Both products have the same UPC but are different formulas!

http://www.agway.com/catalog/home_and_garden/lawn_and_plant_food/plant/1_5lb_miracle_gro_all_purpose
and
http://www.doityourself.com/invt/9551193

So I already had some 12-4-8 (which I think is the same as 24-8-16, but half as strong) and found some Miracle gro Bloom booster UPC#073561001922 which is a 15-30-15 formula at home depot. I also picked up some Terracycle liquified Worm Poop. Here is a picture of what I currently have available. I use the PH down to adjust my distilled water down to 6.0ph. Am I on the right track? Can I assume that as long as the formula labeled on the box is 15-30-15 it is the same as another 15-30-15 fertilizer?



JARG

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Report Day: 5
Temp: 69°-72° F
Humidity: 76%-82%
Height: 4"
Note: Verified fertilizer and named the plant...


Thanks for writing me back Sea Mac and verifying you use the 24-8-16 fertilizer. Since this is my first Salvia plant I want to try and avoid some of the trial and error since there are lots of experienced Salvia growers here. Tonight I have decided to name my first plant "Harmony Blossom" to remind me she is the reason I am opposing the proposed bill HB5700. Get it? HB5700 = Harmony Blossom 5700. I think it fits rather well and gives me hope that I can win to get this bill turned down or amended. After all, I am fighting for her life you know!

I will probably chime in weekly or so to give updated pictures and reports. She is starting to turn a darker green color and I think she is starting to adapt to her new living space. I have been misting her throughout the day every few hours which has seemed to be helping her adapt as well. Till next time...

JARG

[Bayrat]

Looking good so far.  I like the tent, quick and easy.   You might not need the Ph Down as the fert will lower the ph some.  I looked at that worm poop and similar things at HD in those recycled bottles and they all seemed like a good idea but had a very low percent of nutrients.  They can't hurt but just seemed way overpriced for something you will find in any good topsoil outside.  I think I am using the MG 24-8-16.  It does not say bloom booster on the box, I think just "plant food".

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

The worm poop is something new to me this year. I still laugh when I look at the bottle....it's funny to me that they call it worm poop and not some catchy name like "super grow booster" or something like that....nope, just plain old worm poop! Thanks for the advice on the fert lowering the ph. What I actually do is mix in my plant food Miracle gro in a gallon of water and then check the ph. I then continue to lower the ph of the water until it's 6.0 with the ferts mixed in. I've used this soil mixture before and it seems to consistently stay at 7.0ph, which is why I am using a slightly lower ph water. I used sterile topsoil when I mixed this batch of potting medium, as I have found that with indoor grows of other plants using outdoor topsoil tends to attract or have unwanted pests in it.

And yes, the miracle gro "plant food" seems to be a 24-8-16 mixture. The 15-30-15 bloom booster was a unnecessary buy and I won't be using it for this grow.

JARG

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Report Day: 7
Temp: 72°F - 76°F
Humidity: 50%-82%
Height: 4"
Note: Top of square stem closed up...

So it was a beautiful day out this evening and I set Harmony Blossom outside in the indirect sunlight for about an hour when it was apx 70-72 degrees with a slight breeze. I hope she enjoyed it. I noticed that when I received her that the top of her square stem was open in the middle and you could look down inside. It has now healed over and closed up. This is good as it shows she is growing in her new soil and moving forward. Here are a few pictures to compare the stem. The first is when I received her and the second picture is moments ago. You can see how it has closed up (I know there is a shadow making it a bit dark to see...)





I was worried for a few minutes when I looked at her today. I noticed her top two smaller leaves are blackened and curled up at the very tips as you can see in the next photo. However, after comparing pictures from the day I received her I just hadn't noticed it before so it is nothing new, but rather an older symptom. Generally, she is growing as I can notice her leaves have gotten bigger. The soil is dry enough that tomorrow morning I will water her with some miracle gro plant food mixed in the water.



JARG

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Just wanted to make a quick note here that I watered this morning with the following:

In 1 gallon of water I mixed in the following:
* 3 Tablespoons Miracle Gro 12-4-8 all purpose plant food
* 1/2 Teaspoon PH down

I think my ph tester is broken though, as it seemed to be staying right at 7.0 no matter what I did. I am going to see if i can find a new tester today as the one I have is supposed to be for "soil" only and not immersed directly in water.

JARG

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Report Day: 9
Temp: 69°-72° F
Humidity: 64%
Height: 4"
Note: Potential problems...?

OK, so I have been taking Harmony out of the humidity chamber more and more each day and didn't have it on at all for the past day and a half. The humidity in the room is 64%. She seemed to be doing OK, but I have noticed a few changes taking place on the newer real small leaves on the tips; they are turning black. The bigger leaves had this blackened tip when I first got the plant, but the blackened area seems to be getting bigger. And the third thing is I am concerned that the top of the stem is turning too black and the blackness seems to be slowly going down the stem. Is this normal from a healed over cut or not?

What do you guys think is the most probable cause for the blackened tips on the new leaves? My guess is that it is too low of humidity or I gave her nute burn from watering with Micale Gro yesterday......I just now found a bunch of threads saying not to use nutes for at least 30 days...whoops! And is the blackened top stem something of concern?


Blackened tips circled in red and black stem (the black thing at the node is just dirt)


Bigger leaves with growing blackened tips




Overall pictures of the plant



Any help is very much appreciated.
JARG