Nath's Grow log

[Nath]

Strain: Unknown
Lighting: 10v Energy Saving (CFL? Its a spiral light bulb, looks like the one on the wikipedia CLF article)
Grow Media/Soil Mix: Organic potting soil
Fertilizer: N/A
Temperature Range: Estimate 18-27 c
Humidity: Unknown
Started From: Clone
Start Date: May 07, 2008
Location: England

The plant came in good condition. One leaf had small browning on the edge. The cutting was rather small, and wasn't in soil but in agar.

I mixed my soil with some vermiculite. I then watered the soil and then filled it back up to the level it was prior to watering. Then I washed off the agar on the roots of the plant with warm water. Put the plant in the soil and watered again a little. I put a two liter clear bottle with a couple of small holes over the plant and gave it 2 hours light from my light. Tried giving it a little misting about every hour, and put a cap from another 2 liter bottle filled with water inside with it to try and help raise humidity faster.

The plant isn't looking too good. Its dropping to the side, probably due to low humidity. 2 liter bottle might be too big for my cutting.


(Sorry about bad picture)

I'm a bit unsure about how much light I should be giving it at this point. I know my 10v light probably isn't enough, I thought it was 40v when I bought it (the packaging was misleading  ). So I put some tin foil on some cardboard to help and try and reflect more of the light on it. But I haven't used them yet as I read you shouldn't expose it to too much light yet?

Anyways, Thanks for reading 

[MstryShovel]

everything you are worried about should be just fine, especialy for now. Eventualy you may want to up the lightbulb, but thats not _nessesary_  2Ltr is fine just spray inside the bottle every time u switch out the air. and just be carefull with your wattering schedule, as she will be sensitive for the first few weeks.

good luck man!

[Bayrat]

I don't think you can over-do the lighting with only 10w.  In a few weeks you will want to change that to a 20-26w.  Problem with the 10w now is it doesn't put out much heat, so the water won't evaporate to raise humidity.  Your 27c is enough with that bulb but 17c would need some heat to raise the humidity.  Make sure the bulb is almost touching the 2L bottle.  Rinsing the roots was probably not a good idea, but the plant should be fine in no time in a humid chamber.  Good luck!

[csferraro]

I agree with the other posters. She will come around in time as long as You keep the heat and humidity up. Take a look at my grow log and look at how my plant has progressed. I had the same concerns as You in the beginning too.

[Nath]

Thanks for the help. She is looking pretty alright for now, I'll just keep misting for now and get a stronger light bulb in a few weeks. 

[Nath]

May 08 2008

In the morning before college when I checked her, she had started to stick up straight. I gave her a misting and went to college. When I got home she was up and looking well so far (touch wood). Her top leaves are starting to un-wilt, but the bottom ones are still pretty wilted.



May 11 2008

When I woke up this morning she was completely on her side, even more than the first day I got her. I decided to give her a bit of water, and a misting, but didn't think it would help. Two hours later and shes shot right back up. Not quite standing up straight again, but looking a lot better than before.

[spindrifter]

Keep that soil moist, and a 2-liter over it. A plant that small and unestablished has almost no roots yet and will wilt readilly. At this point, the line between wilting and disaster is very thin.

[Nath]

Yes I've discovered that myself. I do have a two liter bottle over it I just took it off for the picture. I'm having quite a bit of trouble right now. I've realized only watering once a week is way too little for my plant right now (was worried about root rot). I woke up this morning and again it was laying on its side in the soil. 
I gave her a bit of water before college and when I got home a few hours later she was already looking better.

I'm now keeping a much closer eye on it, and whenever the leaves start to drop/wilt I give her a bit more water. I watered it a few minutes ago and one of the bottom leaves fell off 

I'm going to try rooting it, although I doubt I will have much success, as it is a very small leaf, but right now I just want my main plant to pull threw.

Thanks for the post though, it's made me less worried about how much I was watering it!

[Nath]

Keep seeing pictures of other people's salvia and they are massive compared to mine. Time for another light? (still only using the 10w CFL)

[Arcygenical]

Bump to a 48w CFL and watch her grow 50% bigger every week or two.

[Nath]

Right, well thanks to your advice I have tried my best to give her 48w of light. However I had some bad luck. I bought two 20w CFL's and another lamp thinking well 40w will be an improvement sense thats all I could afford to get (I'm really tight on money right now, well always!). Anyways long story short the two new bulbs wouldn't fit in the fixtures I had, but I managed to find fixtures they would fit into and now have two 20w bulbs and a 10w bulb shinning on my plant. The set up is very unorganized as you can see below, and unfortunately I won't be able to improve it for about a month so I hope it will do.



But if she does start growing as fast as mentioned above, I might have a small problem with her leaning. I been a bit reluctant to stick something next to her for support cause I thought it might damage the roots? I have read about the bamboo sticks target or somewhere sells, but I no longer live in the USA so I can't get my hands on those!

[Sorbus666]

Good luck with your plant. I am in the same stage as you, but don't worry, the more experienced growers all assure that she'll survive by just giving a bit of care to her every day.

About supporting, I've used pine sticks for supporting my chili's (12 pcs for 1,30 € , that's a couple of bucks) and they do just fine. It's unlikely that if you stick something next to her to support her, you'll damage the roots too much. You might hit one, but I think she has grown enough roots already to survive 

Or, if you're absolutely horrified of sticking something right next to the plant, stick two sticks on each side of the pot, and cross them over leaning to the plant, so they support her. I hope you understand that horrible sentence 

Good luck with her.

PS: A good way to help plants that want to lean is to stick a fan next to them to simulate wind. Just for a couple of hours a day. This will tell the plant that she'll need support, since she knows she's in a windy place and might fall. However, I won't suggest this with Lady S. since she needs a humid environment, and moving air will get the humidity away from the leaves, which will be bad for the plant and might eventually destroy it. This is just a piece of knowledge from a chili grower. 

[Arcygenical]

Put a stake in now! While she's still small! Put it around 3" away from her, and use your light to direct her towards it (plants grow towards light!).

She's also ready to be pinched, which will thicken her main stem up and get more lateral growth going on. Stake her up before pinching though... just incase.

Light setup is fine btw! You could use a bit of white printer paper to reflect the light at the plant

[Nath]

Well I put a steak in with my plant like suggest, thanks for the advice, but I'm going to hold off on pinching her because..I seem to have some pests!!



I'm growing inside and have little idea whats causing these circular marks to appear. As you can see one was in the middle of the leaf other have started from the edge. I have seen small gnats flying around and other small insects so I'm guessing it's something to do with them! Any advice towards getting rid of them would be great!

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

Get some Neem oil to control and stop the pests. I am also growing indoors and had some problems with pests. Since using the Neem oil I haven't had any problems. Neem is also completely organic so there is no worry about nasty chemicals. Paradoxic started a thread on it here:

http://www.salviasource.org/forum/pestsproblems/using-neem/0/

I suggest using Castile soap as the emulsifier as it is also organic.

JARG