StrangeWorld's Salvia Grow Log

[strangeworld]

Strain: Not sure
Lighting: Near sunny window indoors for first 1.5 months, since then outdoors with plenty of direct sun.
Grow Media/Soil Mix: Standard potting mix
Fertilizer: No additional fertilizer for first 1.5 months, since then weekly liquid blood and bone.
Temperature Range: Guesstimate is 15-25deg Celsius average. Extremes so far would be 4deg - 31deg Celsius.
Humidity: Not sure - November was an average of 74% humidity apparently..
Started From: 20cm rooted-cutting
Start Date: 19th September 2007

Other Details/Images:

19 September 2007
20cm rooted-cutting of Salvia Divinorum arrived. It was wilting severely after 2 days in the mail system, and also had a few aphids and spidermites on it, which I quickly got rid of.

As well as wilting/insects, several of its leaves are battered and/or missing parts. The stem seems to be quite solid and in reasonable health.

Planted it that day in large plastic pot filled with potting mix and a couple of cm of gravel at the bottom. Pot has a diameter of around 30cm. Watered it and misted its leaves.

At first it was uncovered, but as it remained in a wilting condition, I cut the bottom off a 3L juice bottle and placed it over the Salvia cutting to increase the humidity.

22 September 2007
Humidity enclosure seems to have helped, as it's now 4 days since I received the cutting and it is no longer wilting.

(Beer bottle shown for size indication)







Slightly worried by stem top going all brown...



Also I'm not sure whether the square stem ridges should have these brown lines?



3 litre juice bottle as a ghetto glasshouse.



Higher humidity seems to be helping the cutting.









2 December 2007

Time for an update - its been a while since I last took any photos, but as you can see shes settled down nicely and is busy establishing not only her twin heads, but also a bonus little stem which popped out from the soil.

Now outside 24/7, with no misting or humidity tent for a couple of months.

Watered almost everyday. Fertilized with liquid blood and bone once a week.



















28 January 2008

Summer here has been well under way for a couple months now, and shes been sitting outdoors under an awning (out of direct sunlight). Still watered most days, and liquid blood and bone fertilizer every week or two. Shes not as big as I would have expected for several months of growing, but hey its my first time so its all a learning experience.

I'm now seeing the results of not pinching for extra bushy foliage growth. I'm about to start trying that now to see how that goes.

Taken several large cuttings between 20 - 30 cm long each so far.






Any comments and/or suggestions are very welcome!

[Paradoxic]

Plant looks good, its got a nice, fat stem. I really like how it looks in that lighting, kinda majestic. And dont worry about that turning brown, it cant do anything but die at this point, new growth only comes from the nodes.

One suggestion, its a good idea to mix in some perlite or vermiculite (or both) into your soil to help it drain better. Without it you really have to be careful not to overwater, so be sure to let the soil dry out a bit before watering. In the future you may (if it seems to not be doing well) you could try to repot it into a better-draining soil. Does your soil seem to have any kind of perlite(light-weight, white rocks) in it? Does it seem to drain reasonably well, if so you should have nothing to worry about.

Good luck, keep us updated!

[strangeworld]

Cool thanks. I did wonder what that chunk of hollow stem at the top would do.

I didn't even think about adding anything to the soil when I potted it, apart from some perlite-like stuff I put at the bottom of the pot. Then yesterday I read some people saying to never use standard black potting mix, and always add some perlite etc... doh! Guess I'll just be careful with watering. Presumably slightly underwatering, causing a bit of wilting as an indicator, would be preferable to OVERwatering causing soggy soil, and possible rootrot?

I don't think it does have any perlite etc mixed into it. If and when I manage to get a cutting for a second plant I will try mixing a better soil. I'd prefer not to repot this one if at all possible.

[Sea Mac]

That cute baby is out of the woods now. She'll grow to be a strong "2 headed" plant - Give her as much light as you can!

Happy Growing!  

[strangeworld]

Thats such a relief to hear! Got a big old smile on my dial now

I'll look at repositioning her to get more light!

It has begun.

[strangeworld]

Trying to phase out the use of my ghetto humidity tent for my plant now, and it's still wilting a bit when i remove it for a few hours. I'll just keep increasing the time i remove it each day and toughen her up.

A couple days ago I got a bit enthusiastic and put her outside, without the tent, and then promptly forgot that I'd done it. When I remembered, she was sitting in full sun and wilting like crazy! Brought her back inside, good misting, some watering, and recovered in a while. I'll have to be more careful...

The leaves are quite light green, which I thought is likely to be due to a lack of light...

So plan now is just to wean her off the tent, and then gradually try and increase the amount of light somehow once shes stronger.

Not sure whether I'm watering her enough or not, as I don't want to overdo it and invite rootrot, especially while shes not growing much foliage and is still kinda runty.

[Paradoxic]

Unless the soil is very dry dont water. Yellowing leaves can also be a sign of nutrient deprivation due to overwatering. You might try mixing up a low-strength nutrient solution to spray onto the leaves (foilar feeding). It will really help them get nutrients without the risk of overwatering.

Yeah leaving it outside reminds me of a foolish move I made with my Khat plant. I left it in full (desert) summer sun for a whole day because I forgot about it. I came home and it was fried to a crisp 

[strangeworld]

Ok. I guess I watered it once when I potted it, and maybe twice since then (not soaking it, just adding a little bit to the pot as the soil on top was dry and not very different under the surface either).

Instead of soaking the pot in water, I've mainly been relying on misting it for watering. One thing occured to me the other day - could misting it several times a day while its a little recently potted cutting actually cause the roots to slow down their growth? As its getting plenty of moisture through its leaves?

[MstryShovel]

Ok. I guess I watered it once when I potted it, and maybe twice since then (not soaking it, just adding a little bit to the pot as the soil on top was dry and not very different under the surface either).

Instead of soaking the pot in water, I've mainly been relying on misting it for watering. One thing occured to me the other day - could misting it several times a day while its a little recently potted cutting actually cause the roots to slow down their growth? As its getting plenty of moisture through its leaves?

it would be an interesting thought,
I always notice the soil not drying out as much when i mist a few times a day, my reasoning being that she is getting her water through the leaves and doesnt Need to soak so much from the dirt. I dont know if that would affect root growth but mabey the intake of given system

[strangeworld]

Hmmm maybe I'll stop misting it so much. I want to encourage strong root growth, and perhaps my misting is becoming excessive pampering. Its just a little alarming when the leaves are wilting like that on such a small plant. The stem chunk is still solid, presumably if its WAY too dehydrated that will go soft and start to lean over?

[MstryShovel]

yeah when it has too little or too much water (and i mean practicaly sitting in water) it will begin to willt and droop, a good rule of thumb when watering any house plant, is to let the top inch or so dry out (you stick your thumb into the soil to see if its still wet) before you water. helps protect from rotting and such shenanigans.

as for pampering yeah, i hardly ever mist my plants any more, in fact it even lived a few months outdoors. it can take it without misting, just slowly back it down off of it, and she will adjust.

keep her up!

[strangeworld]

My plant is well established now, and while its still pretty compact, growth seems to be slowly accelerating

It now lives outside 24/7, and gets a lot of sun, and watered almost everyday. I give it some liquid blood and bone fertilizer once a week. No misting or humidity tent for a couple of months now.

[Paradoxic]

Your plant is looking really good, sweet pictures.

Its crazy looking back to the first pictures in this log, the plant has come a long way. Just curious, what do you think the temp and humidity is outside?

[strangeworld]

Cheers, yeah I'm hoping now that its getting stronger it'll keep speeding up its growth rate with all the additional foliage and plenty of sun, water, and regular blood and bone.

I'll try and find Novembers temp/humidity data.... here we go...


November Temp
High 85.2 °F  / 29.6 °C
Low 39.2 °F  / 4.0 °C
Average High 62°F  / 17°C
Average Low  43°F  / 6°C

November Humidity
High 99%
Low 21%
Average 74%


 

[Sea Mac]

I find the only way to get Salvia to turn dark green is to use Miracle-Gro plant food in the water you pour over the roots every couple of weeks.

I plan to post before/after photographs of the color changes someday.

I'll bet she's a couple feet tall now ...

Happy Growing!