Zaorr's Grow log

[zaorr]

Strain: Blosser
Lighting: Sunlight/Flouro
Grow Media/Soil Mix: 50% Coco peat 30% River sand 20% Leaf mulch
Fertilizer: Still experimenting
Temperature Range: 19-41C
Humidity: 50-70%
Started From: Clone
Start Date: 29 Dec 2007

This growlog is not the entire history of my struggle. I started last year August with 5  2" cuttings I got from the only supplier I could find here that still had any to sell.

The frost killed all the plants other folk or nursery's kept right through the country. I was lucky. The supplier doesn’t sell at the moment as he still struggles for time and equipment to get something going. Maybe next year.

I started out with a big humidity dome made out of those big water dispenser bottles. I covered a clay pot with four cuttings in it. The cuttings all routed well but only one has a strange way of growing like a M#$%fu#er.

I suspect multiple strains but the supplier doesn't reply to my mails anymore. I guess he has some issues. They all look the same and taste the same. I will have to make sure with him at some time but I doubt it if he will even know.

The initial grows was leggy and soft and I got it to about 8" tall until I decided to move them to my new pad in the car in mid day heat. Ooops!!

All the leaves dropped but they started sprouting again immediately. The top growth tips got damaged and as with any leggy plant it doesn't stop. The rot or stem drying slowly crawls down the plant until it finds good growth as you can see here:



I posted a growlog somewhere else daring to just leave her out there in the elements to adapt. This was the last picture I posted back then:


As you can see she got it, but I made a mistake of over watering. The plants had the black leaf tip going and it didn't stop until there were little stumps left. The hot day's following a whole weeks rainy ness didn't work well either. Sally gets used to cloudy wet days at a drop of a hat but not the other way around or at least when she is still very small that is. A hot day or two after a long wet period is so much worse than just a whole month of hot weather.

I repotted the two little plants in a coco peat mix and tried the mini greenhouse setup. The peat had immediate growth stimulation going and I was quite amazed. I like coco peat for rootings of all kinds. It's a great root friendly starter.

I only took photos of the fast grower. Here is the plant after the first week in the tent 29Dec 2007:


2Jan 2008


13Jan 2008


3Feb 2008


She started getting a little pale as daylight is getting shorter here. I decided to fit the tent with flouro's and set a timer on them to switch on at about 17:00 until 21:00. She has perked up again and her leaves stay erect until the very end of the lighting period. This should do till the middle of autumn when I will bring her in just incase there is some early frost waiting.

9Feb 2008


I am impressed with the way she is growing this time around. Allot stronger than before. Her stem is about 1 cm thick at the base and the stem is very stable still. At this rate she should be 6 footer before the start of spring September this year. I plan to have some cuttings for direct garden soil planted plants this spring while keeping some in pots.

Here is a pic of the mini greenhouse in action:


And here is the light setup I built for it:


The light system will be used indoors later this year without the greenhouse. I like the PVC piping as you can extend them as the plants get taller or expand for adding more lights. I started with 2x20 cool white but then I swapped one with a warm white for some balanced light.

[JD1stTimer]

Looks nice!  I have been thinking about the possibility of keeping Sally outdoors.  I get a feeling the climate here is similar to yours, but with Summer in June, July, and August.  I notice you have a Castaneda book.  I have been curious about Don Juan and I wonder if they sell them at regular book stores.  Good work you've got there, is that a morning glory leaf you're using for scale?

[Paradoxic]

Very nice, I like your little greenhouse, did you build that yourself? Your plants are looking happy, it always nice to see people growing outside. I think any plant will always grow best that way (as long as it can survive in that environment).

You seem like an experienced grower, its good to have you here. And you are one of the only posters who figured out how to use the bolded details at the top correctly, lol. Welcome to Salvia Source!

[MstryShovel]

very nice setup there man

also you can get a castaneda at any Barnes and noble and the like. its in the newage section, very good reading

[zaorr]

JD1stTimer: is that a morning glory leaf you're using for scale?

Yep. Was using it as a scale to measure the shade of green. I found it peculiar the shade changes sally goes through. She started out a light blue gray green and then became a little yellow green to dark green as she put out more leaves. I am trying to establish what nutrients sally needs alot of and what nutrients is practically a waste. I'd like to end up with a balanced idea of what makes sally looks the best withoug burning the crap out of her. I figured up to now that she does have a taste for magnesium that might be a little higher than you would expect but it is to soon to tell exactly. All I know is my next soil mix will have some dolomite and gypsum in it but not too much otherwise I'll go for good old garden earth mix- jupe style.   Weeds and plants that sprouted in the garden where I live never need fetilizer and they turn out mega tough by the peak of summer but I suspect the rain has some magic to add.

I just wish I could stop getting over excited and carried away with the experimentation sometimes and just let her grow allready. Hehehehe!!

Paradoxic: Very nice, I like your little greenhouse, did you build that yourself? Your plants are looking happy, it always nice to see people growing outside. I think any plant will always grow best that way (as long as it can survive in that environment).

No, You can buy them at some garden stores. These should be a more common encounter overseas then here. I looked for one looong time ago and only stumbled upon one recently. Mine is the smallest version you get but also the cheapest.

Yes the light outside makes her much stronger as opposed to light through a window, depending on the window of course. Artificial light will also do but the sun is the cheapest at the moment. 

You seem like an experienced grower, its good to have you here. And you are one of the only posters who figured out how to use the bolded details at the top correctly, lol. Welcome to Salvia Source!

Thanx for the welcome!!

Naah! Not that experienced but I do learn alot not always on par but that is where other people come in. I learn the hard way. Hehehehe!!

[zaorr]

Here is an example:


I mixed some foliar spray and decided to add just a little extra something. 


This was last week. It is good to share your mishaps.


I decided to post the little one too. He also had some burn but otherwise this little fella is pretty hardy for it's size. It has a deep green color that I want to replicate in the other plant. I added some of the Shake n' Grow stuff to the bigger plant today. If you look closely at the first pic in this post you will see the blue crumbs that didn't dissolve. If it shows any results I will post it here. PS its a good idea to play with photoshop's color balance to get the colors the way you saw it. The camera can jump between radical blue or red shifts sometimes.

I think this little one has established a relationship with the micohoriza that I added a while back. It is getting really good stuff from somewhere 

[SynapticFlatulence]

yea i definetly agree on the photoshop.
I go to color and increase the saturation and hue by +10 each, i find it brings the plants true colors out, ive had to do it to all my shots or else they look washed out.
Those leaves look lush!

[zaorr]

I am impressed with this ureate based stuff. It is greening sally's leaves as we speak. She's pumping that stuff down the veins of her leaves. My wood rose has also taken a liking to it. I think I gave her a little too little but better safe than sorry.

I don't have miracle grow where I live but I think I found something relatively the same. It's blue, and it smells like a used royal English mattress. 

This stuff is also designed to release nitrogen in stages and not all at once. This is not slow release, just slow dissolve and bacterial action required stuff. Kind of like an organic fertilizer like fish emulsion or a horse or worm poo tea, only it acts a little longer than just a few days. My chemical fertilizers would have burned the plant by now if they were mixed to give the same results.








Please ignore the fact that I screwed up a week ago with the foliar feeding.

It has been three days since its feeding and the plant is sucking up the nutes.
The effect on the older leaves is marginal and not that noticeable on the pic but you can see how the plant has darkened its new top leaves and it is pumping some of that goodness down the second set of top leaves. There is a little bubbling going on but I have seen this before and it's still the after effect of that damn foliar spray. I like the meat it is adding, the next set of leaves will be perfect again but all FAT!!(I hope). It's moving away from the apple green and moving towards a more darker green.

Finally some good results and I can lay off the experiments but she isn’t that pretty at the moment. I think I will lay of the pics for a while until I can get her in a better shape. Those scars hurt me when I look at them.

I am sticking to Shake n’ Grow and kelp for at least the next year.

[Sea Mac]

JD1stTimer: is that a morning glory leaf you're using for scale?

Yep. Was using it as a scale to measure the shade of green. I found it peculiar the shade changes sally goes through. She started out a light blue gray green and then became a little yellow green to dark green as she put out more leaves. I am trying to establish what nutrients sally needs alot of and what nutrients is practically a waste. I'd like to end up with a balanced idea of what makes sally looks the best withoug burning the crap out of her. I figured up to now that she does have a taste for magnesium that might be a little higher than you would expect but it is to soon to tell exactly. All I know is my next soil mix will have some dolomite and gypsum in it but not too much otherwise I'll go for good old garden earth mix- jupe style.   Weeds and plants that sprouted in the garden where I live never need fetilizer and they turn out mega tough by the peak of summer but I suspect the rain has some magic to add.

I just wish I could stop getting over excited and carried away with the experimentation sometimes and just let her grow allready. Hehehehe!!

Paradoxic: Very nice, I like your little greenhouse, did you build that yourself? Your plants are looking happy, it always nice to see people growing outside. I think any plant will always grow best that way (as long as it can survive in that environment).

No, You can buy them at some garden stores. These should be a more common encounter overseas then here. I looked for one looong time ago and only stumbled upon one recently. Mine is the smallest version you get but also the cheapest.

Yes the light outside makes her much stronger as opposed to light through a window, depending on the window of course. Artificial light will also do but the sun is the cheapest at the moment. 

You seem like an experienced grower, its good to have you here. And you are one of the only posters who figured out how to use the bolded details at the top correctly, lol. Welcome to Salvia Source!

Thanx for the welcome!!

Naah! Not that experienced but I do learn alot not always on par but that is where other people come in. I learn the hard way. Hehehehe!!

Belated Welcome!

I recommend Miracle-Gro Plant food: about a week after you water them with it you notice your plants turn a Rich Dark Emerald green color.

Kinda like this:


About every 3rd or 4th watering mix up the product as recommended: I swear you'll notice the difference!

I've got over a dozen "Trees" so I use the Miracle-Gro garden feeder:

And I just walk along the row pumping a gallon or 3 into each giant's pot!

(This is just one corner of my little garden ... )

[zaorr]

 

She is doing that as we speak.

I don't have Miracle grow here in my country but I looked untill I found something that uses the same chemicals. Mine is not balanced the same as MG but it's giving the exact same effect. This stuff is telling me I am a pro gardener and I never knew it.

I am feeding everything with this stuff now and they all have the same results. 

Thanx Mac, you deserve that Mac.

[Sea Mac]

Oh, I am quite pleased to see your plant growing healthier by the minute. Mr. Siebert told me that Salvia (at least Salvia grown in pots) requires fertilizers to be healthy. And I've noticed a big difference in my friends plants (in the ground) after I water them with that stuff!

The Plants I planted Wild down by the river all slowly died from lack of nutrients I realize now! (I wanted it to be a "No Maintenance" stealth grow.)

I try to give the best advice that works for me. I've been growing Salvia for 4 years now and there are over a dozen really happy plants out there and a few miserable ones. They are all glad to see me coming with that "Blue Water" gun in my hand. Sally will be roof line tall in the spring and I'm Astonished!

[zaorr]

Well, the proof is in the pudding.

Here is what she looks like now.



Still curled from past damage but greening like spinach. The new set of leaves are going to be awesome.

[Sea Mac]

Yeah: that's a VERY Happy plant NOW! That's a GOOD Color!

You'll want to repot her in a couple more months ...

I LOVE that rich Spinach green!

[zaorr]

Thanx Mac

This stuff is amazing.

Today is the first day I had to water her in a time frame of three day's. I never had sally drooping on me yet. Her roots is also showing through the draining holes. I got myself some chunky orchid mix for a chunky mix and bigger pots. I think I'll repot her next week.

[Arcygenical]

You should definitely pinch her!

Guaranteed to double her leaf mass, in 2 months, or your money back!