I have only had her around for a month or two. The one in the red pot was given to me by a friend. It was a rooted cutting in water when I got her. It only had two yellowing leaves at the top. I transplanted her into soil and in a matter of three weeks she was lush and green with several sets of big leaves and had grown about 8 inches. I cut it again and put the cuttingin a jar of water. The light abover her is a 980 watt cool blue metal halide bulb. I have read allot on growing Sally D. Everything I have read says use flourecent lights and humidity tents. I havent done either and they are doing well. I think I'll just stick with what has been working.

Beautiful!

Off to a good start!

I’ve been growing salvia for almost four years now, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Here’s a photo I took earlier today of one of my cuttings. (I’m growing 5 plants this spring.) It was planted one month ago today:

WoWzer! Very Beautiful! Lush and Healthy. Outstanding job gibran2

Very Nice. I must add, a wonderful reflection upon the person who cares for it. Well done!

Nice plants people!

Wow gibran, I'm jealous

forget lights and humidity tents ice house..they dont like them. Salvia does not like direct light. Ive been growing them for 3 years and they do best in constant shade, outside all summer and never a humidity dome..they will get acustomed to the humidity of the area, and the PNW is easily humid enough I have found. They love the rainstorms here it seems.

How do they handle the cold temps here? I'm in South West Washington and it is still getting into the high 30s low 40s at night.

I'd be glad to put em outside all year, or at least all summer long.

ih

I put mine outside last week, and then brought them back in a few days later becasue I think it was a bit too cold still..but in a few weeks they will all go outside until october. They have been outside like that for 3 years now..I bring them in durring the winter and they stop growing significantly, but survive. In the summer they grow like crazy and I take cuttings. By mid may-june I think it should easily be warm enough.

where do i get one like that ?

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh its a beauty

Nice pictures there.

I'd be really grateful for some help from you experts...

I've had a perfectly healthy cutting sitting in water for three weeks now, and nothing at all is happening with it.

Is there some secret technique I'm missing? I understood that they root really easily in water.

Any sign of roots on your cutting Ice?

Cuttings usually grow roots fairly easily in about two weeks (in my experience) in a jar of rainwater. Where is your cutting situated? Thay tend to like it fairly warm but out of direct sunlight...my home is naturally quite humid

The first roots are very very fine and seem to be most likely to appear a couple of centimetres below the nearest node that's under the water level...does your cutting have at least one node?

Mine doesn't like it at all inside.
Outside in shadow is fine, unless there is too much wind.
But I think they don't get enough light inside without lamps cause their leaves start to fall down.
I think I would try indoor garden with ligths.

I've found that cutting any large leaves in half (perpendicular to the rib) and tenting with a Ziploc veggie bag (the ones with all the little holes) works very well. I keep them tented until new growth appears after they've been placed in soil, then acclimate them to a dryer atmosphere over about a week by removing the tent for progressively longer periods of time.

I always remove larger leaves and never include the apex leaves - just keep new growth from the sides of 2 or 3 nodes. This will give you 4 to 6 new branches. Also, I've never used humidity tents and have never needed them. Salvia doesn't naturally grow in an extremely humid environment, and it seems that excessive humidity encourages rot. The whole humidity tent thing has turned into an "internet legend" that people keep alive by constantly repeating it!

Attached is a photo of a nice healthy cutting.

But may I ask Gibran2, what sort of light do they have ALL YEAR AROUND ?
Also, what sort of climates do you leave in (humidity-temperature wise)

I live in the Midwest US (45 degrees North latitude). I have huge windows and get lots of natural indirect light. Salvia likes lots of bright indirect light. In the winter, the days are very short, and my winter plants grow very slowly. But my plants now are growing very fast!

In the summer it can get quite hot and humid, but much of the year the humidity is moderate. In the winter, due to very cold temperatures, the amount of moisture in the air is practically zero.

Yeah I agree the humidity tent thing is a myth..they seem to do much better without them. I am not sure as to what the actual humidity of Oaxaca is, but it is cloud forest where salvia grows naturally so it would be somewhat humid, perhaps less so that the amazon I guess.

I suspect that if you lived farther north, where -30C to -40C for weeks or more is normal, you would find that using a tent to help cuttings along is a good thing. Some of the bits I've read do overstate the plant's need for humidity though.