After a recent move, I set up a small-ish grow tent, with a cfl and a 12 watt led. Today, I received two of the tent's residents, one Blosser and one Hoffman/Wasson. (I also have a Banisteriopsis muricata and a Passiflora incarnata on the way.) First of all. . . I am no stranger to Salvia, two of the most intense and perspective-altering experiences of my life were her doing. But I've never sat in the presence of a living plant until now. WOW! I was not prepared for how luminous these plants are, the pictures I've seen don't do them justice. I always thought they looked very plain ("Joe Plant" as McKenna put it ).

Also, whoever said that Hoffman/Wasson tends to be a hardier grower compared to Blosser looks to be right, just on my initial impression. The latter looks a little fragile and the former looks like it wants to explode up out of the soil.

Right now they are chilling at room temperature and humidity (about 50%), enjoying ambient light. I will slowly acclimatize them and, several weeks from now when I feel like they can handle it, transplant them into some 9" pots with 4 parts soil, 2 parts peat moss, 1 part vermiculite, 1 part perlite. I have a ph meter and intend to keep soil ph between 5.5 and 6.0. Eventually, down the line (or sooner, if things go awry I guess), I'll make cuttings.

This thread is going to be where I'll update my progress and any issues if (as) they arrive.

Here's a little blip I was inspired to write when the plants arrived:



Blosser strain (10/22/15):


Hoffman/Wasson strain (10/22/15):

Only eight days later and they're looking way happier (especially the Blosser). I put a humidifier in the tent, which keeps it hovering around 65% to 70%. Any water they get is 5.5 PH (I noticed their soil is around 7 or so, trying to bring it down a tad). In the next month I'll invest in a much more efficient lighting rig.

Blosser strain (10/30/15):


Hoffman/Wasson strain (10/30/15):

They look good, within a few months I bet you'll have more than you know what to do with!

I'm growing the sage under LED too and seeing that leaves too close get what looks like sunburn. I've moved the light farther away and I'm not seeing any more damage, but the affected plants aren't growing very quickly, and really seemed to prefer indirect summer sunshine.

I'll put some pics up when I get the chance.

I definitely have a feeling once I get the light dialed in they'll take off. Right now, I think it's just enough to maintain, but not quite enough to encourage solid growth.

If you don't mind my asking, what sort of LED are you using and how close did you have it to your plants when they got sunburned? I've got more than just Salvia going in my tent and the other plants like more rather than less light. So I'm investing in a much bigger, much nicer LED than what I have now but still keeping in mind that Salvia doesn't like too much sun. I'm thinking my Brugmansia will provide a nice barrier and give an understory effect as long as I keep the LED on the far side.

And yeah, post pictures please.

My cuttings are producing a lot of new leaves right now, fresh apical meristems coming out. I cut up and rerooted much of a very large plant, sometimes making only single-node cuttings.

I've been keeping them maybe 10-20 inches from a 'UFO'-style 25x3watt multi-LED light. It seems to be an almost excessive amount of light for my small growing space.

Some have gotten those purple blotches, but not all. Here's some pics of 2 affected plants under sunlight!

Ah, I see what you mean. Duly noted. I wish I had a light meter of some kind. Maybe someone else has already come up with numbers for what Salvia likes best and I just haven't found it yet. . . .

They definitely look like they're going strong though! Congrats on that.

Update: I acquired a second Blosser. Looking fine, though it's obvious she doesn't care for traveling much. The other two are doing great.

Blosser strain 1 (11/8/15):


Blosser strain 2 (11/8/15):


Hoffman/Wasson strain (11/8/15):

Alright, this will be my last update before I get the new LED in at the end of the month, I intend these pictures to be a benchmark to judge the plants' reaction by.

Also, I finally potted these lovely ladies.

Blosser strain 1 (11/15/15):


Blosser strain 2 (11/15/15):


Hoffman/Wasson strain (11/15/15):

Last night, I chewed two medium-sized Salvia leaves, slightly more than I've ingested thus far. At about fifteen to twenty minutes in, I had an intense full-body reaction. I am going to have great difficulty describing what happened, but I'll do my best. There was an overpowering sense that I was becoming aware of a greater space, somehow more real than life on Earth, which is immanent to our reality and yet at the same time hidden from us. It was very, very familiar, like remembering something long repressed or forgotten. It didn't feel like it was induced by a substance, it felt true, startlingly so.

At the same time, as I said, I had some wild bodily phenomena going on. It's something I've experienced several times before. The area of my sternum was the center of the action. There seemed to be a strong sense of my identity being somehow tied to this center in the sternum and this sense-of-self was threatened by the dawning awareness of this strange, familiar space. The felt reaction was absolute animal fear, like a scared dog backed into a corner.

There was a storm of thoughts, thoughts of escaping, thoughts of fast-approaching destruction, total panic. However, there was another part of myself that didn't believe I was in danger. So I lay there. And it was like this cyclone of energy located in my sternum spun itself out. In its wake, there were almost no thoughts, the mind went quiet. And, just like that, the sense of that immanent dimension vanished and I was left with a gentle buzz that has been with me into today.

Very interesting.

Interesting indeed! Could you tell me a little more about your grow tent? How large is it? Is it indoors or outdoors?

It's this guy right here.

It's indoors. I keep it at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit and between 55 and 65% humidity (using this thing).

And this is the light which I'm impatiently waiting for to ship.

I run the lights from 6am to 9pm everyday, and from 9pm to 6am I run this fan that sits on the ceiling vent.

I'm hoping the new light won't overpower my plants, they do seem content with the set-up I have now. We'll see if I'm being too greedy. . . .

I have a Wasson and Hoffman strain behind my Mimosa I brought in for winter using a standing 4ft 6500K T5 flo-tubes that all the plants seem to love a lot. I let the other taller plants shade the Salvia and it is doing pretty well. The whole light cost $100 with the tubes. I had to get the 6500k tubes from a lighting store because Home Depot only had 4100K. I will upload some images later.