I am sad to report that I lost my only salvia plant. She arrived about 2 years ago looking as scraggly as a plant possible could. I slowly revived her to the point that she was starting to look healthy and lush. I put her outside for a couple of day's to give her some 'real' sun light. Apparently this was to long. I brought her back in and tried to revive her again, but her spirit was ready for the next leg of her journey.

While I was never a big fan of smoking salvia I alway's felt as though she provided a loving presence to our house. She will be greatly missed.

May your spirit climb ever higher sally. You will alway's be in our hearts...and of course we still have several jars full of leaves you dropped during your time with us. Perhaps soon it will be time to partake of your spirit again.

Peace.


edit... on the bright side. A cappi plant that I purchased many months ago has finally started to grow again. This plant just sat in a pot with it's two leaves doing absolutely nothing for months on end...and then a few weeks ago she grew another set of leaves...and now another set is coming along.

my condolences go out to you on the loss of your salvia.
On the bright side it looks like she transferred her energy to your caapi plant which is great.

You should get yourself another little sally plant and try again.
She truly is a loving presence to have around.

Good luck with your caapi!

Say it ain’t so, joe!

As you’ve now learned the hard way, salvia doesn’t like sudden changes in environment, and really doesn’t like direct sunlight.

Two years old? You should have taken cuttings and harvested that plant long ago. An old salvia plant = a very slow growing plant. At the height of summer, a healthy young plant will grow 1/2" per day!

Were there any healthy stems left? Even a stem with nodes but no leaves can be coaxed back to life. I hope you didn’t just toss sally out!


edit: Not wanting to rub salt in the wound, but here's a photo of my one and only cutting getting some sunshine late in the day, when direct sun isn't too harsh. (Cutting is about 3 weeks old.)

I tried and tried to clone here. I have a bubble cloner and I could alway's get her to form nice healthy roots, but every time I transplanted the rooted cutting to dirt they would slowly die over about 2-3 weeks. There wasn't anything left to salvage when she finally died. I believe she had developed root rot.

I'm on the fence about getting another one. I really need to get another one before it's completely outlawed.

Sorry for the loss of your plant... Any chance you might clarify the thread title though? For a stunned half-second I thought you meant that the Nexus member Sally had died.

Root rot is usually the result of waterlogged soil. Have you tried a variety of potting soils?

I'm also sorry to hear the news about your deceased plant. A Salvia plant is rare.

This was a lot of the problem. I was out of foxfarm at the time and a bad dirt that held a lot of moisture....

I had a couple clones die on me when I first started to grow Salvia. Live and learn...and listen to gibran! He knows exactly how to grow this plant!

Please do try again, even if you're not someone who enjoys the plant that often. She should be spread far and wide!

it is very strange that the cuttings were dying after they had already put out roots...I have never seen that happen. I had trouble getting them to root at first for some reason..but one day I took cuttings and they all rooted and now every time I take cuttings they root and I just stick them in some dirt with water and they grow..

I find that the healthier the mother plant is at the time that the cuttings are taken, the faster the cuttings seem to adapt and grow.

I have never really had any problems with overwatering..they dont seem to mind it at all. I have clay pots that drain well though. I have had root rot with other plants though and so now I add alot of perlite to my soils..I noticed that for mimosa hostilis they did not like vermiculite in this one soil I had..but when I germinated some more and stuck then in a tropical garden mix with nearly 50% perlite that I added to it they LOVE it..I moved all my mimosa's into the same soil mix and the older ones are taking to it very well..

Here's some uplifting music to make you smile...


http://djmix.net/DJSlanG/SpringTubemusic016(01092011)PureFM/

Fractal I think you hit the nail on the head with the part about the healthy mother producing healthy clones. Also I live in a pretty arid environment..the clone box setts up a perfect humid environment for the clones, but the moving them form the humid environment back to the 'normal' environment always put a lot of stress on the clones. I'd honestly guess that I tried to take 5-6 cuttings from this plant. I was hoping to get her acclimated outside while she was lush and then try taking more clones, but she decline very rapidly when I put her out side.

The only way the plant survived the first year was by me hand spraying the laves 3-4 times a day. I live more in the north east and these are topical environment plants. She eventually did acclimate to our environment, but then me moving her really shocked her bad I think.

Christion. Thank you!


Well I guess I need to get on with ordering another one. I miss having her around.

Christian. I usually not into techno that much at all...but I'm really digging a few of these mixes. nice. thanks for turning me on.

tHANKS jOE, actually i tried to post you his number 13 mix of this year, the first half is incredibly blissful!! ..(11, 5, 2011)- beware, there is another no 13- but not as good-That mix gets wicked at 14. 40 minutes, when you hear "love" repeated.... -ENJOY!!

Joe, I would suggest against humidity and spraying the plants actaully...I live in BC, canada..I have found that spraying them frequently will cause the leaves to actaully dry out and crack a bit and the plants wont be as lush and green..these plants do grow in the cloud forest of the mexico mountains, but they adapt very well to other climates and as long as you give the soil enough water they seem to be fine. Rain water is the only thing I like to really fall on the leaves, because then the humidity stays constant for a period of time, as opposed to just spraying the leaves in an environment that wont sustain the humidity. I in have tried humidity tents but they just never put out the sort of growth that they do when I just leave them be in the open..though I live right on the ocean in the PNW right in the middle of a temperate rainforest so the humidity here is quite constant anyway.

I just make sure to keep them out of direct sunlight, make sure the soil/pot is well draining and make sure they are getting enough water and they seem thrive. In the winter I bring them indoors and they do slow down somewhat, but they still make it through the winter. I also dont bother taking cuttings in the winter. I always take cuttings in the summer, or end of summer before I bring them indoors becasue they are growing the fastest at that point and that is when they seem to want to be cloned.