Even food grade diatomaceous earth, like this? I mean, you can eat it and put it on your cats... as far as my research has turned up it's only crystalline silica (which is heavily regulated and not found in most commercial diatomaceous earth) that damages lungs.

If youve researched that much into it you know more than i do. Ive never even used the stuff anyways!


But i will say i have stopped watering and taped bags over the pots, with a hole for the plant to come through then sealing around it has been effective for me.


Have you stopped watering?

Thanks, if I see them coming back I'll try the bag thing. I haven't watered either of them in a week or so. I just poked around in the soil and didn't find any gnats where I was finding a bunch a couple of days ago. Only thing I'm worried about is that the smaller plant basically doesn't have any leaves so it won't be able to tell me when it's getting too thirsty. The soil has been bone dry for a few days now.

I'm also wondering why all the new leaves that are coming in seem to be pretty malformed, as seen below. Could that have to do with the bugs? I brought the light back to ~10 hours a day from ~16 when the leaves were getting yellow. Is that still too much?

I have good news and bad news. Good news is you might be able to save the plant, many grow guides out there...

Bad news is that this has a virus. If you have even basic scientifical knowledge you know viruses have no "cure". Giving the plant the correct conditions and nutrients will help.....but

I also have a salvia with these spots, and looking threw a 1970's organic gardening book told me it was a virus it was spot on for me. Yours could be a infestation, slugs love to trip their slime. But really looks like a virus. Since most if not all salvia divinoriums come from cuttings....you will never lose this virus.

And the place you received it from knowingly or maybe unknowingly sold you a diseased plant. I would defenetly contact them, I forget who I got mine from. Its been 2 years, so they can survive but never fully thrive.

latest pics is bugs, look for scrape marks on leaves. Browning tips mean not enough water????
or a lack of a certain mineral.

Well yeah that little plant died a long time ago

Food grade diatomaceous earth mixed into the top half inch of the soil eliminated my bug problem in a matter of days.

Plant is looking alright I guess, but there's browning on the leaves and it hasn't put forth any new growth in months. Looking stretched too. Not enough light maybe? I have it in a north facing window. Or maybe the pot is too small?

Plant doesnt look bad actually to me....

Just wait till it gets a little warmer and you can put it outside, i promise they like it much better out there once they are acclimated and grow much faster@!

Mine is currently in the same situation, by a window deprived of light and is browning, but as long as it can make it a month more, i have no worries, then it goes outside

Steadily getting worse... still no new growth and it has shed most of its leaves. Any suggestions?

I'd say the pot is too small, and that lower branch may have been sapping energy too. And the bad news is, she might not even survive re-potting, as is...

I was in a similar situation a while back: I took a cutting from the top and rooted it in water, and started over with it. You can take a second one from the branch, too. The remaining stem, I cut into lengths and pressed into compost, horizontally (Siebert mentions this technique on his site, in passing only, light on details) and you should get 2x new shoots from each node. I started them off in a tupperware container, lid on, to keep humid.

A healthy rootball is capable of shooting up new growth, so re-pot that and feed well, and you should be looking at getting at least half-a-dozen happy new plants from that sad one...!

All my cuttings go straight into a 10" pot, anything less is not worth it IME. And add some mycorrhizal fungi to them while you're at it. I keep my 'mother' in the bathroom, where she loves the humidity, and I do a rain-dance over her each time I come out of the shower. She's very happy!

But you did well to get her so tall without staking.

So, I should cut off the top bit and that branch and try to root those, keep the bottom bit and repot that, and cut the lanky leafless part of the stem into pieces and try to root those horizontally?

Alright then I have a project for tomorrow. Thanks Chan!

How is the soil? It looks really dry in the photo.

The plant looks really dry, as well.

I agree though that it could use a pruning, and that the cuttings should be rooted.

Also, a north-facing window is a window with the least amount of light...And these gals love their light!

Best of luck slewb!


Oops!!! That is IF you're in the Northern Hemisphere!!

Thanks for the input guys. I'll be out of the country for a week soon so I don't really think I can take cuttings right now since I won't be around to care for them. Hopefully it can make it through until I get back. I've been watering it more frequently (before I would wait until it was completely drooped, now I am checking the soil like 3/4 inch down or so) and I put it in an east facing window to get some morning sun... hopefully it will not be too much though.

I am wondering if should think about staking it. Until Chan said something the idea never crossed my mind, but looking at the plant now it does seem like a pretty improbable height for such a skinny thing.

Thanks to a friend who took care of my plant while I was away I was able to take cuttings yesterday. Keeping em hot n' sweaty.