First time Salvia cuttings - they are gone :(

[Psikotrope]

I would recommend constructing a humidity tent. That is if your plants were not acclimatized to your local environment, like if it came from a supplier who likely raised the plants in a green house.

My plant progressively looked worse and worse after I received it until I took the advice of some folks here and elsewhere and built a tent around her. I simply put stakes in four corners of the pot and wrapped plastic wrap around it. Then put a piece on top so that I could open it and mist/water.

I had constructed a much larger tent but I think the larger the humidity tent the greater the difficulty in maintaining the humidity. With the small tent I simply mist in the morning and evening and water once a week if the soil is dry.

After I implemented the humidity tent within two weeks her health began to improve until she was flourishing with large leaves and new stems. I recently took a cutting from one of the new stems which was sprouting roots. This is an indicator that the moisture was in fact rather high in the tent. Perhaps to moist.

The thing with using the tent is that I'm afraid my plants will remain dependent on the high humidity and won't survive a transition to the lower humidity of my area of the world (though its fairly high naturally). So if you can avoid the tent with someone else's advice do that! If not it's worth a shot and saved my plant and allowed me to make healthy cuttings from a plant whose growth had stalled for months.

 

[smokerx]

I think my plants are dying , I tried all I could but now they have all the leafs brown and look very unhappy.

I don't know what to do. should I harvest what I have and make some new cuttings and try again ?

Sorry to hear that your plants aren't doing well. It's hard to say what the problem might be. Is your soil always wet? Maybe you have root rot. Hard to say.

If the stems seem sturdy, you might want to try taking cuttings. If they're limp or otherwise unhealthy, you might have trouble rooting them.

what is I try to get different soil and replant them would that help you think ?

 

[smokerx]

I would recommend constructing a humidity tent. That is if your plants were not acclimatized to your local environment, like if it came from a supplier who likely raised the plants in a green house.

My plant progressively looked worse and worse after I received it until I took the advice of some folks here and elsewhere and built a tent around her. I simply put stakes in four corners of the pot and wrapped plastic wrap around it. Then put a piece on top so that I could open it and mist/water.

I had constructed a much larger tent but I think the larger the humidity tent the greater the difficulty in maintaining the humidity. With the small tent I simply mist in the morning and evening and water once a week if the soil is dry.

After I implemented the humidity tent within two weeks her health began to improve until she was flourishing with large leaves and new stems. I recently took a cutting from one of the new stems which was sprouting roots. This is an indicator that the moisture was in fact rather high in the tent. Perhaps to moist.

The thing with using the tent is that I'm afraid my plants will remain dependent on the high humidity and won't survive a transition to the lower humidity of my area of the world (though its fairly high naturally). So if you can avoid the tent with someone else's advice do that! If not it's worth a shot and saved my plant and allowed me to make healthy cuttings from a plant whose growth had stalled for months.

The guy I have them from had them kept in the same conditions as I do. Just room temperature and no humidity tent. It must be something else than that.

 

[Limeni]

Smokerx - sorry to hear of your problems. I came to the conclusion that the browning of leaf edges was from exposure to direct sunlight. This plant really doesn't seem to like the sun. I transferred mine to a conservatory with one of those crinkly perspex roofs...cured the browning, but the trouble is, now the leaves are being eaten by bugs coming over from the other plants! .:?

I can't remember if you are from UK...but if so, did you get your plant from Salv. Scotland?

 

[smokerx]

Smokerx - sorry to hear of your problems. I came to the conclusion that the browning of leaf edges was from exposure to direct sunlight. This plant really doesn't seem to like the sun. I transferred mine to a conservatory with one of those crinkly perspex roofs...cured the browning, but the trouble is, now the leaves are being eaten by bugs coming over from the other plants! .:?

I can't remember if you are from UK...but if so, did you get your plant from Salv. Scotland?

My plants are from a member of this forum and they never on direct sun. They were doing well till few seeks ago.I may have over water them. Thats the only thing I can come up with. I had black flies but I got rid of those.

 

[smokerx]

It was not a very happy new year for my salvia plants unfortunately

I decided to replant them. I bought miracle grow soil and mixed it with moisture control crystals. Dont know if that was good idea but I did all I could to save them and nothing helped. Here are some sad salvia pictures just before I replanted them. If they survive I will update with new pictures.

 

[applebaum]

Are you sure your plants are getting enough light? Your plants look long and thin to me. I've mostly grown vegetables before, but when plants look like that it usually means too cold, too wet, and usually too little light.

Last summer I grew my Salvia outdoors where it would get full sun except in the afternoons and it did great until the chickens tipped the pot over and scratched the plant to pieces.

I rooted 5 plants from what I could salvage of my original, and planted the root back in the pot. I grew the cuttings under 24 hour/day shop lights a few inches from the plants. The same setup I use to start tomatoes in the spring. The basement is about 60 degrees year round, but the plants grew fine. The only times I've had a plant die is the original root because we got a week of heavy rain and the plant drown out. The other time one died I was going to leave on vacation and was trying to get the plants good and watered so they'd last a week. The one plant whose pot didn't drain also got drown out.

I've forgotten about watering so long the leaves all turn limp and the plant wilts down to the ground and they always pop right back up after watering. What I'd say is go easy on the water and don't take the lack of light thing too seriously, especially this time of year.

 

[gibran2]

Here are a few things I’ve noticed from your photos:

1. Based on how skinny the stems are, you took your cuttings either too soon or from too far out on the stems. You need a strong, sturdy stem for cuttings.

2. You kept all of the large, primary leaves on the cutting. These leaves take lots of energy and water to maintain, and a plant without roots or with very undeveloped roots can’t support all those leaves.

What I do is remove all of the large primary leaves, leaving only the secondary leaves. Each set of leaves forms a new stem, and because the leaves are so small, the plant isn’t stressed.

 

[smokerx]

1. Based on how skinny the stems are, you took your cuttings either too soon or from too far out on the stems. You need a strong, sturdy stem for cuttings.

2. You kept all of the large, primary leaves on the cutting. These leaves take lots of energy and water to maintain, and a plant without roots or with very undeveloped roots can’t support all those leaves.

If my plants lose all the leafs can I still do the cuttings ? will the secondary leafs grow ? or once they lost all leafs they gone ?

 

[smokerx]

Are you sure your plants are getting enough light? Your plants look long and thin to me. I've mostly grown vegetables before, but when plants look like that it usually means too cold, too wet, and usually too little light.

They are getting enough light but remember this is England But it make sense what you said, they did not get enough light and maybe, because I had them behind big double glass garden door, they got some cold from outside. Maybe I over watered them as well. It may be one of these or all.

I've forgotten about watering so long the leaves all turn limp and the plant wilts down to the ground and they always pop right back up after watering. What I'd say is go easy on the water and don't take the lack of light thing too seriously, especially this time of year.

This is what I have noticed as well and from now I try to wait till they ask for water

 

[gibran2]

If my plants lose all the leafs can I still do the cuttings ? will the secondary leafs grow ? or once they lost all leafs they gone ?

Very often the cutting will survive without any leaves.

If your plants lose all their leaves, don’t throw them out! They may still recover. And remember, a plant with few to no leaves doesn’t need much water, so don’t over-water.

 

[Ice House]

maybe you need more light? I have started plenty of cuttings with thin or small stems they beef up quick under the right light.

Possibly?

 

[smokerx]

maybe you need more light? I have started plenty of cuttings with thin or small stems they beef up quick under the right light.

Possibly?

Can you give me a idea what kind of artificial light are you using ? maybe some links ? thank you

 

[gibran2]

maybe you need more light? I have started plenty of cuttings with thin or small stems they beef up quick under the right light.

Possibly?

Can you give me a idea what kind of artificial light are you using ? maybe some links ? thank you

Light is rarely an issue with salvia. In fact, the only problems I’ve had involved too much light. Light level will affect the rate of growth, but unless you’re keeping your plants in a darkened room, low light shouldn’t kill them.

If you have a window, even a north-facing one, you don’t need artificial light.

 

[Ice House]

check these babbies out!

the space between new internodal sites is about, on average .25-.5", These things are growing like gang busters!

I've grown some salvia in the past, nothing like these girls though.

 

[smokerx]

check these babbies out!

the space between new internodal sites is about, on average .25-.5", These things are growing like gang busters!

I've grown some salvia in the past, nothing like these girls though.

I saw those pictures , your babies are beautiful. I was asking for link to see what kind of lights are you using to get some idea just in case nothing else helps.

 

[smokerx]

Light is rarely an issue with salvia. In fact, the only problems I’ve had involved too much light. Light level will affect the rate of growth, but unless you’re keeping your plants in a darkened room, low light shouldn’t kill them.

If you have a window, even a north-facing one, you don’t need artificial light.

I know you have mentioned it before about light. And my salvias had quite a lot of light being just behind glass garden double door. I think those cuttings were not strong enough , plus the soil I used was not very good and I may have also over water them.

Now I changed the soil so I hope they will make it. There is one little brand new plant growing right from the bottom of the biggest plant. Like it is growing strait from the roots. I have big hope for that one

 

[applebaum]

Can you give me a idea what kind of artificial light are you using ? maybe some links ? thank you

I use these for the plants over winter. I do that because my plants have to grow in a basement with no windows. I have 4 sets of those lights spaced out and suspend the lights a couple inches above the top of the plants and raise the lights as they grow.

In the summer I just had a pot on the east side of my house so it was full sun half the day. I also had one growing on the north side of a picket fence so it got dappled sun all day. This was in the midwest US to get an idea of sun strength. The plants grew stouter, leafier, and thicker stemmed for me in the summer than they do under the lights, but that could be temperature too, not just the stronger light.

 

[Ice House]

Can you give me a idea what kind of artificial light are you using ? maybe some links ? thank you

I use a 600 watt metal halide bulb. made by digilux. this bulb needs a digital ballast to operate it. Its spendy just to grow salvia.

I think the wattage is unimportant. What is important IME is that the light provide plenty of Blue spectrum. They seem to thrive well with lots of vegitation.

I have had them under high pressure sodium bulbs that provide more Red spectrum light and they dont seem to like that as well. Not at all. Also, I dont normally water them until I detect at least a tiny bit of wilt. I other words Iwater them not on a schedule, but when they need it. IME they are easy to over water.

 

[Vodsel]

I think the wattage is unimportant. What is important IME is that the light provide plenty of Blue spectrum. They seem to thrive well with lots of vegitation.

I am going to start a sally cutting in my indoor pretty soon. I was planning to put them under my 90W LED ufo (7:1:1, redrange:blue, 1W LEDs), with an overall output in lumens roughly equivalent to 400W HID, but you made me doubt. What you say regarding vegetation makes lots of sense. Problem is, other than a 125W CFL, mostly used for flowering in the past, I only have two daylight 15W fluorescent lamps. Spectrum should be good, but wouldn't 30W be underlighting them?