Salvia forums?

[Sporehead]

Hey everyone! This is my first post under this username. I quit my old account (morbiddoctor) a few years ago but I'm back now! I used to have a blosser but she died. Took a bit to get situated but she grew fast once she was happy.

I just received two live salvia cuttings in pots; 'resilience' and 'paradox', the Siebert seed grown strains. Resilience looks as good as it can with the setting change and shipping. I think it will be fine. Paradox on the other hand.... It has one leaf left, lots of stem, and what I'm sure is stem rot in two places. I really hope it is salvageable. I'm hoping the rot isn't already up the stalk and I just can't see it yet.

I was hoping to talk to people with experience growing this plant. having a coach would help me a lot right now. I know it is very finicky and responds quickly to changes. I remember a lot about growing this plant. Still, it would be nice to communicate with others growing it in this difficult time. I'm also looking for an active salvia forum. The ones I've seen all seem abandoned. I figure the more growers the merrier. Any tips, stories, musings, wise lessons or constructive criticism would be appreciated.

sporehead

 

[Chan]

Hi Sporehead

I'm looking forward to the time when I'll be able to post in the salvia forum here...

I've got a plant that's doing well (from cutting) and given me two rooted cuttings which are also holding up well despite it being quite cool and gloomy here. The $$$ orchid compost I bought to plant my original cutting turned out to be infested with fungus-gnats, they're not fatal, but very annoying and unsightly, so I'm hoping to retire my mother plant once the cuttings are fully established. Lesson: always freeze/thaw compost before use.

You say one of your cuttings has a lot of stem, but not much else. Did you read the technique on sagewisdom.org suggesting that you can just take a piece of stem, so long as it has a few nodes, and lay it flat onto compost, where it should apparently take root and throw up a new plant or two? Sounds too good to be true, but Daniel Siebert obviously knows his stuff. I plan to try it out with my mother plant when the day comes.

Even indoors, at these high chilly latitudes, the plants are just ticking over, nothing more; growth is minimal. If you're in a similar situation, you might just want to keep your cuttings stable for now, and wait until things warm up a bit. It was taking me 2 weeks to get 10mm root growth in water. Potted out, she'd sulk for about a week, verging on apparent death, before finally starting to reveal some new leaflets. Sally seems to sulk at every change of situation, however minor, but seems tenacious under the surface.

I've also been mixing in mycorrhizal fungi during potting, and it certainly doesn't seem to have done any harm.

Good luck!

 

[Cosmic Spore]

Welcome back to the nexus, Sporehead. If we had a picture or 2 we could give more effective advice.

I have one Salvia plant currently, but I've previously had several.

How much light is it receiving & how wet is the soil?

 

[Sporehead]

I took cuttings from 'paradox' prior to the OP. It was pretty clear that it was rotten. Both the cuttings failed. The original plant was pretty much left at a stub. I thought it was a goner, assuming the rot had spread all over. It looks like the infection only traveled up the stem because from the next node down, there is a tiny littler set of leaves! They get bigger every day.

The resilience has lost some leaves but is still alive. It has one large one left. It had many more when I got it. I've had trouble making sure the RH is high enough that it does ok. I have a bunch of daylight CFLs placed about three feet from the plants now. I only set them up a few days ago. Hopefully it can photosynthesize now. It's too cloudy out here at the moment. The soil is moist but not saturated. I only watered it once, back when I got it. I think it is moist from the RH.

 

[Sporehead]

Last leaf fell off the resilience...