Salvia looking sad and losing leaves

[acacian]

so up until about a month ago, my three salvia plants seemed to be going very well, though recently have started looking quite sad- the leaves have begun curling and browning - and they are falling off pretty much daily now. About 2 weeks ago I bought a humidity tent and put them in that and they seem to be pumping out new growth - though any of the old growth seems to be dying at an uneasing pace...

I have been growing them inside during winter, giving them morning sun and keeping them in shade for the rest of the day. We are now just heading into spring and it warming up a lot so hopefully they will pick up again, though I am still quite worried about them..

I was also misting them fairly regularly until about a month ago when I was advised it may not be so good while they are still inside.. now that they are in the tent, I water and mist them roughly every three days

the dead tips on the leaves were removed yesterday with scissors and as you can see they are already back... they are losing a lot of material at the moment. fortunately I am saving it all so it isn't going to waste

 

[universecannon]

Is it possible you could you have over watered it? Mine died that way a few years ago

Not sure though.. hopefully someone with more salvia knowledge like ringworm or jamie will chime in

 

[Animistic]

One thing I have noticed about Sally cuttings is they tend to get those sort of growth habits while inside. While growing my first plants indoors I used to get browned tips and curled leaves after a while. Not sure where exactly you are so what sort of temperatures does your area you get down to at night? Where I am it would be very rare to be below 8 degrees and I have kept mine outside and while they aren't growing they're looking healthy, except that catapillars ate a lot of leaves but because they did I am anticipating they will grow very bushy over warmer months. As soon as your outside temps stay above 6 or 7 degrees at night I would say put them outside. If I may make a prediction I'd say she will spring back in spring, pardon the pun

A.

 

[acacian]

thanks for the advice guys... I guess it is possible that I overwatered them, could every 3 days be to often? maybe I am saturating them too much with each watering. Its quite warm now so I think I'll try taking them out of the humidity tent and see if that helps.. they havent been in it for long so maybe they are struggling to acclimatise

 

[Animistic]

No problem acacian, glad to be of some help. I would say that for this time of year, the fact they are inside and a humidity done you could be watering them too much. In my experience there is a pretty big misconception when it comes to salvia and water. Some people seem to make out like it is a really difficult plant to grow and I think that ends up scaring some people thinking they have to put her in a space suit just to make her live. If you live in a freezing climate then you will have problems but you would with any other plant grown well out of its comfort zone.

If I were you I'd be trying to acclimatize it to your natural environment as opposed to keeping it in an artificial environment like a humidity dome because it is always much less work to maintain a natural condition than an artificial one so if your plant learns to grow well in your climate ultimately it will be just as happy and you wont have to put so much energy into trying to keep it alive. What I'd do is take the humidity dome off, mist it and then wait until you see some drooping, if any, then give it another spray then wait for them to droop again. Eventually you'll find yourself not having the slave over it as the plant has everything it needs outside.

A.

 

[Wax]

You shouldn't need to put them in a humidity tent if they are already established. You should slowly take them back out of the tent until they re acclimate. Also, I don't know about the misting, personally I don't mist mine.

You say you are putting them in full sun in the morning and then full shade, are you moving them into the sun or are they in a window where that naturally occurs? I advise against moving them around a bunch and I would find a nice spot that gets a lot of indirect light and leave them there.

Also, I have found that having them in a container that you can water from the bottom works great, just fill it up and it will take up the water as needed. If you don't want to transplant them right away, which may not be the best idea at the moment, you could water them only once they start to droop a bit. Also, don't water them at night because they naturally droop a bit during the nighttime so you could mistake it for thirst.

Once they get going again you could shoot them a bit of fertilizer. I prefer organic but it smells up the house sometimes, I think I use a 4-5-4 acid lover fert but I'm still not sure if that is the best choice. I have heard all purpose miracle grow works or mir-acid. Good luck!

 

[acacian]

thanks for the sound advice once again... I have taken them out of the tent. should I periodically put them back in? they have only been in one for a couple weeks anyway so I have a feeling they probably haven't completely acclimatised yet..

regarding the sunlight, they were on a window at the front of the house which received morning sun and then went shady around 10:30-11am. I have them outside now in hope that it will dry the soil a bit and to help them get used to the new conditions.. its quite windy at the moment will this be a problem? its quite warm

 

[Wax]

I would pop them in periodically just in case, just keep an eye on them.

It could definitely hurt them being in the wind if they aren't used to it. If they haven't been outside for a long time I would be careful putting them outside, I've had nothing but bad experiences doing that. Just keep them in a well lit area but out of direct light, don't move them around and lay off the water until they start to wilt a bit during the day. You may even cut back on the amount of water you give them when you do water.

It's probably best to have quite a bit of perlite in your soil, I have always skimped on that part and have lost at least one to over watering. I highly recommend watering from the bottom or smaller amounts of water more frequently if you don't have loose well draining soil.

 

[Animistic]

I personally wouldn't put the plant back in the dome unless a good misting didn't fix things and things started to worsen. Do keep an eye on the plant at night. What I usually do when getting a plant used to outside is leave it out until quite late, say 8 or 9 at night for the first few nights and then leave it out one whole night. If you have a thermometer just put it outside your window and check it before you goto bed. If it is above the 6 or 7 degrees I've never had a problem with leaving them outside, even relatively small ones but definitely bring them in for the first few nights.

Like Wax said you want somewhere outside that gets a lot of indirect sunlight. I've got mine in a spot that I think is probably too shady for optimum growth but that doesn't effect health only makes the the plants taller and less bushy. I've had them in full sun but they prefer shady to full sun.

A bit of wind I think is good to help with the strength of the plant. How long have they been in their current pots? If longer than 3 months the thing will have somewhat of a root system now so it can put up with a bit of wind plus they don't look wide enough as to catch enough wind, at least in my opinion.

A.

 

[acacian]

they've been in new pots for about 7 weeks now... they were in very good condition prior to being repotted and never quite got back to that stage since. it is very windy outside at the moment so I am in two minds as to what to do.. anyone else have advice on wind? as wax said if they aren't used to it maybe its not the best move.. they have received virtually no wind in their whole time here so it may be too sudden - I will definetely hold off on the water though and perhaps periodically let them experience the wind, just not for too long

 

[Ambivalent]

sudden change of their living space can most definitely shock them in this way, especially if the new spot has alot of direct sun, and previously they were used to shade.

plus i think you are giving them waay to much water.

i mist my salvias regularly, but i water them once every week, or every two weeks in winters.

i would find a nice shady spot outside and would leave them alone for some time. even if the older leaves and the stem dry out a bit, they are great survivors and after the plant stabilizes it will shoot out new leaves and stems for sure .