Unhappy salvia plant

[Oh-Hungee]

My salvia plant has recently started to drop dead. I've been reading a bunch posts and guides about growing salvia trying to figure out what to do, but I'm starting to get mixed up about all the conflicting advice I'm coming across. I'm hoping someone here might have an idea of what's going on.

I planted it toward the begging of winter and it grew indoors. During this time it went crazy and grew huge. It wasn't until the summer heat hit about a month ago, that the leaves slowly started drying out and dropping off. The temperature has gone from the 60s-70s to the 80s-90+ in the part of the house it was growing in. I moved it outside into the shade, because it's been cooler out there. This made it a get a bunch worse, causing the top parts of the branches to go totally limp and most of the leaves to drop off quickly. The change in environment was probably something of a shock. At first it seemed like it could be having trouble all the recent heat, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe a problem with the roots?

I have it in a giant clay pot, and I used potting soil with a large amount of perlite and vermiculite. I've kept up with watering it, and I had a by a large window with the light filtered through a tree. I gave it some 10-15-10 fertilizer a few weeks ago, but it didn't seem to change anything.

 

[Herba Luisa]

I would repot the plant in new soil. Take ordinary planting soil for flowers, the vermiculite may hold
too much water for too long. I cultivate my salvia fairly dry. That means regularly water but wait until
the soil is dry.
My Salvia is in a greenhouse thru summer and in an indoor wintergarden in the cold season.

 

[Cosmic Spore]

It has so far been my experience that Salvia like more light than one would think after reading on the web.

Also, IME, Salvia don't like to be extra moist; just a little moist. If it is in a large container, that may contribute to holding slightly too much water.

I have a thread about Salvia that I haven't updated in a while.

It's a long read with a lot of pics, but it has a lot of details.

For healthy plants, I recommend using containers named Smart Pots: 1 gallon size, until root-bound, then 3 gallon size.

If your plant looks like it's almost dead, I recommend taking a cutting and attempting to root it.

Light intensity, fertilizing & cloning of Salvia divinorum (Sterling Bunnell 1962 strain) - Salvia Divinorum - Welcome to the DMT-Nexus

Most of the Styrofoam cups that I used dried out too quickly.

 

[Oh-Hungee]

Thanks for the advice. It looks like I have a bit reading cut out for me with that link.

I have taken cutting of all the branches. I can see how the roots might be staying too wet. The plant isn't totally dead yet, so I guess a re-potting is in order, though it'll be difficult. I guess vermiculite is not a good choice. The original guide I followed encouraged use of vermiculite and perlite to keep the roots aerated. Might anyone have any suggestions on the use of perlite?

 

[The Neural]

Thanks for the advice. It looks like I have a bit reading cut out for me with that link.

I have taken cutting of all the branches. I can see how the roots might be staying too wet. The plant isn't totally dead yet, so I guess a re-potting is in order, though it'll be difficult. I guess vermiculite is not a good choice. The original guide I followed encouraged use of vermiculite and perlite to keep the roots aerated. Might anyone have any suggestions on the use of perlite?

I only use plain black soil. You can just cut down on the watering instead of using perlite. Also you can use lamps that evaporate the moisture faster than natural light. I have mine under 250W sodium, and they love it immensely. They actually grow more when i water them less.

 

[Hieronymous]

Thanks for the advice. It looks like I have a bit reading cut out for me with that link.

I have taken cutting of all the branches. I can see how the roots might be staying too wet. The plant isn't totally dead yet, so I guess a re-potting is in order, though it'll be difficult. I guess vermiculite is not a good choice. The original guide I followed encouraged use of vermiculite and perlite to keep the roots aerated. Might anyone have any suggestions on the use of perlite?

The perlite is only really needed during propagation and the first few weeks of growth.

After that Salvia will grow well in normal potting mix. It doesn't hurt to have some perlite in the mix for an indoor plant in cooler conditions though especially smaller plants - it helps to prevent overwatering.

You say the plant is wilted and very sick looking, Salvia can grow a very dense root mat which can become very hard to wet properly, sometimes when watering a potted Salvia the water doesn't really soak in because of the dense root mat. You may need to dunk the whole pot in a bucket or a suitable sized container for a few hours to get the water to soak in or use a soil wetting agent.

Taking cuttings is an essential part of Salvia cultivation though, so keep taking cuttings so you have a backup if one or more die.

 

[Oh-Hungee]

Thanks a bunch for all the suggestion everyone. I had to leave my plant and cuttings behind for a week and half. I had an unexpected mushroom-venture off in a remote desert come up, but that's another story. The original plant is dead for sure, but I have one cutting that's rooting, so a new plant is hopefully on the way.

I just have one more quick question. This is a bit tricky to figure out, but I suspect the problem was that the roots were being kept too wet for too long. What I see that makes me think this, is the bottom 1/3 of the clay pot has been staying visibly wet. Does anyone think this might be a good indication of too much moisture.

 

[The Neural]

When you are saying "visibly", did it look like the water in it would pour out if you tilted it sideways, or did it look just "not dry"?

If it was the former, definitely too much water! Mould will rush to eat it up.
If it was the latter, it might have had nothing to do with its death.

 

[Oh-Hungee]

You could see a line of water where it looked like the pot had been soaked. I dumped out all the soil, and I found very few roots and the soil was still quite wet. This is after about a month since I gave it any water, so I'm settling on the too much water explanation. The cuttings are at least doing pretty well.

 

[Cosmic Spore]

I don't work for this company, but I cannot recommend one gallon sized "Smart Pots" containers enough. DEFINITELY worth the $$ and available on internet.

 

[Mattafizz25]

I also have a few questions if its ok to ask here so i dont make a new topic just because of this.

Recently i have gotten some salvia cuttings, the guy said i have to keep it moisture and no direct sunlight but i had to go on a long road trip and the salvia cuttings had to wait 3 days to get in water and earth.

Now they dont have leaves and look realy ugly to be honest. I have also gotten some Calea cuttings and they are looking fine but i am concerned about the salvia will they recover? Ill try to add some pictures

 

[jamie]

you need some perlite in that soil for starters..and loose the bags, tents etc as you will only make it so that the plants cant adapt. I don't know what people are talking about sometimes when it comes to just using black soil but salvia grows naturally in a soil that is more like humus with pieces of wood and rotting dead matter through it..so it is loose and well draining. Add perlite and even things like moss etc to the soil.

Ideally at this time of year your plants should look lush and green like this..and not brown and yellow.