Cultivation - Swims new salvia plant

[silversinner]

Hi guys been reading the forum for a few days now while Swim has had their Sally plant going through the stress of the postal service .

I thought id make a post about it and hopefully give regular updates on how things are going, i would also like to hear other people who are growing salvia (newbies or experianced) sharing their progress in keeping this plant through the generations.

Ive posted a picture below of how it came today, it looks a bit limp and stressed but hopefully after an hour in some mineral water and tasty new soil to get stuck into she should cheer up a bit in a few weeks.




Have people buying cuttings from the internet had their cuttings come this limpish?

I hope she does well.

I have a question, as saly doesnt produce many seeds has anyone on this forum sucsessfully grown from seed? I am very interested in expanding the ammount of strains available.

Regards
SWIM.

[Alias: V]

Congratulations to the grower of that wonderful new salvia plant. I love hearing about new growers.

W, a friend, recently started growing his own Salvia plant and intends on attempting to get it to seed in order to increase the genetic variety of salvia as well. His plant was a little limp when he got it was well, but it perks up with high humidity. The plant is doing well, and he recently took a cutting and is hoping that it will root, but W is new to all of this as well, and he's taking all the advice he can get.

The bits I am aware of: Salvia begins to flower in late summer to early fall, depending on where you live. It all has to do with the hours of sunlight it receives. When it begins to flower, you'll have to hand pollinate it, and because the flowers mature at different times, you'll have to wait until both the anther and the pistil are ripe. How you can tell, I haven't the slightest idea. If you actually do get the plant to produce seeds, which seems to only happen in near-ideal conditions, the seeds usually have about a 30% germination rate and a 10% survival rate, so if you hope to have one make it to planthood, you'll need at least 10, but probably more like 30. You could get lucky, but statistacally speaking, it's an uphill battle. Also, if you want a salvia plant to produce flowers, it'll be taking energy to make flowers that it would otherwise make leaves with. Just an FYI. It's been proposed that gibberellic acid-3 may help the seeds germinate and survive, but I've heard very little about it.

But best of luck to you. W is still working on propagating the plant using cuttings, which sounds much more reliable, and you might as well start this way, as pruning your plant will help it produce more leaves and will leave you with cuttings with nothing to do but root and replant.

[silversinner]

Thats brilliant, swim thinks everyone who can and is interested in this plant should give it a go, swim has found a brillaint free guide on how to get her to flower and how to pollinate properly with lots of images and explanations!! unfortunatley im not aloud to post links so i will put the information in a document and post it in the documents section.

Give me a couple of hours im glad there are other poeple that are interested in the same thing, some new strains and a bit more excitment to salvia divinorum strain range would be great.

SS

[Cybi]

Silversinner, how is swiy's sally doing now ?

Swims is a new salvia gardner too. Swims plant is now approx 50cm and looking pretty healthy. Swim has heard that forcing sally to seed is incredibly difficult, so wants to wish you a lota luck. Please let us know how you get on :0)

[emoduckie]

SWIM is thinking about getting a few cuttings...

[silversinner]

Swims plant is going good, its been a rough week after i accidently left it out in direct sunlight for a good 4 hours it was all limp and lifeless! but swim watered it and within 30 minutes it was back to normal again, swim was very suprised, its also fallen off the window sill a few times and had some leaf damage but its been fine.

Its grown a lot and currently has have shoots coming from the previous leaf nodes which looks promising! swim hopes in the next 3 - 4 weeks to take a cutting and grow that one and have two!! swimhas some pictures below, swim is still using a bottom of a bottle as a pot and soon will upgrade, swim currently has it in an old fish tank with cling film over the top for humidity.

[Drobium]

Swim recommends "nipping" out the growing tip of the plant to promote bushyness as ....more stems = more salvia, and also would help to strengthen the plant.

Cuttings at this time of the year may be a little difficult to get to root properly and establish.
Swim would recommend investing in a heated propagator this will help greatly in swiy's bulking up of stock plants.

good luck )

[silversinner]

what are the growing tips? ive searched forever on google and never get a good explanation on it! is it the tips of the leavs or something?

[Potter]

Tip of the stem, the highest most part. Right below the top most leaves, clip it right under where they meet. It'll take a bit to heal and start growing, but it should split into two stems.

When the plant is healthier you can cut lower, root the upper part and the lower part will regrow. You want to make sure you have a few good strong leaves on the lower part to keep it gowing. But right now, those leaves look weak and sickly, best to let it go for a while before attempting to divide it.

But do pluck those top two leaves off.

[silversinner]

beautiful! thank you! Swim can see this in affect with other plants now! swim will soon have to get some proper soil for her since shes in peat and swim has heard that can get boggy and stagnant over a month or two. SWIM will post an update and pics on hows shes doing if anyones interested!