Rocketeerjim Grow-Log - Sylvia (Salvia Divinorum)

[RocketeerJim]

I received “Sylvia” today at 11am. I purchased her online from funnyfarmherbs.com on Saturday June 5 and they shipped her on Tuesday June 8 so the transit time was just two days.

She arrived in a rather shallow 4" pot that was topped with packaging tape to hold in the dirt and moisture. On the dirt was a bit of moistened paper towel. Her foliage was encased in a tube made from a file folder that was wrapped and taped into place. Inside the tube, in addition to Sylvia’s foliage, were some packaging peanuts and some more moistened paper towel. The entire unit came in a USPS mailing box.

I removed the box and the tube with its packaging materials and placed the pot on a window sill within a shower enclosure, turned on the hot water, closed the shower enclosure and went outside to prepare Sylvia’s new home.

That home is a 16" terracotta pot and I first drilled about a dozen holes in the bottom of the pot with a 1/4" masonry bit on my power drill. I plugged the central 3/4" hole, placed a ½" layer of large gravel across the bottom of the pot, then added a mixture of 2 parts commercial potting soil and 1 part Perlite to within 3"or so of the top of the pot. I moistened the mix with whole-house water softened/reverse osmosis treated water until it clumped when I grabbed a handful but I could not squeeze more than a couple of drops of water from the handful.

Into this I placed Sylvia after carefully removing the packaging tape, and then Sylvia, from her travel pot. I then cut off the top of a two liter Tonic Water bottle, rinsed it carefully, and then placed it atop Sylvia with some droplets of water still inside it.

I left Sylvia under our translucent patio cover (no direct sunlight until almost sunset) for a couple of hours and it was in the high 70's today and a bit breezy. A couple of hours later I notice there were a few additional water droplets in the dome and it was generally a bit hazy looking inside. I also noticed a small bug flying around in it and realized I should have purchased a new bag of potting soil instead of using the open one my wife left in our yard after she planted vegetables a few days ago. So I f’d up already, I guess. I retrieved the bug and replaced the dome.

I then noticed the soil around the dome was dry to the touch. So I mixed about ½ gallon of the treated water and about 2 cups of fresh urine and watered around the dome with it. About half of the water drained out of the bottom of the pot.

I’m going to leave Sylvia outside tonight as I believe the temp should not fall below the mid to low 60s.

See pics below.

Well that's about it. Any comments or advice will be appreciated!

[redfieldTnT]

She looks hot (whistles)hey sylvia shes gonna love her new pot it looks like a great size.
Ive read alot about using urine in fertilizer and composting but I get really grossed out handling stuff like that....

Right now I'm reading from diffrent sources that fish emulsion is a great product to feed salvia im using alaska fish emulsion I found a gallon for $22 including shipping on google shopping.Ive been using it for years now for my tomatoes and green pepper plants and my peach trees they all love it and seem to do better with that than they ever did with any hard ferts or slow release feeding ferts.I mixed 1 tablespoon fish emulsion with a gallon of water and 1 teaspoon of superthrive to feed those roots(I just love superthrive still). The smell of the fish emulsion grosses me out but not as much as urine

[ChemistKen]

she'll love superthrive...make sure your not overwatering her though...salvia likes the humidity in the air but not wet soil...I've learned that with sasha...one thing is that I never really gave my sasha high humidity, she actually usually just sits in the open...sometimes she has a custom humidity tent thing which I constructed...but she's happy and perky, just a little brown on the leaves once in a while...but yea your salvie looks good, just a bit tired from the trip...

[RocketeerJim]

Thanks for the comments, fellows!

I used to use, with excellent results, fish emulsion in my hydroponics setup when I grew MJ eons ago. The smell didn't bother me so much but I was concerned about my cats' potential to develop a strong interest . . . .

I'll get a bottle of fish emulsion for the next watering in a few days. I haven't used "superthrive" but will look for it as well.

This morning I replaced the 2-liter bottle "humidity dome" with a clear plastic tub that formerly contained an assortment of gift-wrapping ribbons. It is about twice the diameter and half again as tall as the 2-liter bottle. Sylvia's uppermost leaves were "cramped" under the bottle and now she doesn't touch the new "dome" at all.

[Ulmdorgr]

Yeah the humidity dome thing seems like a myth to me. It just hasn't worked out so well for most people. I don't know. Remember to get a bigger bottle soon; your plant is really trapped in that little 20oz (edit: I see that you replaced it, good!). You might want to get some colored sand, like ken, to prevent gnats from breeding in the soil.

[tryingtogrow]

Lol I'm growing chronic catnip

[ChemistKen]

seriously gnats are bothersome...seems like the only pests attacking plants around my area...I have them under control but if i would let my guard down they would quickly return...

[RocketeerJim]

Ahh. Colored Sand!! Yes, I'm plagued by gnats and the colored sand is an excellent idea! Will do. Here's dome new pics from today - five days after Sylvia's arrival. I've kept her under a humidity dome and covered the whole pot with a bungeed plastic bag.

[ChemistKen]

yes just remember to use semi coarse sand...sand that is too fine may be bad for the soil(block its ability to breath...)

[RocketeerJim]

All of Sylvia's leaves had fallen off when I saw her yesterday. The stalk still looks good, feels firm and has the very tiny beginnings of either new leaves or branches. Can't tell yet. Looks like a twig, now, though. I gave her a good dose of direct sunlight yesterday as it had been pretty much in the shade for ten days. I also gave her a gallon of water with a teaspoon of fish emulsion in it. Finally, I removed her humidity dome for about an hour in the afternoon. Since she has no leaves, they did not droop at all!

[Ulmdorgr]

A gallon? Holy $(#* that seems like a lot.

[nothim]

if , f it just roared with flashes and thunders outside, if i were you , i would bring the plant inside , in a greenhouse and with temp at 20 celsius , the plant is too small to make it without humidity tent and probably you have 30 celsius or more there ,which is not good, man it just struck outside , all the cars are yelling their alarms....

[RocketeerJim]

Well, a gallon is a lot but the pot is 16" across and verry little water drained out of it despite almost a dozen 1/4" holes in the bottom of the pot. Also I wanted to dilute the urine I treated her with earlier as I wondered if that might be causing the browning of the leaves. I haven't treated her with anything else but the urine and the fish emulsion . . . .

I was actually wondering if she was getting too cold at night when it dips down to the upper to mid 50's. The days here have been in the mid to upper 80Fs so, actually, closer to 30C than 20C, but in the shade where I've been keeping her it is a bit cooler. And I do have a humidity dome and a plastic bag on her almost all of the time. I only removed it for about an hour or so yesterday after I watered her.

I'll post a photo or two of her tomorrow. I've seen plants lose all of their leaves before and then come back to thrive. Unless the stock goes bad I'm not going to worry too much.

[RocketeerJim]

Ok, so hopefully this will turn into one of those "Phoenix rising from the ashes" sagas. . . . the "kid comes from behind", "overcoming all obstacles" by "turning lemons into lemonade" situations. . . .

Anyhow, here's Sylvia, both in and out of her humidity dome. Please note the humidity in the dome. She stays under the dome 23 1/2 hours per day. Aren't her leaves lovely? Well, that is, I imagine them to be lovely.

Hey, there's nowhere to go from here except up, right?

I treated her with root stimulator today, 1 tablespoon in one gallon of water. Probably about a pint of water drained from the dozen 1/4" holes I drilled into the bottom of the pot this time.

[nothim]

you look ok here but you need to have a shade, direct sun will burn and dry her fast!!!!!!!!

use a shade all the time and plenty of light !