I have 3 of each the H&W and Palatable strains that are enjoying their life in the shady and humid environment in plastic planters on the side of my house. The planters are sitting on bricks to help with the drainage and to deter slugs from finding the foliage. New shoots are starting to form on the plants, so the question is...
How big do the salvia plants need to be to start taking cuttings to root indoors?
While I am interested in getting more plants going, I don't want to shock these into death.
Thanks.
The plants or the cuttings were on the heating mat?
Thanks.
winder, I've never had a salvia cutting fail--that's why they don't need no stinkin' seeds. I've taken cuttings from 8-10" recently rooted cuttings (so I could gift a visiting friend), and they traveled 600 miles in wet paper towels then promptly rooted in water. If I need a cutting, and I can cut leaving 2 or more nodes on the parent after cutting, I cut.
Copper works on slugs. Another good answer is diatomaceous earth scattered in a ring around the plant, which works like a million tiny razor blades.
The beer works best if you put a shallow bowl of it set slightly into the ground, so the lip is right at ground level. They slide into the beer and they can't get out: you know...
If you want very, very rapid rooting, put an aquarium bubbler in the water with the cuttings. The oxygenated water accelerates the root formation tremendously.
I always use an air bubbler and air stone to do cuttings, it works great and fast, lots more roots and thicker than water alone. Make cuttings as long as you can leave a few nodes on the parent plant, it will actually help that plant be more bushy and have more possible cuttings later on.
If you don't mind killing your slugs then the product Sluggo works wonders. They eat it and go hide to die, you never see them again. It does seem kind of mean to the slugs though. At least with beer they get drunk and die happy so they don't care if it happens out in the open :? But then you have to clean it up, yum. I left a thing of beer so long the slugs and beer became one making a slug-beer paste. That was growse.
ill add $5 more to that prize! haha
in general for cuttings, you need one node for roots and then another superior node for new growth
the parent plant will grow faster with more foliage left but even a single leafy node sould be sufficient to keet it alive.. but to play it safe i would leave a few nodes, esp on the origional clone, so even if the cuttings die, you have stock for more...
I have only seen the slugs on one surface and not yet on the plants.
Thanks for the tips on controlling them if need be.
And thanks for the tips regarding when to take the cuttings.
For someone who is lazy, I find having patience is trying.
Ironic, isn't it?
The swampy weather here lately is paying off with plenty of growth.
Imagine if I actually had some perlite and vermiculite blended into the soil! I think the rootings that I make will get the pleasure of such special treatment. At this point, the plants in the plastic planters look happy enough that I will leave them alone.
Last year's plants in terra cotta clay pots were in shade on the patio just around the corner from these, yet never seemed to be satisfied. They dropped leaves constantly and never got very tall. Something is different. It could be one or a combination of the following:
higher humidity this year
more, but still diffuse light this year from nearly constant shade, but cloudy conditions (this seems to be the best means of indirect lighting)
less sandy soil this year
more balanced fertilizer this year
Probably some of all.
As for the fertilizer this year, I am not trying any fancy soil amendments.
I am mixing the liquid fertilizers according to directions and making sure the micronutrients are there. But trying to get the nitrogen right with blood or bone meal in the mix seemed to be part of last year's misery.
Keeping my fingers crossed....