How
best to care for Salvia divinorum.
- Salvia
divinorum is a tropical rain forest plant. It thrives,
in
its native habitat, in a high humidity low light environment under the
jungle canopy.
- Soils
for Salvia divinorum should be well drained and not
retain
too much moisture. You should not use peat moss in Salvia
potting
soils in high humidity areas because it gets acidic and eventually
turns the soil into a peat bog. In arid environments some peat moss
helps keep the soil from drying out too fast. Salvia
divinorum's roots need access to air or root rot can set in.
A
large plastic pot 12" in diameter or greater, with the saucer
removed from the bottom of it, should have about an inch of pea sized
gravel put on the bottom to insure good drainage. The
pot
should also be placed up on bricks so there's a space for air to enter
the bottom. Please see my pages on Repotting
and Soils.
- Salvia
divinorum's branches are weak and not woody: They require
support if you wish to grow this plant much taller than 3 feet.
In
the
wild, the plant grows tall enough that the weight of it's leaves weigh
it down, and it snaps off the stem or branch and drops it in the mud.
All the nodes on that stem or branch then put down roots and
put
up stems to create an instant hedge of this plant. I use
those
bamboo tomato stakes and vinyl Gardner's tape to secure the stem, and
any branch that is longer than 2 feet, to a stake.
- Salvia
divinorum requires sun with partial shade. In the jungle
this
plant just gets little dapples of sunlight that speed along the jungle
floor under the canopy. It is said the natives plant this
under
their coffee trees. Salvia divinorum cannot tolerate long periods of
direct sunlight: it cooks the plant! My trees are sheltered
from
the direct sun by tarps: they only get indirect light that bounces off
the surrounding buildings (but they get a lot of light). A
partially shady location is a
must have
for
this plant. Give it an hour or two a day of direct sun on a windowsill,
if you can (outside in the wind is best for it)! It will grow just fine
under ordinary fluorescent
lights or under a skylight. Light level used in growth chamber
experiments can be found here: http://www.sagewisdom.org/valdes87.html
"Plant-top light-intensity varied from 2,800-3,300 ft-c"
- Salvia
divinorum needs to be fertilized once to twice a month: I use Miracle-Gro plant food. If the plant is getting proper levels of nutrients and not too much sunlight
its leaves will be smooth, flat, velvety, and dark emerald green.
If it gets too much sunlight the leaves get a rough
'alligators
skin' looking texture and change to a lighter color.
- You
should let Salvia dry out between waterings. The top half
inch to inch of soil should be dry when it is time to water the plant
again. The plant will droop slightly before it begins to
wilt:
water it - soak it well - as soon as you see the leaves droop and do
not let it wilt! (The time lapse image below takes a while to
load after you click on it: be patient please)
Click on the wilted plant to watch it take on water (time lapse)!
Anything
that wilts all the way suffers a vascular
collapse
and will not return. Over watering can lead to problems with
fungus gnats, and root rot. Do not give Salvia fertilizer with
every
watering.
Every third or fourth watering you can add Miracle-Gro in the
recommended ratio (1 measure to a gallon of water) to the water.
Within
three or four days you'll see the dark green return to your plants'
leaves.
- Salvia
divinorum can have many pests but I have not been too successful
in combating any of them EXCEPT Caterpillars and Slugs. I have
regularly released ladybugs, and I
hung praying mantis egg cases up in my trees (one hatched).
The ungrateful predator bugs did not stick around but the
pests did!
I do recommend "Bt" against Caterpillars (It is safe and organic), and
For Slugs there are 3 treatments, one of which I have used and 2 that I
know will work.
- I have used copper foil tape in a strip around the pot:
Slugs won't cross a copper barrier!
- My friend Rendi (Author of the Entheogen Encyclopedia)
reminded me about saucers of warm beer in the soil: Slugs go in for the
beer [or fall in] get drunk and drown.
- Rendi also shared his tip that Slugs won't cross lines
(piles) of fireplace ashes! This I did NOT Know: Thanks Rendi! Since
Slugs travel on a ribbon of mucus ashes absorb that ribbon and makes
them think they are on broken glass shards!
- It
is probably a good idea to mist your Salvia divinorum plants.
I forget to mist my plants: Any plants you get from my garden
will not require a humidity tent because they are already hardened to a
desert environment. Just repot these plants, in a large pot,
with
good soil: Tie the "Trunks" of your 'trees-to-be' to a tomato support
stake and put them in the shade.
- The
greatest two dangers to your plant's survival are drought and
frost. If the plant is allowed to wilt too far: the vascular tissues
will collapse and that part will not grow again. Watering it
as soon as you see it droop is the best policy. And if the root ball
gets frost it will kill it: but as long as the root ball does not get
completely frozen the plant will regrow in the spring from it.
Happy
and blessed gardening!
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For information I haven't covered here see:
The
Salvia divinorum growers guide
