Salvia cuttings

I had to show you this - its just 12 days since I took the cutting. I am amazed at how quickly it has taken. There were a load of others and nearly all have done well.



This is Salvia 'Mystic Spires', placed in a heated propagator. I flooded the floor of the propagator with water, so the humidity is absolutely 100%. This means that I didn't have to take off any leaves at all, except those below ground level. I left it just inside a summerhouse, but with good outdoor light.

The leaves are the power source providing the energy to grow, so it is reasonable to assume that the more leaf left on the faster the roots grow. But it does need the humidity to prevent all those leaves dehydrating the cutting. The biggest fear with high humidity is rotting, but Salvias seem to be very tolerant. Some such as Pelargoniums are not, and shouldn't be covered.

Salvias and other members of the mint family, Agastache, Mentha, Monada, Nepeta etc are easy to propogate, and I am sure it is still a good time for cuttings now.

 

Evening, Peter.

Well, I'm a bit but to shame to say the least. My two S guaranitica cuttings are pathetic, to say the least. The one in water in the kitchen windowsill looks alive and healthy but I see no root formation yet! :( The one in hormone rooting powder in a little pot looks dead as a dodo. :(

I did buy a pack of S farinacea Victoria Blue today to try ... but, as I've said before, I am useless with seeds but had to have it for obvious reasons. :rolleyes: Do you have this one?

 

Hi Lol. I have never tried to do cuttings of Salvia in water. I must try. They do say that anything with a square stem (ie mint family) will root in water.

S farinacea Victoria Blue is a lovely plant. I bought a packet of seed, but they didn't do well for me. The plants were not very strong and they didn't overwinter (under glass). But the seedling shown above is 'Mystic Spires', which is a sterile hybrid if S. farinacea and an obscure Salvia - longispicata, which is hardy down to -7C.



I think S 'Mystic Spires', shown above is a super plant. It looks good, flowers for a very long period of time, and had no problem overwintering for me - would be hardy for you. Its still in full flower in the garden now, inspite of a couple of recent nights when the temperature has just slipped below freezing.

If you want a cutting, its ready to send now - along with a couple of other varieties which should all be hardy with you. Or I could take another cutting and send it in spring.

 

What a fantastic colour, Peter. It looks even more striking than Victoria.

I won't say no to any of them as they are doing well with me and now is the time that we plant coming into rain season.

Thank you so much in advance.

shiney, I have more luck rooting in water than soil also.

 

The colour is nice LoL but its a bit over the top - as you said colour reproduction can be a bit misleading. I will pop one in the post.

I think today, I feel an experiment coming on. I will put some Salvia cuttings in soil and some in water. If I put them all in the same heated propagator they will be at the same temperature, which must effect it. My propagator will be full again - so I will have to leave the table leg out Shiney. :D

 

Thank you again, Peter. I look forward to receiving it.

Good luck with your experiement and let us know how it goes.

 

Yes, Salvia, are easy peasy to propagate from basal cuttings which will flower in the same season and non-flowering soft and semi-ripe stem-tip cuttings just keept frost free through winter and planted out in spring.

To your growing success.
Charles Ashworth

 

Hi Charles - I have just had a long look at your excellent site http://www.plants-free-for-life.com

What exactly do you do? - you look as though you take this subject quite seriously.

I carried out my experiment. Slightly unscientific as I moved all my cuttings into a light box half way through. But they love it there. I took cuttings of Salvia Mystic Spires on three consecutive days. I then looked at them all on the same day. Of the 12 day old ones 4 out of 6 had roots, of the 11 day old ones 6 out of 8 had roots but were much shorter. Of the 10 day old cuttings none out of 8 had roots. However when I looked at the non rooted ones again 4 days later, quite a few now had roots.

My conclusion is that the roots do not grow at a steady rate from day one. It can take up to 10 days or more before they start to root. Then the roots can grow quite quickly growing an inch or more in two days.

None of the samples I put in water (in the same light box) had rooted after 12 days, so it doesn't appear to offer any advantage for me.

 

I root a lot of cuttings in water the biggest problem is the water needs to be changed each day to ensure success or agae builds up and the rotting process starts, one way around this problem is to use an aquarium air pump and stone (bubbler) to keep the water aerated, I have had the same water in a couple of weeks and it stays clear,rooting is definitely improved.Recently I tried rooting a variegated fuchsia one set of cuttings the water method one set compost and bottom heat, the compost method won hands down the root development was quicker by half and 4 times bigger, the other thing Inoticed the variegation was different on the 2 sets of cuttings I can only put this down to the compost grown cuttings taking up nutrients quicker than the water ones.

 

Hi PeterS and all,

Yes you could say I take this subject (horticulture and botany) seriously as I am involved quite heavly in these topics.

But, plant propagation is my, and my wifes, passion. We have spent years propagating and growing many different types of plants. We have read, I think, most books on the subject, and have attended many horticultural educational venues. It's all we do, plant propagation, and of course tend our own garden.

So, we have a lot of knowledge and experiance between us which we share with everyone who wants the benifit of that knowledge and experiance. Our website is a way of sharing our knowledge and experiance, it is also a great way for us to learn more on the subject.

We enjoy hearing about different approaches to propagating and this forum seems to be the place to be.

To your growing success.
Charles Ashworth

 

Hi Charles - I am glad you have joined us and I am sure your experience will be most helpful. I think plant propagation is close to everyone's heart - something for nothing! but also the challenge.

Here's a question for you for starters. A friend recently, very kindly, send me 33 packets of different Salvia species seed, which added to my own makes about 50 different in all. The question is - if you grow so many different plants, many if not most of which will cross fertilise, in a small garden, how do you know how many seeds, if any, will be true to species. How far away do plants have to be, on average, to have a good chance that they are not cross fertilised.

I really should have put the question to him, as he grows over 100 different Salvias, but it seemed rather rude to say how do I know that what you have written on the packet is true :D

 

Hi PeterS,

You don't know how many will be true to species.

Difficult to say how far apart plants need to be as so many factors have to be taken into consideration, but this need not be important.

We hybridize by hand pollinating then covering the flower with a muslin bag. It's worth a go you get some interesting results and very occassionally a real winner, which now days can be worth a small fortune.

You need patience for this, no skill, just practice and patience and if trying for something special, notes, copious notes.

Being a friend he might not mind answering your question and if he is a like minded gardener he will be more than pleased to tell you how he does it.

To your growing success.
Charles Ashworth

 

Thanks Charles - I would like to have a go at hybridising Salvias one day. I understand that many of them will cross fertilise relatively easily. However in the shorter term I am going to have my hands full with all these plants, especially as most are not hardy.

 

Peter the only guarantee to get true species is to grow them in isolation, with my brugs to ensure wanted pollination the only safe way is as Charles says hand pollinate then cover staight away you need to be there at point of opening(get to them before the insects do)I have a problem with self pollinating brugs, to cross pollinate I have to cut into the corolla when the blossom is green (hasn't opened)remove the anthers before the pollen has fluffed up, take your desired pollen off your wanted cross apply to the stigma cover the whole flower with a bug proof mesh and keep your fingers crossed,I have three pods using this method so hopefully it's worked, It will be a lot harder to do with salvias vegitative propogation would be easier to do to get true species.