It all started a year ago, when in the late spring of the capital of our vast country brought me a stalk of Salvia. I began to look after him, did not sleep nights, everyone was running around, watered, nourished, sprayed. By the end of the summer I cut the first harvest and stalk.
But the window is difficult to achieve good results, and I decided to build a box. Kit was purchased HPS 250 (high pressure sodium lamps at 250 watts), 4 fluorescent lamps, all kinds of fans and power supplies to them, 10 meters of wires and other trifles. Boxing has turned nice, 50/50 sm and a height of 2 meters. HPS on the corners LDS, from HPS pumping hot air, bottom blowing cold on the wall hung a psychrometer, a light set on timers. Placed there the miracle tree. After a month's stay in the box I was pleasantly surprised. Salvia has grown so much that the places she has ceased to suffice, and it was decided to remove it, as it then seemed to blossom into the room.
Bloom is, of course, did not, and just threw almost all the leaves, and to a previous state will never come back, that I did not do it alone. I want to step back a little from the grow-report and give a couple of tips for beginners agronomists. Many foaming at the mouth told that Salvia in any case can not be kept in direct sunlight, the alleged direct light - the death for her, to say at least 6 times a day, spray the leaves and water as little as possible. I also read a lot of that's advisers have followed their instructions. But now I can confidently say all of the above nonsense. Salvia is like a bright sunny (HPS) light, loves, which I did not fail to discover on your own. About Watering too say. I spray it once a week or two, and then only because I suddenly feel like it, but the water on the contrary, is necessary, as soon as the ground begins to dry out a bit, if we miss this moment, it instantly, just a couple of clock begins to wilt and fold leaves. I will say a little about the fertilizer. I almost never use them, and when you have to fertilize with anything.
Graftage
Here I am, perhaps, nothing new, you're an aspiring amateur salvia, do not tell, for it is written about it already, and many methods of propagation are almost indistinguishable from each other. I only tell you how I do it. So true. In the evening, after a full moon ... Of course it was a joke :). In the evening, so as not to injure our favorite plant, it can play the jew's harp and sing a song of his secret elf. Clean (ignited the fire) with a scalpel or razor blade to cut the main branches of a tree. Contain no less than 7 cm
Then cut off from them all the leaves except the top 2-3. In a plastic lid from a can (look for my grandmother, so they fall close cucumbers) do a few holes (by our cuttings), enveloping cover with foil (to keep out light), pierces the same holes in the foil, insert the cuttings there and put our whole this design into a previously prepared opaque glass with the settled water. Wrap in a plastic bag, put on the window (better in boxing) and forget about two weeks. The leaves that we cut from cuttings can be eaten or dried and, well, in general you know :). After 2 weeks, you can see what we have. If we did it right, it should appear roots.
We are waiting for another couple of days to our roots a little grown up, and boldly planted in the ground. When planted, it is necessary once again to close the plant with plastic, because the root system is very weak and still can not get the necessary moisture from the ground. In the greenhouse, keep a couple of weeks, then we start smoothly for an hour a day to clean up a greenhouse until it does not get used.
I forgot to say that getting used to the low humidity, bright light and heat (I have it reaches 38 C) Salvia is not immediately apparent. At first glance it seems that it has become worse, and it may even lose almost all their leaves, but it is new to grow accustomed to the new environment. And an important point. If the plant is not enough and you shove it sharply under a bright light and low humidity, it still can be lost, because the old leaves fall off and new ones will not have time to grow up. (Probably from here and went to this myth of dislike of Salvia divinorum to light). But if it is right that we need to growing conditions, then all will be well.
In the process of growing salvia, one is faced with all sorts of ailments favorite plants. Most often, the plant turns black, and then the leaves are falling. Now I will fly back to the stones and cans of beer, but, in my opinion, this is happening just from the lack of light and waterlogged. One day at a favorite plant was discovered nasty red spider - spider mites. Its larvae - white worms eat the leaves from the bottom of them. And at first it is not clear what is happening. Leaves covered with spots, there are holes, the plant was not feeling well. So - run to his wonder-tree and look under the sheet, preferably with a magnifying glass. You see there white worms? No? You're lucky. If you see, do not despair. Run to the flower shop, buy a vehicle from pests and spray the plant, all close to him, Spray all plants in the house and do it repeatedly.
Flowering
Break gigabytes of information on the Internet, reading thousands of posts, I still decided to make sure that one of my bushes bloomed. And for those who would argue that our favorite miracle tree never blossoms - safely spit in his face. So, what do we need? But nothing! We need a viable bush adult height of less than 14 cm (it is written in a manual) and the most important thing we have to put a timer on the lights in the box is 11 hours of daylight. Still, we begin to wait patiently. Initially the plant will throw off the leaves, do not worry, it should be. After all, she thinks it was the fall, and take the time to leave offspring, and take off all the leaves of trees in autumn - this is normal. So after about a month I saw the little buds. This is our future Salvia flowers. After 2 weeks, we can already discern each flower individually.
