Ozzy Grown Sally

[m-c-hammer]

OK, firstly I would like to apologise for the crappy picture quality, so there that's off my chest now.

 

What we have here is a few pics of my salvia that originates from a seed grown parent in NSW.

I did grow this plant quite successfully indoors under 125W CFL although I do not have any pics of this as I did not own a camera back then (over 2 years ago now).

I have since been growing it in the veggie garden (outside, duh) and as a result I have lost a few of my parent plants due to the cold winters.

Pics of mother plant or whats left of her.

 

I'm currently trying to establish a few more cuttings, although I really have not been that successful with it.

Here are a few pics of the cuttings.

 

As you can see she really isn't doing so great.

She has had all kinds of bugs try to eat her alive, in fact it seems to me that this is the sacrificial plant that helps keep all of the bugs off everything else in my garden. It really is a magnet for them.

 

Anyway, that's it.

 

Hammer.

[Kiweed]

Interesting stuff Hammer.

 

What about trying to grow indoors as a decorative plant?

 

The leaves look like they want to come but as you mention the budgsters have had their way.

 

Is pesticide an option.

 

Kiweed.

[m-c-hammer]

I've used every pesticide known to man on this plant over the years.

My best experiences have been with taking a new cutting, stripping it of everything and then spraying it with a mite spray used on international flights called "top of descent", this stuff kills everything known to man however I have never heard of anybody using it on plants but me.

From that point on you have a sterile plant (bug-wise) so it is a good starting point for indoor applications.

[OrbitTime]

m-c-hammer, unlike the certainty of indoors it can be tough growing outdoors.

 

Salvia sure has its share of attack from pests; be it sucking insects like aphids and white fly, or chewing insects such as beetles, their grubs, and moth larvae. Slugs and snails will also have a go too. Dry sawdust can stop them, or small tins filled with stale beer (snails/slugs drink it and die). Two-spotted mites can be a scourge in dry weather. One critter I didn't think could be a pest is wood-lice, or sometimes called slaters or pillbugs. They actually climbed up into the Salvia foliage and chewed on the leaves. Normally they eat only dead and decomposing leaves, but it's a been a wet season (unlike the past hot/drought years) and that extends the range of slaters.

 

I've found it a MUST to use a broad-spectrum pesticide on outdoor Salvia cuttings if they're going to be propagated indoors. If any pest stow-aways successfully sneak into the cutting incubator they'll frag the lot almost overnight once the eggs hatch and the grubs or larvae have their way. It's worthwhile to monitor the cuttings closely as a secondary pesticide application a week into the incubator may be necessary.

 

On the positive side, growing Salvia indoors is a cinch. The only reason I grow Salvia outdoors is due to space restrictions. Mine grow at the shaded end of a vegetable garden so it's my veggies that generally cop the pests and not the Salvia. I grow organically, so I avoid using spays. My garden is left to natural controls with spiders, assassin bugs, predatory wasps, preying-mantids, birds ect. I've even had blue-tongue lizards come get the snails.

[m-c-hammer]

I totally agree with your method of pest control Orbit.

I hate using pesticides because they kill all of the good bugs too.

It is only in desperate times that I will turn to sprays.

But as you all know, nature intended on survival of the fittest. So poor placement in the patch on my behalf resulted in crowding and over shading of my salvia's.

Ultimately this resulted in the plant becoming weak and a target for all pests.

But I have corrected the shading and hopefully it can pickup enough before the frost kicks in.

Only time will tell.

 

I may have to do the magic "cant touch this" dance to perk it up a bit.

 

Hammer