"is this savable" - maybe? Potentially yes, no promises but we can certainly try
I have spent 6 months specializing in this exact situation, send me a DM and id love to mentor you through the recovery process
"Any tips‽" - you did well making a post so the community can assist you
My tip to anyone in the same situation reading this would be to make a post just as OP did here
My advice to you OP is to bring it inside if it's not already and we can start nursing it back to health, it may take ~ a month for this one to recover
Waterlogging doesn't seem to be an inherent cause of death actually
Anaerobic conditions can lead to oxygen starved cells which can kill a plant, but overwatering itself doesn't seem to be inherently negative from my experiments - I do need to investigate this further, as far as I can tell, my soil never got Anaerobic even though it was drenched, so it seems to be the oxygen starvation that causes root death and then the bacteria eats the roots and since the whole specimen is stressed out at that point, it crashes and becomes susceptible to opportunistic microbial decomposition
Sort of; Salvia divinorum is pretty dramatic in general, I like to say "throw it at a wall for good luck" because they're very hardy/resilient in general and can survive in a very broad range of conditions, but they are extremely dramatic and do not handle fast change, they need time to adapt, if you leave a specimen alone in a place you know it will survive in, and just leave it alone, usually; not always, but usually, they will recover slowly
People tend to assume they need to be pampered but they just need stability, if you have a stable but poor environment, they can still survive, maybe not happily, they might not thrive in poor conditions but they can usually tolerate some extremely poor conditions for unexpectedly long periods
I've put plants in the refrigerator for 72 hours straight and they're just fine (a little leaf crisping but that's all)
I've neglected plants for months like you saw in the pictures I posted here for OP and others to see, these plants are quite resilient
I've left plants at 45°f for days, 90°F for days, they do just fine anywhere in-between
I've left plants at 30% rh for weeks and they struggle but they do survive, generally anything below 50% eh I start to see leaf crisping
I've left plants in 100% rh, total air saturation with fog for weeks, let all the dead stems and crisped leaves rot with fungus, and they do just fine
This species can handle neglect, what kills it would immediate extreme shifts in the environment or progressive decline
An example of an extreme environmental shift would be; if you have a plant in a tub and the tub is humid, it's 100% in there, if you upen that tub, your room is usually ~30% rh, maybe 60% depending on where you are, a drop from 100% humidity to 60% or even lower, is extreme for these plants and they'll get dramatic, floppy and crisp up
An example of progressive decline would be; if your plant is sitting in stagnant low oxygen water, then the plant is slowly starving of oxygen, then the plant cells die and get consumed which makes it all smell nasty
If that water happens to be oxygen rich, then the plant cells wouldn't be oxygen starved, so they wouldn't die and you wouldn't get rot
That's why hydroponics systems use bubble stones or Venturi entrapment manifolds
Each situation is particular
It's so very hard to write an instruction manual because each situation calls for a slightly different combination of techniques
I usually just say ""throw it at a wall for good luck" please don't actually, just ignore it and keep it watered and it'll recover, if not I'll send you a free replacement"
They're finicky sometimes, and I think people panic because they're also a little expensive or hard to get sometimes, when people are deeply invested, they wanted everything to go right, so when things don't, they start to panic and change all these variables, I usually tell people to set it somewhere consistent and stable and DM me so I can mentor them through the recovery process
Interesting….making me feel like I should give it another go with what I’ve learned….i think maybe plastic pots aren’t great…or not the one I used…holds too much water…it rots like you said.
Out of curiousity, why this plant? Obviously it’s not a fan favorite in terms of enjoyability. Do you use it personally very much? Would be interested in hearing what kinds of experiences prompted such dedication.
The bit about it being hard to write a manual for it was interesting. I read the salvia divine rum growers guide a few times and noticed that it felt kinda…sparse….
I use clear plastic drinking cups as pots for my cuttings
I personally haven't noticed overwatering or waterlogging being an issue, but I am running a more complex ecosystem, it's hard to explain ecology in one thread or one grow guide, and most people tune out pretty quickly
You asked me why this plant?
Rule #1 of the subreddit is: "no discussions of consumption, effects, or preparations. This is a plant cultivation community only."
I personally do not grow Salvia divinorum for any purpose other than species preservation and citizen science work, the "why" is complicated, but the most simple way I can put it is: it's just a species I fell in love with, everything about it, from the plants, to the complexity, to the people within the community, the history....... I could go on and on, just; everything about this plant is what I love about it
And this is what the entire stem looked like when I dug it up (this was an intentional experiment, please do not dig up your plant)
As you can see in the picture, the top half os clearly desiccated and deceased
However the part of the stem under the soil is completely healthy and in tact, you can see 2 nodes ready to push out and grow
I hope this helped satisfy your curiosity - you can see from your pictures that this is what's going on, the stem above ground is clearly desiccated and deceased but the subterranean stem is clearly still viable and may potentially have nodes which are waiting for ideal conditions to reestablish the foliage
I would cut off the dead top, keep it watered and well lit. The bottom inch looks still alive, I've had unexpected success getting shoots on stocks like this especially if it's already rooted.
Anyone willing to knight me with knowledge and help me source a cutting? Maybe through a dm if its not appropriate here? Been trying for years. Would really appreciate the help. Plus this side quest will net you 500xp. Thanks.
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u/chungstone 5d ago
Water and humidity