Salvia Divinorium PAQ

This text is from Disembodied Eyes

I am not a expert on Salvia, plants, or anything to do with this VPL list. The only thing that I have done... is grow a few Salvia D. plants. I get a few questions sent to me about growing, buying, and using. My answers are what I think... they are not necessarily correct. Email me if you have any suggestions future versions of this document. (I know my spelling and grammer is bad. To make it worse, I typed it in one sitting... while in a special mental condition.)

1) Is Salvia D. illegal? (mexican mint?)

2) Where can I get a Salvia D. plant. How much does it cost.

Several places sell Salvia D. plants:

... of the Jungle
Box 1801
Sebastopol, California 95473
(No phone number)
$ 35.00 - regular plant
$ 45.00 - palatable clone
$ 2.00 - Catalog
$ 12.50 - Overnight express delivery.
There is shipping and handling:
for orders 16-50 dollars - add $ 5.00
for orders 51-99 dollars - add $ 8.00
for orders 100 dollars and up - add $ 10.00
Payment by check or money order.
If you are on this list, you *should* have this catalog !
I've ordered lots from this company.
They have great products, customer service, and reasonable prices...
never the lowest. The only thing I hate is... they don't have a phone number. Not even an answering machine. All your business must be through the mail.

JLF
P.O. Box 184
Elizabethtown, IN 47232
Answering machine: (812)-379-2508
$ 31.50 - Salvia Divinorium
$ 2.00 - Catalog
I didn't figure out their postage and handling charges.
Payment by checks or money order.
I've not ordered from them... But their catalog is another "must have" for VPL members.

The Redwood City Seed Company
P.O. Box 361
Redwood City, California 94064
$ 45.00 Post paid express mail (1995 catalog)
$ 2.00 Calalog (this is a guess)
I didn't figure out their postage and handling charges.
Payment by checks or money order.
I've not ordered from them.
They have several specialty plants, S. Rue, Datura, poppies, morning glorie seeds, Ethno-books.

Companion Plants
7247 North Coolville Ridge Road
Athens, Ohio 45701
Questions: (614)-592-4643
Order line: (800)-529-3344
$ 20.00 - Slavia Divinorium (prices 1995)
$ 2.00 - Catalog (I'm guessing again)
Payment by check or money order... and *CREDIT CARD*
They have a large selection of herbs and "Special" plants.
This is another *MUST* catalog for VPLers.
This is where I bought my Salvia D.'s
They arrived in a couple weeks... a little on the dry side.
(I didn't pay for the express delivery... and it was summer.)
They were well rooted and in good shape.
You CAN NOT beat their price on Salvia D. unless you can get a cutting for free from a friend.
It's great to know that if you get the urge to try Datura or Rue... you have a phone number that you can call... pay with a credit card... and have it sent by express mail. Almost like Pizza delivery !

3) Did you buy an immature plant, cutting , or seed.

The cuttings were about 3 inches tall, and well rooted.
Salvia is not sold as seeds. It hasn't been grown from seed (at least
not very well.)

4) Are Salvia D.'s hard to grow... How did you grow them.

When you first get your cutting. You should plant it at least 1" below
its previous soil level. (unless its only 1" tall")

Salvia D. likes lots of root space... so I used a 14" clay pot.
I used "Peters Professional Potting Soil" from the local Wall-Mart.
This is:
a) very rich potting soil.
b) Very "fluffy"... It lets "friendly gasses" (oxygen) get to the roots.
c) The water retains fairly well in the soil... yet it drains well.
(sounds like magic to me.)
I've gone for several days witout watering my plants. they did just fine. I like to water them every day.
(I like to feel needed.) Also I can spot any bugs or alien growths, etc.

Use a humidity tent. Salvia *NEEDS* high humidity. Some people have claimed they can grow them without a tent of some kind... It has not worked for me.

The first sign of low humidity depends if the plant is a new cutting, or if its well rooted.
a) Well rooted - The outer edges and the end of the leaves will turn brown or black over several days. It will live,... but it looks bad... and grows slowly.
b) A new cutting - It will collapse. Within a few minutes. It will go limp like a wash cloth.
If you don't restore humidity... It will die... quickly.
I keep a pan under each pot. Every day before I water each plant... I use a turkey baster...
and siphon the water out of the bottom pan. I throw this away. I water each plant with the turkey baster. I add somewhere between a pint and a quart to each plant... everyday.

Salvia D. likes partial sunlight or shade. At first I used shade or filtered sunlight.
Now I use florescent lights (with grow bulbs.) I don't know if this is ideal...
I'm trying it. So far the plants look beautiful... and are growing quickly. I have limited window space... and I have a back room. So this was perfect. I don't have enough sunlight to tell you what a plant looks like when it gets too much sun. I would imagine that it looks alot like when there is not enough humidity.

5) How do I make a humidity tent ?

Buy a tomato cage.
Trim it for the size of plant that you are growing.
Push it into the pot that you are growing your plant in.
Now drape some plastic sheeting over the cage.
Make it as air tight as needed... Trim excess plastic.
Use clothes pins to keep it closed.
Instant mini-greenhouse.
One advantage of this method is Isolation. Every plant has its own greenhouse. And the price is less than 2 dollars per cage. You could also use a roll of galvanized fencing.
I think it's called "sheep fencing" or something similar.
There are many possible ways to make humidity tents... Use your imagination.

6) Do you fertilize Salvia D. ?

OTJ recomends Miracid for fertilizer. This is because Slavia likes the soil acidic. I don't know the exact range.
I try to keep the soil ph from 5.5 to 6.0.
The tiny booklet that came with my cheap ($19.95) ph meter... said that plants can display the following characteristics if the soil ph is incorrect:
a) Increase in soil borne diseases.
b) Malnutrition (it can't get its food from the soil.)
c) Yellowing of leaves.
d) Slow growth.
So... I add Miracid to the water. (1/4 teaspoon per quart)
I do this once or twice a week. I use straight water the rest of the week.
I don't think you need a ph meter to grow plants... Its just fun to play with.
Do you know the ph of a Twinkie... or how about split-pea soup ???

6) How long did it take for the plant to show new signs of growth, and how long until you were able to pick leaves off it without hurting it?

I didn't know what the hell I was doing at first. I tried to grow it without a humidity tent. After I put a tent over it.... it slowly started growing.
It took several months for it to get big enough to trim. It seemed like forever. But once it gets going... you will have lots of leaves.

7) I am wondering about how and when to harvest my salvia D.'s leaves.

I don't let my Salvia just grow where ever it wants to.
I learned how to trim (or pinch off) a mint plant (and Salvia D. is a mint plant) from a little old lady that works at the same company that I do.
This "pinching off"
a) keeps the plant short enough so that it doesn't fall over.
b) It also keeps you in a steady supply of leaves.
c) It tends to make the plant bushier... it has more leaves.

What I do is let the plant grow out until it is several "nodes" high... and then I pinch off (cut) the plant above (1/2 inch) the first node.
(this should leave the plant one node high.)
Then after a few weeks the plant will branch off of this node with two main stems. I let these grow up a few nodes high... and then I pinch these off after one node higher than its base. It looks like a binary tree. Every node that it grows up... it doubles the number of stems. If you don't do this... the darned thing will grow straight up... until it falls over.
Every time you trim... you will get several leaves. I dry the stems and leaves seperatly. I try to dry my leaves at room termerature in the house. I do not put them in the sun. I also try to dry them when the humidity is low. I want them to dry quickly. I've been drying the stems and saving them. When I get enough...
I'll try them for activity. I would have had enough a long time ago... but my wife thought they were trash... and threw a bunch of them them away.
I have never noticed any instability in the leaves... but I'm fairly carefull.
I also get a few leaves that get kind of skanky... that is, every once in a while a leaf either starts to turn brown or yellow... or it looks like some parasite may be on it.
I harvest these quickly (no matter where on the plant it is) and dry them and save them seperatly. I have a baggie labeled "Salvai D. SKANK". I'll test these for potency later.
If you get desperate for leaves. And You can't justify a trim.... you can always just chop off the top nodes. Salvia will just start growing again where you chopped it off.
There is a story (I think from a OTJ booklet) of plants that were frozen off at the base during a very cold winter.
The next year they grew back better than ever. Try not to trim this much. Roots can die back if not supported by enough leaves

8) Do you have you had any problems with molds, diseases, etc. due to the high humidity conditions ?

No.
I quickly remove any leave that looks diseased.
The plants are kept seperate... Nothing spreads to its neighbor.
Also I change the plastic every 3-4 months.
The plants don't like to get over 80 degrees f. They prefer around 70 degrees. Keeping the temperature a little low may help with the molds and diseases.

9) Do you have problems with pests or bugs.

Not me..
But the plants sometimes get pests. Here is what I did about them:
a) Ants. I ignored them. The Salvia D. suposedly contains a natural ant pesticide.
b) Some kind of white fuzz balls on the leaves. I think these are Mealybugs. I bought some "Shultz-Instant Insect spray" for houseplants and gardens. Spray the leaves top and bottom. Spray the dirt in the pot. Spray the inside plastic of the plastic cover that covers your plant. The next day I replaced the plastic. I also washed off the entire plant with fresh water. (that insect spray maybe fairly safe... but I would not want it into my lungs.) You might want to wash the plant for several days in a row... just to make sure. I do this by spraying the plants leaves (top + bottom) and stems with a spray bottle filled with fresh water.
c) "Some kind of small fly". I don't know what it was... or whether it could damage the plant... but I sprayed the plant and cage/plastic like I did for the mealybugs. I made more sure that I sprayed the top of the cage/plastic.
d) Anything unusual. I trim and quickly remove any plant part that looks sickly. Why take a chance.

10) I know it is a tropical plant, hence the humidity and partial shade, but if you can elaborate on a description of what the plant looks like on the inside of the plastic, i.e. water droplets always on the leaves? "trunk" always wet? etc, it would be appreciated.

11) Since you grow these wonderful plants... you must be an expert on smoking and chewing Salvia D. Tell me about your wonderful experiences. I bet you are almost as smart as Hoffman or Mckenna.