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Gardening Area => Growing questions and answers => Topic started by: sporehead on January 12, 2016, 03:53:53 AM

Title: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: sporehead on January 12, 2016, 03:53:53 AM
Came home to a bunch of leaves looking like this. Not just on the big plant, but on plants in other pots too. No other plants in my room were affected though i am battling a number of pests at the moment.

I suspect the Salvia plants were over fertilized. The big plant was recently transplanted with a potting mix from outdoors. At first i thought the soil may not drain well enough so I put a bunch of holes in the soil fpr air and drainage. I still think it could be a better mix.

I potted a few other plants in this soil and I'm pretty sure thats the source of my pests. Thats another issue but i can handle it.

So, overfeeding or root rot? No signs of decay anywhere, just a bunch of leaves that look like this, if they've not already fallen off. I just got done flushing the soil, lots of color at first. Opinions?
Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: BubbleCat on January 12, 2016, 05:33:31 AM
Its strange because something similar (but to a lesser extend) is happening so several species of mine right now, leaving me clueless.

Root issues would originate from over watering and I suspect it is rather unlikely that you overwatered all your sallies at once. The same issue showing up on all plants more or less simultaneously makes me suspect fungus gnats.

But maybe the leaves were first burned by some factor (dry air, heat, light, spray) and little later the dead material can be expected to look like yours, creating the impression things that simply were attracted by already weak / dead material were the cause of the damage. So fungus could have come later if there is any.

As damaged as the leaves are I would remove them if the plant is healthy besides the leaves. They are of little use but potencially dangerous. Also if they drop into the pot. The plant, if healthy, should easily produce new leaves.
Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: sporehead on January 12, 2016, 06:26:00 AM
I do have fungus gnats. They've never been an issue though. I removed some of the affected leaves but not all. I want to see how many drop in the next few days if this issue progresses. I clean the leaves up as soon as i see them and I'm checking multiple times a day.

Honestly as soon as I saw the plants in this state, 'overfertilzed' popped into my mind. I'm hoping that's all it is.
Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: Sunshine on January 12, 2016, 07:57:42 AM
Looks almost like cold damage. I'm sure its a long shot, but could that be the problem?
Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: Chicsa on January 12, 2016, 08:13:15 AM
looks like mine too before the croaked, maybe over watered? not enough light? (i duno what killed mine either lol)
Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: Roze on January 12, 2016, 11:00:03 AM

Brown leaves can a be the result of  an over-watered plant with poor drainage or heavy soil.

As far the main stem still healthy, mainly green, your roots are fine.

The best you could do now is to cut all those brown leaves, and wait.  Soon new leaves will grow.

But... because the cause of the leaf-browning phenomenon is not known, the cure remains an enigma. The old proverb that "the best cure is prevention" is certainly apropos.

One thing I can tell you: with sally the best way to failure is overcare... Keep it simple!

Good luck!
Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: plantlight on January 12, 2016, 07:20:14 PM
I just got done flushing the soil, lots of color at first. Opinions?
You've probably already thought of this -- cover all possibilities:

1.  You've flushed the soil, so that takes care of the fertilizer possibility.   :)
2.  Letting the top inch or so of soil dry out before you water again should take care of the water possibility.  ;)
3.  Get rid of the bugs.  :D  Fungus gnat larvae hatch in 6 days and they will feed on roots.  :(



Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: Urban Elements on January 13, 2016, 12:40:21 AM
This looks like the area it was in had a spike in cold temps. The blosser is very weak to changes and can die off from a simple 10 degree temp fluctuation.
Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: sporehead on January 13, 2016, 05:34:11 AM
Temps haven't changed much and rarely do in my grow room. Always lots of light, airflow and humidity. Lights on for 11 hours to aid this plant in continuing to flower.

I neemed and spread diatomaceous earth all over everything in the grow room as well as smashed the pests i found. Hopefully pests get lost.

Off topic, but my pest list has become rather large pretty fast. I brought in old soil from outdoors... like usual. This batch, I blame for my current problems:

Red, yellow and brown aphids
Mealybugs
Brown scale
Spider mites
Fungus gnats.

Jeez.

The Salvia never seem to have any pest problems. I've never seen anything on them. Hopefully this current batch leaves them alone.
Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: kykeion on January 13, 2016, 07:37:07 PM
Sounds like my house, except I have green aphids.
I think I eradicated the fungus gnats though, and spending the summer outside seems to have greatly helped with the scale on my schefflera.
Title: Re: Sudden unhappy salvia
Post by: mj on January 13, 2016, 11:35:39 PM
Temps haven't changed much and rarely do in my grow room. Always lots of light, airflow and humidity. Lights on for 11 hours to aid this plant in continuing to flower.

I neemed and spread diatomaceous earth all over everything in the grow room as well as smashed the pests i found. Hopefully pests get lost.

Off topic, but my pest list has become rather large pretty fast. I brought in old soil from outdoors... like usual. This batch, I blame for my current problems:

Red, yellow and brown aphids
Mealybugs
Brown scale
Spider mites
Fungus gnats.

Jeez.

The Salvia never seem to have any pest problems. I've never seen anything on them. Hopefully this current batch leaves them alone.


White flies just love Salvia Divinorum (mine anyway) and they are hard to get free of. Good luck finding the problem. Lots of great grow logs on salvia over at salvia source dot com. Best regards mj.