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[nkuluu]

I'm looking for some advice on propagating Salvia. I recieved my plant in a very stressed state (was transported in Canadian winter after being in a warm veg room (24hr light) for it's enitee life. The trip and environmental change triggered a lot of leaves to drop and some necrosis like dieback which I pruned off.

After nursing it back to health for some time I felt comfortable there was a section large enough to cut and root. I took the cutting and left it in water however after about 5 days the bottom of the stem was brown and mushy, I trimmed it off and tried to provide more airflow (I had it in a humidity chamber), however soon the leaves and tip turned brown and it died.

Fortunately my mother is still intact and I will be able to attempt again however I want to be sure it works. I'm tentative to try and root it in water again and may try an air layering method instead. Any input would be appreciated.

[JayWise]

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[nkuluu]

I'm fairly sure the humidity and lack of fae played a role. I'll have to do some more experiments once it grows out again.

[BubbleCat]

I too would avoid humidity domes and comparable measures. Often it seems plants are being overly babied or arcane measures are employed in hope of higher success. I dont think it is the humidity itself that kills the plant, but humidity may cause issues like certain pests, fungi and so on. But mostly i would attribute this to environmental change. When a plant is settled in avoid changing its situation as it causes stress, especially changing back from humid to normal. So in essence humidity chambers are not wprth it other than in cases where it is the only possible way.
They strike in soil that is kept moist fairly well. And water glasses of course.
I tried air layering on theese with little success. It certainly looked like it is going to eventually work but the root growth was so slow that it would have been a PITA to attend to it during all the time.
I'd go from simple to elaborate, if it doesnt strike in damp soil, try a glass of water, if it wont work, try a humidity dome, if that doesnt work try air layering and after that micropropagation.

[Inyan]

Try the log method.

 Dig a trench 2/3 the diameter of your Salvia and put our in to rest. Cover your Salvia back up being careful not to  cover tops of nodes. You just want to cover the internodes. They will root easily like this and in areas where they get hit by a bit of frost and die back like Gainesville, Florida... they will even come back from these sections that are buried like this after the winter is over. Mind you, this works where winters are short and mild. I wouldn't try overwintering Salvia outside in Canada.

[MeanGreen]

You could build a little aeroponic cloner for like $20 which you can use with any plants. It's really the most reliable way to root cuttings of anything ime.
Salvia is one of the easiest to propagate though, I've done it in a cup of water many times. Just make sure to change the water every couple days.