Sage Growing

[boundary_breaker]

Hey folks,

My friend in Canada has had some problems growing Sally D. Sage. In order to help her adjust to comparatively dry and cold environments from a humid warm environment where the cutting was made, he put her in a plastic tent made from an old matress cover and kept her well-misted. The only challenge was that when the sun came out she might have got a bit cooked as it got to about 34 degrees in the hot sun in a plastic tent. Some insects look like they also got to her in those conditions. She has since been kept in the shade with no plastic cover and seems to have made some new growth and recovery in conjunction with pyretherine-based insecticide.

A few questions:

Is the pyretherine likely to affect the natural compounds occuring in her leaves or is it typically eliminated from the plant? I am curious?

Could this stuff be used regularly on the leaves?

Are the black edges on the old leaves typical of the plant overheating when she was placed in the tent? Are insects typically a problem in such conditions?

I got some fish-based fertiliser to feed her? Can you recommend anything else?

Please see the attached photos,

Thanks guys, I appreciate your time to respond,

BB

[Monk]

I, too, live in a dry climate and have grown SallyD. I personally don't think that plants like to be put into plastic tents very much due to wild swings in temperature. A better way to increase local humidity would be to group several large leafed plants together in a southern (warm) exposure with the sally receiving a bit of shade underneath them and much more humidity from their leaves. It also allows the sally to grow toward brighter light when it is ready. This worked quite well for me, but my climate is warmer than yours. For cold weather, grouping a bunch of different kinds of plants in such a tent with better ventilation may help. Just make sure you open it to ventilate during sunny weather.

Regarding pesticides, I wouldn't want to smoke pyrethrin. Maybe I wouldn't mind a little neem oil, but if you have only a few plants, a good strong water spray should knock off the bugs. Grouping them as mentioned will also confuse the insects, especially in you put in some powerfull smelling sage, basil, garlic, etc. "Companion Gardening" it's called.

Regular, light doses of fish ferts should be okay, I might use some seaweed extract for trace minerals, though.

Happy gardening!

FM

[boundary_breaker]

Hey FM, thanks for your feedback. I did a quick search on Pyrethroids and apparently they are mostly broken down in the soil and pose little risk to human health. If taken into the system they are eliminated by standard body processes? Although prefer the use of no chemicals over chemicals!

Cheers, BB

[Conan Troutman]

She is tough as nails

Lots of shade, plenty of food and water and she will love you...

A high power spray and or white oil (not petro based) will do the trick.

[tassiejd]

people i know that grow this plant in colder parts of the world tend to keep them inside a lot more, a grow tent with a set of fluro lights seems to keep leaf production going fairly well, just mist every now and then and keep a bit of water in the trays under the pots and she seems to do well, ones that have been moved from indoor to out in this climate though have had a bit more trouble, although they do seem to be acclimatising and putting out some new growth nothing like the vigour of the plants under fluro lighting (growlux tubes i think), i have also seen them grown under hps and halide globes but you need to put a shade cover over them or keep the lights a long way up from the plants as they dont seem to like to many lumen's.

also browning and blacking on the edges i have found generally is not so much to do with heat but a lack of humidity to go with it, if the temps are down a bit it dosnt seem to need as much humidity, but one they get up you need a fair amount to stop it from burning.

any how all the best with it.