I have bought a lot of salvias and I'm watching them slowly decline, especially the guaranitica Black and Blue. My soil is loose, not compacted, not overwatered(could I be letting them get too dry?). I added Scotts garden soil and Texas landscape conditioner, ammended with time release fertilize(not too much and it was worked into the soil good) and a little gypsum to absorb the salt that is in the water from time to time.
The salvias start out looking good, then the leaves get black edges, then they fall off, then the plants slowly die. What am I doing wrong? Is it the wind? I tried planting them where they are sheltered but still get sun. In the same beds coleus, cannas, LA iris, dicliptera and brugs do well.
Salvias, what am I doing wrong?
Salvias like sun and are drought tolerant but, do require watering to become establashed.
Maybe too much fertilizer?? Does the Scott's Garden soil have fertilizer in it also? My salvias will bloom fine with or without any.
The black edges on the edges of the leaves might indicate fertilizer burn. The plant isn't able to utilize water properly so the symptoms are similar.
I talked to a plant specialist yesterday, he looked at my salvias and said it is salt burn. Not from fertilize, but from the irrigation water. I thought it odd that the salvias were the only thing in the beds affected, but he said they are sensitive to salt. He suggested flushing them with drinking water(we can get 5 gallons for .50).
Sorry your Salvias are having a rough start of it. I agree that even the ones that seem to be sensitive to wet conditions do need good regular watering to get established. And most Salvias need plenty of sunshine. The black and blue definitely needs good sun and the fertilizer is probably at least a co-conspirator in this problem.....even if the irrigation water is part of it too. I never give my new Salvias (or any of my new plants for that matter) any fertilizer until they've been in the ground for at least a month. And even then I start out very slowly because their small root systems can be very easily damaged by fertilizer that is too concentrated toward the surface of the ground. My Salvia guaranitica 'Costa Rica Blue' supposedly can't stand to have it's feet wet, but it withstood a very long and wet rainy season this winter (and we have very heavy clay soil....in other words, NOT well draining) and it didn't even blink. It continued to bloom and thrive all winter and now it's growing growing growing with the warmer drier weather. I've only given it fertilizer the past two months and I put it in the ground in the middle of autumn.
Fingers crossed the flushing will help. Let us know how things progress please :-)
-Julie
Glad you found out what it was, but sorry that you have that problem. That has to be hard to deal with, being that plants can not live without water!
I should pay more attention to what likes water and what doesn't. I don't know that it really matters where I am tho, everything needs lots of water! I just stick it in an available spot and water everything pretty much the same. Sometimes I notice some things need more and give them extra. So far, so good.
All except S. blepharophylla and S. patens are in full sun. I may have let a few of them get too dry. I forget this soil drains fast and stuff dries out. I soaked them good today, it's hot, about 92*F. I didn't wet the leaves, that seems to cause more problems.
The time release fertilize where the Black and Blue(the one I have the most trouble with) was added at least two months ago and the Scotts garden soil was added last year.I use the time release very sparingly and I'm positive I don't overfertilize. It is never placed directly at the roots of the plants and never against the stems.
I grew salvias for years in TN, never had one bit of trouble, but here I can't even grow the annual ones in six packs. It's like starting all over as a beginner!
What county is Bayview in? Bet there are some natives for your area. Did the specialist recomend some Salvias for you?
John
He did and I have them. He recommended chiapensis and regala. They are doing good. He said "good luck with guaranitica". I have the wild silver leaf sage, in blue and lavender. One is upright, one is trailing. They are doing well. Those 4 plus coccinea(which also grows wild here) I have. My neighbor has a teeny shade loving salvia, I need to get some of it from her.
I guess I just want what won't grow, lol. The Texas Betony is doing great too, it doesn't mind salt and looks like a big floppy sage.
Get some greggii . I have waverley black and blue pinapple jamesonii really everything but the most hardy and the ones that bring hummers and cool bees are the greggii variety. I buy over grown small (4in) pots put them in a 5 gal and in two weeks they fill it up. I use Miracle-gro 15-30-15 and for flowers 10-52-10. That's the water soluble type.
Monterey, I do have gregii and it is doing great. I've been looking for jamesonii and haven't found any yet. The plant guy suggested growing salvias in pots but I never thought of using the bloom booster on them.
I think I'll go out and dig up what is left of the guaranitica and put them in pots.
ALL of my plants are in pots. I have about 70 different ones and I can move them where they get the most or least exposure depending on the season. I also put them where I want them for effect and color. My passion vines are not so mobile(15gal containers) but I do them that way so they can't become invasive or grow too big.You can use half strength on the plants at first to check their useablity at first and figure out the dose. Wait at least 7 days for the system to absorb. Shultz plant food is the same just look for the right ratios. -Rich.
I would never have guessed that your plants were in pots!! I have lots of pots and if I'd known the palm nursery next to where I work was going to toss his big pots I'd have had more! What a great suggestion, thanks!
I move them around so that the hummers are in shooting view and range. I like the natural look and the height they come in makes for a straight at instead of shooting up look(feeder). The containers keep some sensitive plants from frying or freezing too.
OK, I dug up the guaranitica. It was not as wet as I'd thought I was keeping it. In two areas the soil had compacted and the roots were dry. In one bed, the soil was not wet but smelled "swampy". I don't know what's up with that, everything except the salvias and nicotianas are doing well in it. I guess it will get re-dug this fall and more compost added to it.
The Black and Blue had little runners coming out from the root ball, so it will be fine. I dug up a blepharophylla that was too wet and too shady and potted it up too.
The dark leafed blue one will get dug this evening, it was just too hot yesterday and the wind was terrible.
Monterey, I put the pots in the shade and watered them in pretty good, but they're not soggy. Should I keep them kind of shaded till new growth starts?
Now I've got all kinds of ideas for putting pots in difficult areas of the garden!
I tend to give things sun and move them when it gets hot for them I can change their environment and make it so they grow better and don't have to endure hard changes. My Abutilons like the sun but when it gets to be 90+ they get moved to the shade for the rest of the summer.
Maybe that's what I'm doing wrong with the abutilons. I've been trying to grow them in full sun.
They say full sun but not when it gets hot. I almost killed mine off last year that way. I bought Indego Dreams pics soon.-Rich
Also you have to keep in mind that those lables are printed as a generic guide. Full sun might work well for someone in Minnesota. But full sun in Texas or Oklahoma is a whole 'nuther ballgame. Afternoon sun is the worst. If you can give them full sun from dawn until say 2pm and then have them sheltered from the hottest afternoon sun, the Abutilons might do much better. I'm not sure where in Texas you are, but even that much sun might be too much for them. Dawn until noon or 1pm might be as much as they can take. But most of my Salvias can take sun all day long and thrive on it.
My greatest sunbird magnet though (Salvia fulgens) is starting to look horribly scraggly though. I fear he may be in need of a harsh pruning. The ugly hair cut doesn't worry me, but I do worry about losing my sunbirds if I suddenly just whack down their favorite buffet spot. I'm afraid it needs to be done though as it is looking worse and worse. Maybe I could whack off one side, wait for it to grow up a bit and whack down the other side? ROTFL. Nah, don't think that will work either. I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and get out those clippers.
-Julie
This is a flower off of my new Passi Indigo Dream. It is an older flower but it shows the neat colors white, reddish and deep purple. Wait till you see Witchcraft, that's a new one that has not flowered yet.
Oh Rich, I told you I didn't have that one and I used to. It didn't make it to TX, not sure if it was left behind or just didn't survive.
Julie, I am at the southeast tip of TX, down by South Padre Island, about 3 miles from the Laguna Madre(salt water) and about 20-25 miles from the Border of Mexico(as a crow flies, lol)
Calalily,
Is that near Edinburg? My wife has a nephew living there.
Take care,
Chuck
Chuck, yes, it's south east of Edinburg, on the way to the Island. I'm going to Edinburg tomorrow!