Many people choose not to grow salvia because it is is hard and it takes some time before produdct is produced, but with patience and persistence, you can have an abundance of salvia at your disposal! ~~Germanation~~ I advise against all artificial germanation methods, mainly bacsue the seeds are so small. The good old soil germination method (plant and water) is the best method. The key to germinating salvia is keeping the soil wet, lightly saturate the soil and when it is drying out, lightly saturate again. i sudgest that you begin growth in a domed tray (the same used for cloning) because humidity is extremly important in the early stages of salvia's growth ~~Early Stages~~ During the early stages of salvia divinorum growing, humidity is key. Either use a domed tray or find a very humid room to grow in. light and heat is also important (you have to try as much as possible to recreate the mountains of mexico). The advantage of the dome is that any light hitting the dome will create a geen ouse affect and warm the whole thing. Try to find a bright spot (windowsils are not recomended if you are somewhere with a cold climate because the cold seeps in, a table next to a window is perfect). To water do not directly water the plant, water around it, a sprayer is best because it lets the plain soak up some of the water through it leaves stomatas. Do not over water, during this stage it is very easy to kill the plant with to much water, you want it to be humid, but you dont want the soul to be wet, i sudgest you saturate the soil that is about 1-2 inches away from the plant (depending on size, try to water at the edge of where the roots would be)
seeds? i thought they didnt germinate seeds any more, i thought they all were made from cuttings?.... hmm mabey not.... but good tips.... ill keep that all in mind when i begin my first batch...
~~Middle Stages~ For people growing from a pot, this stage is not much different, you just need to water a bit more and try to keep the plants humid, for tray users, here comes the hard part. You need to transplant to seedling to a medium sized pot. When the plan is about 3/4 as tall as the amount of soil, its time to transplant. Scoop up the seeding and its surounding soil and drop it into a hole in a medium sized pot with damp soil. This is the only disadvantage of the tray, because if theis is done wrongly, it can kill that plant. ~~Final Stages/Harvest~~ Once the salvia plant stops getting tall, and starts getting bushy, you can harvest your first crop. you do not need to chop down the plant and just pick of the leaves. The salvia plant can be harvested all year round. If you keep the plant humid and warm they will start to look like thay have to many leaves for themselfs, this is when you can harvest (if you dont, that plant may colapse under the weight of the leaves). first clean you scissors with rubbing alchol before harvest and bettween harvesting each plant, so no infections spread. cut leaves that arnt getting much sulight and that look like the plant doesnt need. if the plant is looking sick, DO NOT HARVEST. when the plant is sick or weak, it needs as many leaves as it can get.
i find cutting hard to find and hard to use, i prefer to use seeds, more natural and put plants throu less stress which leats them produce more leaves...
~~Drying~~ After leaves have been aquired, there are two ways to dry them 1: spread them on a cooking sheet and leave them in a dark warm dry spot (you can also put them in a paper bag, but i dont like this method because of possibility of mould) 2: spread the leaves on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven on a low setting (150-200 f) cheak on them friquently and make sure they dont start to burn. after abour ten minutes, take them out and examine them, put them back in if you theink they need more time
~~Extraction~~ powder the leaf in a electric coffie grinder. It is very important that the leaf be finely powdered to a flour-like consistency. If the leaf is not powdered finely enough, this quick extraction method using 99% Isopropanol won't be efficient enough. After the Salvia leaf is finely powdered, take all of the powder and put it in a jar that can be sealed, pour in 99% Isopropanol alchol, put the lid on it, shake for at least five minutes, and wait for the particles of leaf to settle.After all of the leaf has settled to the bottom of your jar, pour the Isopropanol out (saving it) and pour more Isopropanol in. Do the shake, settle and Isopropanol pour-off with the same material three more times, for a total of four times. Then wash the powdered leaf through at least twice more with fresh solvent to wash out as much of the old Salvinorin-containing solvent as possible. After you're done collecting all of the Isopropanol from the extractions, combine it together in one bowl or shallow container and let it sit overnight. Although you may not be able to see them, there will be lots of fine particles floating in the alcohol. These particles are tannin and other fine sediments from the leaf and are so fine that it can take up to sixteen hours for all of them to settle out of the fluid.When your done removing all of your leaf particles from all of the Isopropanol collected into one container, the next step is to wait for the ultra fine tannin sediments to settle out of the fluid. Place the bowl of green Isopropanol in a dark place out of the light for at least eight hours so that the bulk of the sediments will settle to the bottom of the bowl. You might not think these fine sediments are in there, but you will see what I mean after a few hours when it begins collecting in the bottom of the container. It is important that you put the green Isopropanol extract in the dark while waiting because light can interact with Salvinorin while in alcohol and destroy a portion of your yield.After you have given enough time for the bulk of the tannin sediments to settle, slowly pour the liquid into another container, leaving all of the sediment that has fallen to the bottom of the first container behind. Now let the second container sit for another eight hours in the dark to see if more sediment falls out. After it settles, slowly pour the green Isopropanol off again, being careful to leave the brown or green colored powder in the bottom behind. Letting the sediment fall out for eight hours overnight removes most of the sediment and tannins that will fall out of the alcohol, but letting it sit for a full 16 hours will assure that all of the sediment has fallen out. Removing the sediment in two or three steps will make it easier because even with being careful, I have found that some of it will pour over with the solvent each time you try to separate it. Using this method there is no need to do special filtering. I have tried both paper and cloth filtering of solvent after extractions and the fine particles always seem to get through the filter. The best way to remove the fine sediment is just to let it settle out. Using paper coffee filters or cotton cloth to remove the sediment has a potential for removing Salvinorin, too, especially when using cloth since it will soak up a portion of the Salvinorin-containing solvent. Once done removing most of the nasty-tasting sediments, you can now evaporate ALL of the Isopropanol, scrape up the black-looking waxy extract, and completely dissolve it in high-proof drinking alcohol.
i wrote this article in canada where salvia, salvia seeds, salvia use and salvia cultivation are legal. if you are having trouble finding salvia seeds, why not just call in a favor from a canadain freind
I picked up a very cool 4-tier portable greenhouse (64 inches high, 3 feet wide) from Lowes for $35. Check ebay for "portable greenhouse." Humidity and heat stay in really nice zones, and I put in a warm air vaporizer I got for $10. I run that for a couple minutes then shut it off and I got a massive bump to 99% humidity that's good for the day. You can also put in a couple full spectrum floursecent lights, I use desk lamps. In a few days my plants are showing huge improvements over the frequent misting I was doing. (if a humidity tent or greenhouse is not an option, you can mist often.
