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| Top view of the whole plant (the above pictured leaves of this plant can be see at the 8 o'clock position in the picture below). There is some minor browning on many of the leaves of this plant as the result of having spent the entire day in unexpected 90°+ F. temperatures (I wasn't around to take corrective measures that day, and I may have given this plant a bit too much plant food previous to that hot day too). |
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| The early beginnings of this shoot on my seed originated salvia plant from about 3 months ago. |
  A picture of the same in early May. |
The cutting taken on 5/22 (I will remove the bottom two tiny leaves).
Prior to taking the cutting, I will wipe the blade of the sharp knife I use with
alcohol and I will wash my hands (to kill any possible contamination's from having used
the same blade on other plants). The only worry about rooting a cutting is the
prevention of infections and fungus.  I will root in a clear sterile glass bottle, filled with nothing more than pure distilled water at room temperature. I never use rooting compounds of any kind. I will change the water every few days. Roots should begin to appear within 5 to 10 days, and usually plantable within 7-14 days (I've planted as soon as the white bumps appear, and have waited until I saw quarter inch roots, and it doesn't seem to make any difference). I will keep the cutting under 18 hours of lighting per day along with the plant I took the cutting from. There should be nothing more for me to do other than change the water every couple days and watch for the roots, and mist if required. If the leaves begin to droop, a few mistings will perk them back up, but I've never had to do that during the rooting phase unless it dry and very warm. After planting it may be necessary to mist the leaves for a few days if the humidity is low. Now we wait.... More pictures to come... |
If/when wilting occurs, don't worry. Simply mist the leaves (both the
top and bottom of all leaves) a couple times over the next hour, and the cutting will perk
up. I intentionally moved this cutting into a warmer room with very dry air under
intense lighting and it started to wilt. It took only one hour to cause this wilting. If I
let it progress further, these leaves will brown and wither away.  I misted the leaves twice during the next hour, and they perked right back up within 2 hours.   Two hours later and it's happy again...   On the 3rd day, signs of rooting have started to appear. Not a very clear picture - my digital camera doesn't focus closely, so I took the picture on the right through a magnifying glass. |
 Picture of cutting on 5/24 after recovery from intentionally induced wilting. It will spring back to life even more over the next hour and another misting. |
 On 5/27, looks a little droopy, but that's just because it's leaves are heavy with water, after having taken a bath and change of rooting water. Continue onto the next page of pictures of this particular cutting. |
| See some previous cutting pictures |
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