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Salvia divinorum Cultivation The Easy Way |
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Written by Dan McDonley
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Monday, 21 December 1998 |
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Page 5 of 5
Lastly when I first got my plant the leaves seemed to be yellow and thick and I prefer greener, more succulent leaves. So I started with a bit more fertilizer and gave it less light. I find the more shaded and humid it is the darker the leaves are.
Maximizing Leaf Output
Christmas tree growers do it. Shrubbery growers do it. Even YOU do it every time you cut your hedges. Its called pinching by some, but what is it and how does it work? Its very simple. At the very tip of a branch, stem, etc., there is a region called the apical meristem at the apical bud. This region is where all the cell division happens and new growth occurs. It also makes a chemical called Indole acetic acid (IAA). This chemical inhibits all the buds at the leaf nodes (where the leaf attaches to the stem) from growing. If the apical meristem creates a lot of IAA it has a high apical dominance and it usually only has one stem and no branches. Sunflowers are like this. If it has medium apical dominance and creates lower levels of IAA it has fewer branches at the top where the concentration of IAA is high and at the bottom it has many more branches where IAA concentration is lower. Christmas trees are like this. And finally plants with low apical dominance are very bushy and branch often. So how does all this botanical crap help you? Well very simply, if you remove the apical meristem you cut off the production of IAA from that bud. It then branches from that point and depending on how much IAA the lateral buds (lower buds at each node) make, your plant may branch at each node. So every time you take a cutting off Salvia divinorum it will branch at the highest intact node.
Even if you don't want to take a cutting you can pinch that bud off and it will branch there. So instead of having a tall straight plant with only 4-8 large leaves near the top, it becomes more bushy and creates many more leaves. Just remember though that if you start too high it will get too heavy and break off. So start when it is only 6-8 inches or smaller so the stem can support the bushy growth. This is the very thing you do when you cut your hedges. Your cutting off the apical meristems and causing it to branch and fill out. By doing this to a Salvia divinorum plant you will also get a fuller leafier plant.
Salvia divinorum is a powerful regal plant that requires a special relationship from the people who grow her. It seems so weak and fragile yet so powerful. Although evolutionarily speaking it seems Salvia has not done as well as other plants, in fact the very substance that makes her so powerful may be her key to survival. Did she in fact create Salvinorin to attract humans to care for her? I would guess so, but either way we are now one being with separate realities. She joins mine when I care for and grow her and I join hers when I partake of her flesh. To truly know what Salvia divinorum is all about one must cultivate her. There are as many lessons in growing her as there are in the visions she uses to communicate to us. Hopefully by sharing information about her more people can enjoy having this wonderful plant ally in their homes.
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