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Salvia Divinorum Plant Care

Salvia divinorum has hollow, square stems with winged edges. The stems are not very sturdy, but with support, the Salvia plant can grow to eight feet tall. Filtered sunlight is best, and the plant likes plenty of water and humidity. It rarely sets seed, and when it does the seeds are usually not viable.
When initially transplanting your Salvia divinorum plant, plant it on its side with the roots buried. Planting in this way helps insure that the plant will not dry out (since it's laying on the damp soil), which they are very prone to after shipping. It also will cause the plant to send up more branches, creating more of a bush instead of just one long stalk.

Pot in a high-quality commercial potting soil or your own formula. I make a mixture of one part each compost, peat moss, sandy loam, and a half part perlite. Salvia divinorum likes a friable soil rich in humus and with good drainage, so avoid heavy soils with a lot of clay. The plant also likes a lot of root space, so re-pot often for maximum growth.

The ideal temperature for growing Salvia divinorum is in the 70 degree range. In hot weather make sure the Salvia plants have enough shade and plenty of water with frequent misting.

In the fall, Salvia plant growth slows as temperature and light levels decrease. Bring inside if the temperature falls much below 60 degrees.
Often heard about Salvia divinorum is that they need a lot of humidity to survive. In fact the plants do enjoy high humidity, and will achieve optimum growth if grown in these conditions, but they can be grown successfully in a low humidity environment if it slowly acclimated to a lower humidity environment over the course of several weeks. Give it high humidity initially by misting it often or placing it in a tent with a humidifier, but slowly reduce the humidity over the course of the next month. The plant will do just fine, and will be much less hassle for you.

The rule of thumb for watering Salvia divinorum is "Less water more often is better than more water less often." The soil should stay fairly moist all the time, but not wet. Water lightly every one to two days. I fertilize my plants about once a month with fish emulsion when they are outdoors in the summer. In the winter I use Stern's Miracid as Salvia divinorum likes acidic soil. Feeding a lot of nitrogen to your plants will attract more problem insects to them, so cut back on fertilizing as part of the strategy to bring pests under control.

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