I've never seemed to have any luck in the past, though I'm sure I've heard it done.

I'm trying again this time with

and

What do you think my success rate might be?

Better off to place in potting medium from the beginning instead? Am interested in general consensus on this one here with all the salvia growers.

I would like to learn too. I have had limited success rooting Salvia oxyphora in water. It seems the best stem is semi-woody stem with at least one leaf node. The roots came out from the leaf node.

@Gerris2 yes I should do both at the same time as an experiment - what takes off; what doesn't? Thanks for your message.

I've been trying to root Salvia greggii in soil. I took about 10 cuttings and only one has rooted and is growing. What's the trick to propagating Salvias?

@plantmanager; well surely we're in the right place to find out; I'm looking forward to everyone's successes and how best?

I haven't tried cuttings with any plant, so I can't help, but maybe Robin of Robins Salvias @Monty72 can chime in.

@Gerris2, @plantmanager, @Marilyn

Here to report that this evening I've potted up Indigo Spires cuttings. Several were showing signs of taking root!

Musk Pink though, no roots showing, but also potted up now.

Over recent years, I've had reasonable success with salvia cuttings, placed directly into potting medium.

I never root cuttings in water, always use a potting medium mixed with perlite.

@Monty72...yes Perlite ... I must get some to add to my potting medium; note to self via Robin

With the intense heat, popping some quick snips into water and keeping indoors for a bit, was going to be a holding-pattern until I could get round to potting up. Hoping that while they were sitting in water they may develop some roots.

Hope your salvias are holding up to the cold weather o.k. Robin. I guess the cold does the dormancy thing and you just trim back when spring settles in?

Exactly! Reasonably mild here at the moment.

It has been a windy autumn and winter here and when some S.elegans side shoots got snapped by falling debris I trimmed them and shoved them in a bottle of water which is outdoors in a sheltered spot - they are producing roots. I've treated some S.gesneriiflora side shoots the same and so far I have no roots although the cuttings remain healthy.

Generally though I agree with Robin - I usually strike cuttings in a light and airy soil based medium. Cleaning the pots thoroughly and microwaving the soil once the pot has been filled reduces the risk of rot as does light watering from the bottom only. cover the pot to raise humidity.
In my experience the thin stemmed shrubby species have a significantly lower strike rate than the thick square stemmed herbaceous species. I've found the best material for the shrubby species is semi-ripe growth and it is best to try in mid to late spring.
One other method that I have used on S.glutinosa (with 100% success) is layering. Peg the shoots down in early summer (whilst they are still flexible enough) and then the following year in late spring sever the shoot from the main plant. Carefully lift the new plant about six weeks later (if the weather is hot leave them until it cools down a bit) and grow on in a pot or transplant to the new spot in the garden.

@longk thanks also for your cuttings in water and other propagation methods. Yes have tried the pegging down; that's a good one too. Appreciate your notes.

carolem said:@longk thanks also for your cuttings in water and other propagation methods. Yes have tried the pegging down; that's a good one too. Appreciate your notes.

I agree.

What is pegging down?

When I first started rooting cuttings, about nine years ago, I tried rooting in a potting mix. My cuttings rotted and died. Since then, I have rooted my salvia cuttings in water, with good success. One annoying issue is the stems like to curl up the first few days. That would not be a problem if rooting in mix/perlite. I should give the mix/perlite combo a try next fall to see if I can get it to work.

@Marilyn I consider pegging down means to layer; hold down with bent-wire or such until it takes root there.

Putting pots in some sort of plastic bag (for humidity) with as few holes in the top for transpiration seems to help my cuttings a lot.

Pegging down is indeed layering.
This year I'm going to try air layering S.glutinosa.

@hawkeyewx - light and airy soil for cuttings. At the very most 50% multipurpose compost with the rest being made up of perlite and/or grit.

Thanks to all of you. I'll give it another try. The ones I thought were doing ok, died.

I've found that many salvias are easily propagated from cuttings. Here are a few I'm growing this winter.







In the past I've tried cuttings of greggii. Tender tips dipped in rooting hormone work best, though the success rate isn't as high as some others.

I've never tried rooting salvias in water, but it seems like it should work.