I scooped up a few again, coming from the same batch as last years grown Harmala. I picked a pot where I tried to grow Hevea brasiliensis (rubber plant) in (which did not succeed) and sprinkled some seeds on top of the soil, and covered that again with a very fine layer of soil. This year I didn’t have any spare sand laying around, so I just had to try it in the potting soil as it was.

The new sprouted Harmala

The Harmala after one month

The P. Harmala outside, 2 months

I didn’t take care too much of them, just watering them sparely every now and then. This summer wasn’t the best for all of my plants, all the rain taken into account. June was a decent month, pretty dry, and July had it’s fair amount of sun as well. From half July on, especially in August, we had some bad days with heavy rain. August 27 came down hard with 135 mm of rain, just that day. I thought this would kill off the Harmala, but it did pretty well afterwords. The snails seem to love it though, they ate a lot from the young plants, leaving small empty stalks behind. With a bit of attention every day and throwing away a small snail or two every day, things work out pretty well for the plant. This winter it will go inside, and next spring I will take it out again.

The Harmala thinned out by rain and snails, 3 months

If you get your hands on a cutting be sure to let it adjust to the new climate by making a humidity tent. This can be as easy as just placing a transparent bag over it to keep the air-humidity high enough. If the humidity is too low you will see that the plant starts to wilt and the sides of its leaves are shriveling and turning brown/black. Keep the soil moist as it is a semi-tropical plant. Overwatering is, in my experince, nearly impossible unless you would create an ocean in a pot. The plastic bag should be air tight so put an elastic band over it and the pot, or just tie a knot in the bag to tighten it. Be sure to water it daily and place it in a spot where it gets a few hours of direct sunlight a day, preferbly not during the time the sun is at it’s strongest point around noon. Gradually make holes in the bag until it is totally adjustet to the new climate and air-humidity.

I made the mistake to not do this, but soon found out what to do. Three days the cutting was in it’s new pot without any protection, and it was certain it would have died if it had two more days of that. Luckily I reacted fast enough but you can still see the scars on the picture below.

The salvia cutting in it's revival - 19.04.2010

The plant doing well in it's humidity tent - 06.05.2010

The plant adjusted to it's new environment - 26.05.2010

Two extra stems 24.06.2010

Be sure to water enough, and the plant will reward you. In my case it already grew two extra stems from the bottom main stem. I started pruning the new stems, and will prune the main stem soon as well. I’m not sure if pruning the main stem from the second node up will work because of the plant’s hollow stem, but i’ll just have to try. The removed part of the plant will then directly be transplanted to a vase full of water where I will try to let it grow new roots so it can go into the soil again. I need more pots. Definately. My girlfriend is not going to like me for this.

I haven’t fertilized the plant once, and it’s soil requests are simple; well-watered, but well-drained, humus rich soil. As with all plants I grow I’ve put small stones in the bottom of the pot to prevent overwatering and rootrot.