A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems wilted and black leaves

Hi,
I am new to gardening, and began by planting a potted blue salvia brought from home depot.We potted it in a 10" pot, these are 3 stems of the plant in this pot.
After about 3 days of planting them , i noticed that the leaves look wilted, esp the ones at the bottom of the stems and some of them even have some black discoloration at their tips and along their veins, turning crinkled at the same time.Again, the ones at the bottom of the stem seem to be more affected.
We live in south california and have plenty of direct sun . I water these plants everyday.
Could anyone please offer some diagnoses, and sugeestions on what to do.
I do hope my gardening experiment wont turn out to be a disaster at the very outset.

I'm no expert, but I hate to see a first post go unanswered-- and your first experience turn out to be a bad one. Hopefully someone who knows more about salvia will chime in.

I don't know the exact problem, but since these are new plants that you've transplanted, I'd suspect the underlying problem is stress. "Stress" isn't going to cause the leave to blacken, but when stressed, plants become susceptible to a host of other problems that they could normally overcome. Transplanting stresses plants, changing environments does, too.

My recommendation would be this. Get them out of the direct sunlight for now. Put them in a bright space, but one that doesn't get full-on sun all day long. If you can choose, someplace that gets morning sun, and then afternoon shade, would be better than the opposite.

You are probably over-watering them. Be sure the pots have drainage holes. Stop watering them every day, but rather, water when needed. My recollection is that salvia can handle being a bit dried out (but maybe the experts will say otherwise). Let them dry out a bit, then water when you stick your finger into the soil about an inch, and it feels dry. If you have the pots in saucers (underneath) be sure the saucers are not filled with water.

If-- and hopefully when-- they seem to perk up, move them gradually into full sun. Take, maybe 3-4 days to do this. Gives them a chance to physiologically adapt to their preferred environment.

This is the best I can come up with. Hopefully someone will have other ideas for you!

Good luck!!

Thanks Marica,for your help.
I'll carry put your suggestion of moving them out of direct sunlight.
I did do the finger-in-mud-thing to look for dryness of the soil, and it was ok, not very dry or soggy. Also, the saucer beneath the pot isnt filled with water .Let me see if alternate day watering makes any difference.

Do you think that 3 stems in a 10" pot are overcrowded ?

No. I don't. For the most part, over crowded things find a way to get along.