|
|
Harvesting and extracting SalviaMaybe you are a veteran user
and have decided to stop spending money on Salvia or have decided to start your
very own Salvia business, whatever your reasons are, you will need to learn how
to harvest and possibly extract the Salvia so it can be used. However, before you can harvest and extract
the Salvia, you have to have a Salvia plant.
There are several ways to obtain a Salvia plant and it is wise to
consider every option as this is the only way to get the best use of your time
and money.
One way to obtain a Salvia
plant is through purchasing Salvia seeds.
However, there are a few issues to be addressed with Salvia seeds. First, it is very rare that a Salvia plant
actually cultivates seeds, but it is possible to obtain these seeds. This leads you to the second issue with
Salvia seeds, cost. Because Salvia seeds
are so rare, if and when you do find them, there is a high probability that they
will be expensive.Another, more popular, way to obtain a Salvia plant is by growing
it from cuttings. This means getting a
piece of a Salvia plant and allowing it to grow roots and then into a Salvia
plant. Lastly, it is possible to purchase whole salvia plants.
Now that you know how to
obtain your Salvia plant you can begin to learn the process of harvesting and
extracting your Salvia. The first rule in harvesting leaves from your Salvia
plant is to do so when it will cause the least amount of stress to the
plant. For smaller plants, grown inside,
you can harvest leaves every so often and store them without stressing your
plant too much. While the same can be
done for larger, outdoor Salvia plants, generally, it is best to wait until the
plant stops growing, between October and December, and then harvest most of the
leaves. It is stated that this is
beneficial for those who want a lot of Saliva leaves.
If you do choose to harvest
the leaves and store them, you need to know how to do so. Generally, all Salvia leaves can be dried in
your oven, at the lowest possible temperature.
Then you can either store the whole leaves in Ziploc bags or run them
through a strainer to obtain a powder to be stored in jars. Just remember to store your harvested Salvia
leaves in cool, dark places.
Extracting
your dried Salvia is somewhat of an easy process, although it does require high
end scales, which can be difficult to obtain.
Basically, you grind your Saliva leaves into a powder, and place it in a
glass jar. Then you take a solvent, such
as acetone or ethanol, and place it in the jar with the powdered Salvia. There should be enough solvent to cover the
Salvia and then “half again” past the Salvia.
The jar should be shaken through out a couple of hours and then strained
through something such as a coffee filter into another dish. You can replace the extracted Salvia into
other dried Salvia and repeat the process, hence the 5X et
|
|
