What soil mix would be best for collected sagebrush?

I’m planning on digging a couple sage this spring, but I’ve heard from a few different people that they actually don’t seem to like the standard straight-pumice mix that most collected trees do. Has anyone here had any luck with collecting sagebrush, and if so, what soil mix did you use? Thanks!

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I have a sage collected out of the Sierras last year. Planted it into straight pumice and haven’t seen any issues. Sage do however require a good amount of water. Issues I’ve seen people have with them is keeping them too dry once containerized.

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Good question. I’m interested in collecting some around Central Oregon as well. I hope someone has a good answer. :+1:

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I’ll have to give that a try, thanks for the firsthand! Sagebrush just seems like such an interesting, untapped species, and the tiny blue foliage is pretty phenomenal.

I’m curious about deadwood and carving work on sage though along with wiring, as the wood seems incredibly thin and fragile and it seems that older branches become pretty frail and brittle.

Is pumice only the soil of choice for most collected trees or only juni’s and pines? Why pumice only? I would think too much water retention.

I currently have one in lava/pumice and seems to be doing fine, but I only collected it last fall. I talked to an old timer that did a ton of collecting back in the 80-90’s. He said he would sell a lot of them to “rich people from back East.” He said he didn’t think they did well in humid climates, but people loved then. He also said that they seemed to do better if collected in the fall. I know their root systems are SUPER fine and fragile. Care is needed with collection. I’m not sure they will be very easy to wire. I plan to do most design with pruning and highlighting deadwood feature. Good luck, keep me posted so we can learn together.

Sorry for the late response. I have seen a few from others in my area that have done wiring/carving. Results were mixed, some died and some survived. Also it took a little bit of the untamed wildness out of the tree for me and made it look too domesticated. I’ve had success with pruning to shape and guy wires to move structural pieces.

Jumping on this old thread to see if anyone has updates or new tips?

Would you place a newly collected sagebrush in sun or shade?

Place it in an area where it receives good light but is somewhat sheltered from intense wind and sun. Morning sun and partial afternoon shade would be good for a newly collected sage