Starting Geraniums From Cuttings
The lovely and dependable geranium remains one of the most popular landscaping flowers among gardeners. Once you have healthy and thriving geraniums, propagate more by starting geraniums from cuttings. Geraniums root easily from simple stems you cut from a healthy geranium plant. Within approximately two months, you will have new geranium plants ready to pot or place in the soil.
Prepare the rooting container for the cuttings. Fill the planting container with one part coarse sand and one part peat moss. Mix the two mediums together well to incorporate them.
- The lovely and dependable geranium remains one of the most popular landscaping flowers among gardeners.
- Within approximately two months, you will have new geranium plants ready to pot or place in the soil.
Take cuttings from the geranium plant with the pruning shears. Select healthy stems without blossoms and cut the top 4 inches from the stem. Remove the leaves from the bottom half of each stem.
Insert the stems into the prepared rooting container, sticking them between 1 and 2 inches beneath the rooting medium. Space the stems approximately 2 inches apart in the container.
Provide a thorough and even watering of the cuttings in the container immediately after inserting them.
Place the container in a location that receives little to no direct sun (an eastern exposure window would be ideal). The best temperature for rooting geraniums is between 70 and 75 degrees F.
- Take cuttings from the geranium plant with the pruning shears.
- Insert the stems into the prepared rooting container, sticking them between 1 and 2 inches beneath the rooting medium.
Leave the cuttings alone during the rooting period. They need very little water to root. If the rooting medium dries completely, spray it very lightly with a spray bottle, but never saturate the cuttings. The cuttings should root within one month.
Watch for indications that the cuttings have rooted. When you see new growth appear on the stems, this indicates that new roots are developing beneath the rooting medium. Wait one more week after you notice growth, and then transplant the cuttings to individual 4-inch pots filled with potting soil.
- Leave the cuttings alone during the rooting period.
- If the rooting medium dries completely, spray it very lightly with a spray bottle, but never saturate the cuttings.
Fertilize the cuttings for the first time one week after you transplant them to individual pots. Mix the fertilizer with water at half the recommended strength on the fertilizer package and apply the fertilizer to the soil around the geraniums. Fertilize the geraniums once per month in this fashion.
Transplant the geraniums outdoors when all threat of frost passes. Alternatively, transplant the geraniums to larger pots for display one month after placing them in the 4-inch pots.
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Writer Bio
Kathryn Hatter is a veteran home-school educator, as well as an accomplished gardener, quilter, crocheter, cook, decorator and digital graphics creator. As a regular contributor to Natural News, many of Hatter's Internet publications focus on natural health and parenting. Hatter has also had publication on home improvement websites such as Redbeacon.
