Garden Centre

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Geranium/pelargonium cuttings

Back to the geraniums, because this is about the last point in the year when you can take cuttings from your zonal pelargoniums to have new plants for next year. While my new plants look lovely in their special container, I want many more plants, some for the house, some for the front garden and some to give away!

While cuttings can be taken in either early autumn or late winter early spring, there is no doubt that the summer ones (taken in August or September) produce bushier and more easily flowering plants.

To take a pelargonium cutting, make a cut below either the third or fourth joint, then strip away all the lower leaves, flower heads that have faded and flower buds until only two leaves are left at the top. Make sure you nip out all the stipules (the little leaflike appendages at the base of the leaf stalks) with your fingernails.

Most important – this is the bit I always forget! Put the cutting s in a dry atmosphere for 24 hours to allow a corky skin to form over the cuts - this prevents them from rotting. It does, I know for a fact, because every time I forget, the cuttings rot! A windowsill is a good place for this if its not in direct and hot sunlight.

Then set the cuttings in a pot of 50 % potting compost and 50% sand in a greenhouse or on a windowsill. You may use hormone rooting powder or not as you choose – I haven’t found any difference in the plants’ responses to it. Keep the soil moist but not soaked and ensure reasonable ventilation is provided – pelargoniums don’t like humid and stuffy air.. When they are well rooted, they're gradually hardened off and planted outside in May or June. Pinch the tips of the main shoots to encourage bushy growth.

Labels: cuttings, geranium, propagating plants, zonal pelargoniums

The All Seasons Gardener at 2:55 AM

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