How To Bring Geraniums Indoors For Winter

Bring geraniums indoors before the first frost to overwinter them. Drag the entire pot indoors where they should stay for a few weeks while you take care of other more urgent garden tasks if you are growing them in a tub or container and have limited time (as it generally is in the fall). If they were grown in beds, simply remove them with a little dirt, place them in a pot, and water them sparingly. They will survive for a few weeks until you can deal with them.

How are geraniums maintained indoors during the winter?

Geraniums are incredibly simple to store for the winter—just place them in a cardboard box or a paper bag and secure the top. The following advice will help them survive:

Maintain geraniums in a cool, dry area with a temperature of 50 to 60 degrees F.
Once a month or so, remove dried leaves from the bag or box and check for mold.
Check the stems quickly at the same time; they should be stiff. Throw away any dried-out, shriveled stems you uncover.
If you see that the plants are becoming really dry and crispy, give them a brief soak in water.
Plants with stems that appear to be blackened or mildewed should be disposed away.

Geraniums are typically kept in a sack upside down. Although the exact cause is unknown, one idea holds that it does so by pushing moisture into the stems. Whatever the cause, storing them in this manner is neither harmful nor necessarily harmful.

Bring Inside as Houseplants

You can bring your potted geraniums (Pelargoniums) indoors for the winter if you have space for them in a sunny place.

While they require sunlight, they thrive in temperatures between 55 and 65 °F (12-18C). I have tremendous luck keeping the air around them a touch colder than the rest of the home with a west-facing window that is slightly drafty.

Dig Up and Repot if Desired

To make sure they are content, healthy, and bug-free, some preparation is needed.

Before the first frost, dig up and container your geraniums if they are in the ground.
If they are already in pots, you can repot them if you want, but first perform a rigorous pruning and a bug inspection (see below).
Trim any extremely long roots or any unkempt root balls before potting.
Put flowering plants in containers using potting soil made for them.

Hard Prune

Cutting back the entire plant by between one-third and half is an usual recommendation.
Any dead, broken, moldy, sick, or diseased pieces should also be taken out.
If the plant is otherwise good and healthy, you can try keeping any buds or blossoms even though this harsh pruning is ultimately ideal.

For the winter, should geraniums be pruned back?

You should prune a perennial geranium after it has bloomed all season and starts to wither. This helps the plant store energy for the spring while simultaneously keeping it dormant for the winter. This could need to happen any time between August and late October, depending on your zone. Cut perennial geraniums down to 2 or 3 inches above the soil with a pair of trustworthy shears, ideally at nodes or new growth points. Take out any more flowers or foliage. You’ll have a collection of thick stems that is really ugly. But don’t panic, your blooms will return in full bloom the following spring.

When should geraniums be removed from winter storage?

Iowa’s AMES

Beautiful plants like geraniums offer color and life to any landscape. They are not prepared to endure the hard winter weather, though. Geraniums can be brought indoors to overwinter and then replanted in the spring.

Horticulturists at ISU Extension and Outreach can assist with your inquiries regarding overwintering geraniums and how to keep them healthy during winter weather.

How can I overwinter geraniums indoors?

By obtaining cuttings, potting up individual plants, or preserving bare-root plants in a cool, dry place, geraniums can be overwintered indoors. Before the first fall frost, remove plants from the garden (or take cuttings).

How do you take geranium cuttings?

Take three- to four-inch stem cuttings from the terminal ends of the shoots using a sharp knife. Pinch the bottom leaves off each cutting before dipping the base in a rooting hormone. Insert the cuttings into vermiculite or a mix of perlite and sphagnum peat moss as a rooting media. Rooting containers that have drainage holes on the bottom are pots and flats. Just enough to allow the cuttings to support themselves should be inserted into the media. Water the rooting media once all of the cuttings have been placed.

Place a clear plastic bag or dome over the cuttings to stop the plant foliage from wilting after allowing the medium to drain for a few minutes. The cuttings should then be placed under bright light—not direct sunshine. In six to eight weeks, the cuttings should begin to root. Remove the cuttings from the rooting media after they have healthy root systems and plant each rooted cutting in a separate pot. Until spring, keep the potted plants in a window with natural light or under artificial lighting.

How do you overwinter geraniums as potted plants?

Each plant should be dug up carefully and put in a big pot. After giving each plant plenty of water, set the geraniums in a window with natural or artificial light. Geraniums prefer a cool environment indoors. The ideal temperature range is between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and a little bit lower at night. Plants need watering around every two weeks. By the end of winter, geraniums are likely to grow tall and lanky. Trim the plants back in March. Reduce the geraniums by a third to a half. Within a few days, the geraniums will start to grow once more, and by May, they should be beautiful specimens.

How do you overwinter geraniums as bare-root plants?

The geraniums should be carefully dug out before the first fall frost. Remove the plant’s roots’ soil by shaking them. After that, put one or two plants in a sizable paper bag and keep it dry and cool (45 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit). It might be appropriate to use an indoor porch or an unheated bedroom. Hanging the plants upside-down in a cool, dry area is an another (somewhat messier) option. Eventually, the leaves and the shoot tips will wither away.

Trim or prune each plant in March. Get rid of all the dried-out, lifeless stuff. Return to firm, green, living stem tissue through pruning. After pruning, pot the plants and give them plenty of water. Put the potted geraniums in a window with natural light or next to a light source. March pruning and potting of geraniums should result in lovely plants that may be put outside in May.

How are indoor geraniums cared for?

when taking care:

Light Place your geranium houseplants where they will get at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day in order for them to grow strong plants indoors and bloom. In order to maintain the plants healthy if you don’t have windows that receive enough sunlight, you can supplement with artificial grow lights for roughly 14 hours each day.
soil and irrigation
For your geraniums, use a soilless potting mixture. A light, loamy, well-drained potting soil is preferred by geraniums. In between heavy waterings, let the soil of your geraniums dry out quite well. These plants are highly susceptible to diseases including rust, blossom blight, and gray mold if the soil is kept excessively moist.
Geraniums typically favor cooler temps. The ideal temperatures are between 55 and 70 degrees F (13 and 18 degrees C) during the day and 65 to 70 degrees F (18 and 21 degrees C) at night.
FertilizerDuring the growing season, you should fertilize your indoor geraniums for healthy growth and blossoming. Use time-release fertilizers or an all-purpose liquid fertilizer once a month at about half intensity.
Pruning and Pot Size
Avoid overpotting geraniums because they want to be somewhat potbound. In order to promote a bushier plant, you should also cut back any lanky canes and pinch back the growth points.

Can geraniums be grown inside?

Pelargonium species, which come in pots, make great indoor plants that may be grown all year round. They normally become available in March through June, and if given enough light inside the house, they will bloom continuously. There are several fresh varieties, like vining and hanging basket cultivars. They are available in many different types of containers and at varying stages of development.

When should I trim my geraniums back?

reducing after blossoming After flowering, early-flowering perennials like geraniums and delphiniums are pruned to almost ground level to promote new growth and late-summer blooming. Then, in the fall or spring, these are again pruned.

Are geraniums winter-hardy?

One of the most popular plants for containers and gardens is the geranium. Their vibrant hues and strong, well-shaped foliage are unmatched. Geraniums typically come in larger sizes in the garden center, which raises their price compared to other summer annuals.

Geraniums may be easily kept over the winter and enjoyed again the following year, unlike many of their competitors. Here’s how to overwinter your magnificent geraniums indoors if you don’t want to see them killed by frost this fall.

Methods of Overwintering Geraniums

Geraniums can be preserved in three different ways to endure the winter:

inside in pots during the winter.
Keep the naked, dormant roots.
To create new plants, propagate cuttings.

Fall:

Carefully dig out your geraniums before the first frost and pot them in 6- to 8-inch-diameter containers with lightweight potting soil. You can skip a step if yours are already in containers! Any that appear sick or diseased should be discarded.
Reduce each plant by a third to a half. The cuttings should be saved and rooted to produce new geraniums.
Give the pots plenty of water.
Put the pots in a cool, well-lit area. Temperatures around 60 F in a sunny window are ideal for geranium overwintering. They struggle in dimly lit or hot environments.

Spring:

Give your geraniums a mid-spring fertilization.
When the threat of frost has gone, put them back outside. You have the option of leaving them in their containers or replanting them in your flowerbeds.

Overwintering Bare-Root Geraniums

Geraniums may endure winter dormancy if maintained above freezing since they have great thick roots and stems. Geraniums can also be stored as bare roots after going dormant. Take these actions:

Carefully pull out your geraniums and shake all the soil off the roots before the first frost.
To keep them, place them in unsealed paper bags or hang them upside-down in a cool, dry area at roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit (a garage is perfect).
Pull out your geraniums every a month or so and give the roots an hour or so in water to soak.
Allow them to dry before storing again.
The stems should remain solid, but the leaves will eventually all fall off. The plant is probably doomed if the stems start to shrivel as well!
Check your geraniums in the early spring.
Eliminate any shriveled areas.
Lightly prune them, removing any dead tips.
Soak the roots for a few hours in water mixed with a little plant food.
Place the roots in potting soil and give them plenty of water.
Put your potted geraniums in a window that gets plenty of sun or beneath a grow light. It can take them a few weeks to awaken and begin to grow!
After all threat of frost has passed, you can bring them outdoors.

Propagating Geraniums From Cuttings

The final alternative is to let go of your original geraniums and take care of fresh ones that were propagated from cuttings. Here’s how:

Cut off sections of the branches that are three to four inches long with a sharp knife or pair of shears. Instead of a side branch, the terminal end of the stem—the very tip end—produces the best cuttings.
Remove any flower buds, and pinch off the leaves in the bottom third of the cutting.
After removing the leaves, sprinkle the wounds where the cuttings were made with rooting hormone by dipping the bottom of each cutting in it.
Each cutting should be planted with peat moss, sand, or perlite in the bottom third. You can grow them in trays or in individual pots (plastic planting trays are available with a clear cover to hold in moisture).
Set the pots on a drainage tray and give them a thorough watering, ideally starting at the bottom (fill the tray with water and allow it to soak to keep from washing away the rooting hormone).
Use the tray’s included cover or cover your pots with clear plastic.
Place away from the sun in a sunny window. Although they require light, your clippings cannot withstand direct sunlight.
By wetting the drainage tray, removing the plastic cover, or sprinkling the plants and soil with a fine mist, you may maintain the moisture level of the planting medium.
In 6 to 8 weeks, your cuttings should begin to root. You can transfer them to their own pots with standard potting soil before the beginning of the next spring.
Your new plants will branch out if you fertilize them and prune the new stems.