Your geraniums should be potted six to eight weeks before the final average frost date in your region. Clean up the plants by removing any extra-long roots and trimming the stems back to healthy green growth, as shown in the inset. Take the geraniums out of the bag or box they have been sitting in for the past several months. By the time it was cleaned up, this one was only a little over 4 inches long.
Then, put potting soil in a container that has already been wet, and tuck the stem down so that two leaf nodes are below the soil—this is where new roots will grow.
How should geraniums be started after winter storage?
Geraniums can live for the majority of the winter without soil, which sets them apart from most annual flowers. Due to their thick, succulent-like stems, geraniums may withstand prolonged periods of dryness if they are handled correctly to prevent illness.
How to Store Geraniums
- Before the first harsh cold of the season, remove the plant from its outdoor container and gently shake the soil from the roots.
- Reduce the plant by roughly 50%, taking care to remove any unhealthy-looking growths, flowers, or dead leaves.
- For the winter, pick a cool, dark spot, such as an unheated basement, garage, or shed. It is crucial that the temperature stay above 45 degrees F.
- The plant should be hung or put in paper bags. If you decide on using bags, don’t close them too tightly; you want some air to flow through them. When geraniums are overwintered, mold can grow on them. When hanging plants, The Spruce advises leaving enough space between them so that air can flow around them.
- Put tags (loosely) around the roots of your plants to identify them by color, or group them according to color while storing them.
Care for the Dormant Geraniums
- Take the plants out of the bags and give the roots a 1- to 2-hour soak in warm water. I’ve seen some professionals advise doing this once a month, while others advise doing it a few times during the winter. Before putting the plant back in the paper bag, give it time to completely dry. THIS IS ESSENTIAL.
- Even if the leaves are withering, check the geranium stems every two weeks to make sure they remain firm. You should discard any plants with withered stems right away. Anything with mold on it should be thrown away.
Reviving After Dormancy
- Trim any dead stem tips, and get rid of any roots that are too lengthy.
- Before potting, bare root plants can be given an extended soak in water to rehydrate the roots.
- Six weeks before the last frost, plant geraniums.
- When planting, bury the plant two leaf nodes deep in moist potting soil to encourage root development.
- Give them plenty of water.
- To reintroduce light and encourage fresh growth, place the newly planted geraniums in a sunny window. After inactive storage, it will probably take the plants 2-4 weeks before they begin to grow.
How are geraniums brought out of dormancy?
Geraniums have the advantage of easily entering dormancy, allowing for storage in a manner akin to that of sensitive bulbs. This method of storing geraniums for the winter entails digging the plant up in the fall and carefully removing the soil from the roots. The roots should not be spotless, just clear of dirt clumps.
In a room with a constant temperature of roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit, such as your garage or basement, hang the plants upside down (10 C.). Rehang the geranium plant after soaking the roots in water for an hour once a month. All of the leaves on the geranium will fall off, but the stems will still be alive. Replant the dormant geraniums in the ground in the spring, and they will come to life.
After the winter, when should I repot my geraniums?
It’s difficult to see all your lovely plants and labor go to waste after enjoying your geraniums outdoors all summer and fall! Here are 4 strategies for surviving the winter:
- Bring your geraniums indoors, and maintain them in a place with plenty of sunlight.
- Allow your potted geraniums to go dormant before storing them in the same pot.
- Your geraniums should be dug out and stored bare-root.
- Take cuttings and continue to grow them over the winter.
Let’s go over each choice in more depth. Bring your plants inside before frost, no matter the method. Whenever possible, I try to bring mine inside before the low temperature drops to 40°F (4.4C).
KEEP YOUR GERANIUMS GROWING INDOORS
Geraniums can be brought indoors and kept growing under grow lights or in a sunny window if you don’t want to let your plants go dormant.
The following are some crucial advice before bringing them back inside:
- Get rid of any dead flower stems, brown leaves, and any petals that may have fallen on the leaves.
- Check your plants for insects, and whether or not you find any, spray them with insecticidal soap (link to Amazon) as a preventative measure before bringing them inside.
- Dig your plants up, shake off any loose soil, and plant them into a pot if you need to move them from the ground to a container. Garden soil is too heavy to be used as a filler in the pot. Use a high-quality all-purpose potting mix; a suitable ratio is 3 parts Miracle Gro to 1 part perlite.
- You might want to cut your geranium back to around half of what it was.
- Give your plants the brightest window you can when you bring them home, or put them under a nice grow light.
- Increase light exposure if you notice that growth is sluggish during the winter. You can also pinch the growing ends off to promote branching and bushier growth.
LET YOUR POTTED GERANIUMS GO DORMANT AND STORE OVER WINTER
Since the majority of my geraniums are grown in pots, I always utilize this technique.
I simply move my geraniums to a cool, dark place for the winter whenever the temperatures drop.
They can be kept there until springtime temperatures start to warm up in a cool, dark basement or even a garage. Darkness and low temperatures are essential for dormancy. The optimal range is 7-13C/45-55F. If you can, keep it at or below 60°F.
You should cease watering the plant and let the foliage wither. Not to worry; your plant won’t perish. Simply put, you’re letting it to go dormant.
Geranium plants can endure dry spells because to their sturdy, succulent stems.
Clean up your plants after the foliage starts to fade and turn yellow. Your plants might even start to bloom. Cut them off even though it may be tempting to leave them in order to prevent squandering your plant’s energy.
You might need to water your pots twice or three times during the course of the winter to prevent the canes from dying and shriveling up, depending on your storage circumstances.
Your canes should remain lovely and firm, so keep an eye on them and water them as necessary to maintain the firmness of the stems.
When Should I Bring Geraniums Out of Dormancy?
I’ll restart my geraniums’ growth when the outside temperature is consistently over 40F.
Here are a few potted geraniums that had begun to thrive while they were dormant. This is commonplace.
I now removed the decaying leaves and blossoms (you could also choose to do it earlier).
I like to set the plants in a protected spot outside after cleaning them up (again, make sure that temperatures are consistently above 40F).
If your plant need a larger pot at this stage, repotting is an excellent idea. At this time, I also like to incorporate some Osmocote fertilizer (link to Amazon) into the soil.
If you’re keeping your plant in the same container that it was growing in the previous year, fertilizing now is extremely crucial. The majority of the nutrients will have been used up by the plant, therefore it’s critical to supplement with a quality container fertilizer like Osmocote.
Since the plants were recently taken out of storage, you can see in the shot above that the new growth is a lighter tint. Because the new growth is so delicate, avoid placing your geraniums in direct sunlight just yet to prevent leaf burn.
For a few days in total shadow outdoors, the new growth must harden off before gradually increasing its sun exposure.
DIG UP YOUR GERANIUMS AND STORE BARE-ROOT
Geraniums can also be stored by being dug up from the ground or even out of a pot and kept bare-root, without any soil at all.
If your geraniums were growing in the ground, this procedure is extremely helpful. Here are a few simple steps:
- Shake much or all of the soil off your plant after digging it up.
- Remove any weak or unhealthy canes, along with any brown leaves and all blossoms.
- For two to three days, let your plant air dry in a protected area.
- You currently have a few choices. As instructed in the previous techniques, put your plant in a brown paper bag, clip the top shut, and set it in a cold, dark spot. The plants can also just be hung upside down.
- Soak the roots in water for 1-2 hours a few times over the winter. At this point, remove any soft stems if you find any. At this point, remove any dead leaves as well.
- Put your plants back in pots in late March or early April so they can start growing again.
One year, I actually pulled several geranium plants out of the ground, shook off the soil, and placed some of them in a sizable pot before storing them in the garage for the winter. Many of them survived despite the fact that I completely neglected them until the spring.
TAKE CUTTINGS AND KEEP GERANIUMS GROWING
Finally, you may just take some cuttings from your outdoor plants and grow them indoors on a sunny windowsill if you don’t want to pursue any of the aforementioned approaches.
This is undoubtedly the most compact approach and is excellent if you simply lack the capacity to overwinter larger plants.
Just take the following actions:
- Use a sterile, sharp knife or pruning shears to prune the tips off of your geranium plants. Your cuttings should be approximately 3 to 4 inches long. Avoid making drastic cuts because there is a higher chance of failing.
- Eliminate all lower leaves (make sure the tip of your cuttings still have at least a couple leaves).
- You have two options at this point: dip the cutting in rooting hormone and plant it directly in the ground, or place it in water to root.
If you choose water propagation, you can pot up your cuttings once they develop roots that are approximately an inch tall and put them in a sunny window or under a grow light.
When using a cutting for soil propagation, first dip the cut end of the cutting into rooting hormone as shown in the picture below.
After that, plant them in a tiny pot with potting soil and perlite (I like to use a half and half mixture for rooting cuttings).
While the soil is undergoing rooted, keep it moist. To hasten the rooting process, you could also lay your rooting cuttings on top of a seedling heating pad. The bottom heat is fantastic!
When should dormant geraniums be transplanted?
Move your dormant geraniums to indirect light about six to eight weeks before the final anticipated frost. Plants should be cleaned up, dead leaves removed, and stems pruned down to healthy, green growth. After placing the stem in the soil with two nodes buried, fill the pot with wet potting mix.
Give the potted plants plenty of water, a diluted fertilizer application (approximately half the package recommendations), and allow them to gradually emerge from hibernation. After a few weeks, you should start to see fresh, green leaves. Once the threat of the final frost of the season has passed, put them back outside. They should resemble the ones you purchased in the nursery last year in four to six weeks!
Can I store my geraniums for the following season?
Amazingly, annual geraniums (Pelargonium hybrids) thrive and flower wonderfully from spring till frost with little effort. The next spring, these resilient tiny plants will take off and grow once more if you dig them out in the fall and store them in a cardboard box or paper bag for the winter. Learn how to preserve your geraniums over the winter so you can enjoy them year after year by watching our video and reading the article below.
What should you do with geraniums that overwintered in the spring?
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.