If you can give geraniums lots of bright light, they make good indoor winter plants. They won’t become spindly if placed under grow lights or a window with direct sunlight from the west or south. Just be sure to place the plants somewhere that keeps them from drafts that could make them go dormant.
Tip
Aphids, spider mites, and fungus gnats are common indoor garden pests to watch out for while growing geraniums indoors. If your geranium is in good health, it will continue to grow and bloom—just not as vigorously as it would in the open air. Consider letting your plant lie dormant until spring if it appears to be struggling.
Bring Plants Indoors Once It’s Cold
Before it’s time to close the windows and turn on the heat for the winter, bring your plants inside. As a result, the geraniums have more time to become used to the lower humidity levels that occur indoors throughout the winter.
Geraniums can they survive the winter 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.
How should a geranium be cared for over the winter indoors?
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.
- Then let them dry completely before re-storing.
- 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.
- Put the roots in water that has some plant food mixed in for a few hours.
- 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!
- You can bring them outside once all threat of frost has passed.
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. This is 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.
Can geraniums survive the cold in pots?
Geraniums can be overwintered inside in three different ways: as a houseplant, as a dormant bare root, or as cuttings. Your decision will be influenced by the amount of room you have indoors and the range of temperatures you can tolerate. Here is a closer examination of each method.
Overwintering geraniums as houseplants
If you want to keep the entire potted plant and have lots of room close to a window that gets bright, direct light, go with this option. A drafty west-facing window would be the ideal place for your potted geranium to spend the winter because geraniums prefer it chilly (55 to 65 F is optimum).
Wash the foliage well with your hose and repot the plant in new potting soil to prevent bringing unwanted pests from outside. You might also use insecticidal soap, which is sold in most garden centers and hardware stores as well as online. Avoid taking the plant indoors if it shows any signs of pests or illness. Only strong plants have a chance of successfully overwintering indoors.
During the winter, keep the soil wet but not damp. No more humidity is required. If the stems begin to sag, pinch them back to keep the plant compact throughout the winter. When springtime comes around, you may start fertilizing once more and transfer the plant back outside as soon as the temperature reliably rises above 50 F.
Overwintering geraniums as dormant bare root plants
This is the most typical way to overwinter geraniums, but it won’t work unless you have a dark, dry place that stays around 50 degrees throughout the winter.
First, dig up your geranium before it freezes and shake the dirt off the roots. To stop mold from forming, let the plant sit and dry for a few days before storage. Before moving onto the following phase, the roots must be completely dry.
The roots should be kept in a dark, dry place that doesn’t get colder than 45 degrees throughout the winter. Geranium roots should be kept at a temperature of 50 F. You can keep them by doing:
- It has been customary for generations to hang the plants upside-down from the rafters;
- placing them on a shelf after wrapping them in newspaper or a paper bag;
- they were put in a cardboard box.
Step 3: Every month or so, look for mold, black leaves, or limp stems at the roots. Remove any plant or root components that are harmful. Most of the stems should endure the winter in good shape. Before re-storing them if they become too wilted, give them a good bath in water and let them air dry.
Step 4: Reviving your geraniums involves cleaning them up, pruning the stems back to healthy green growth, and replanting them in new potting soil about six weeks before your final frost date. Where the new roots will grow, bury the stems two nodes deep. When you notice fresh growth in one to two weeks, keep the plants somewhat dry; after that, keep the soil moist until the plants are big enough to replant outside.
Overwintering geraniums as cuttings
If your light windowsill area is limited or you are concerned that bringing in your entire potted plant would also attract unwanted bugs, this is a nice technique to try. Additionally, it’s a fantastic way to multiply your existing geraniums.
To trim plants, you’ll need:
- a cutting edge.
- Most hardware stores and garden centers sell rooting hormone, which is sold online.
- Use little terracotta or plastic pots, or recycle a clear takeaway container for roasted chicken.
- If you don’t eat chicken, use clear plastic bags to cover the pans.
How should geraniums be cared for over 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.
How are geraniums maintained indoors?
Once the roots have established, new top growth appears. Rooting might take one to four weeks, depending on the type of plant, light, and temperature. To keep the pots from drying out if you set them in a south window with direct sunlight, you might wish to loosely cover them in a clear plastic bag. Yellowing leaves typically result from overwatering or too cold of a climate.
The plants in their original containers or the ones you brought inside from your outside beds will be substantially smaller once you have taken cuttings from them. Take out any dead branches, brown or yellow leaves, flowers, or flower buds. Place them in a warm, well-lit area with modest water. You might want to take another round of cuttings in late winter or early spring depending on your needs and those of your friends.
For them to grow and bloom indoors, they require at least four hours of daily direct sunlight at regular room temperature. While they are actively growing, water them sparingly, making sure the potting mix is moist but never waterlogged. Between waterings, let the top half inch of the soil dry out. When there are signs of growth, apply a diluted 20-20-20 soluble fertilizer every three to four weeks.
For many years, I’ve kept ‘Shone Helena,’ a magnificent salmon-pink geranium, in my sunroom, where it blooms for most of the winter.
How long do indoor geraniums survive?
You may divide geraniums into two primary groups. There are real geraniums, also known as cranesbill and hardy geraniums. They are frequently mistaken for common or scented geraniums, which belong to the related but distinct genus Pelargoniums. Compared to true geraniums, these offer a considerably more impressive flower display, but they are more difficult to maintain over the winter.
Only USDA zones 10 and 11 are suitable for growing pelargoniums, which are native to South Africa. They are typically only grown as annuals in most countries, despite the fact that they can live for many years in warm regions. They may also be raised in containers and brought indoors to overwinter. As long as it doesn’t get too cold, the common geranium can live for many years.
On the other hand, true geraniums can be cultivated as perennials in a considerably wider range of conditions because they are far more cold hardy. For the most part, USDA zones 5 through 8 are winter-hardy. Some types can withstand the hotter summers in zone 9, while others can endure winters that are as chilly as those in zone 3, at least for the roots.
As long as it is properly cared for, geraniums can live for many years. Additionally, they are easily overwintered. Some other kinds, like the biennial Geranium maderense, only live for two years but can withstand most winters.
In order to answer the question “how long do geraniums live,” it is important to consider both your location and the sort of geranium plant you own.
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.