How Do I Overwinter Geraniums

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.

Do geraniums survive the UK winter in pots?

The number of plants you wish to overwinter and the amount of available space will determine the best manner to do so. Most of the time, it is easiest to maintain them in pots and move them into a room with plenty of natural light, air, and warmth, like a greenhouse or conservatory. However, it could be better to store geraniums in bar-root form in paper bags and keep them in a cold, dry spot if you wish to overwinter a number of them.

When should geraniums be overwintered?

Make sure you thoroughly inspect your geranium plants before bringing them inside for the winter. Look for symptoms of pests and illnesses like rust and remove any dead leaves or wilting blossoms. Only zonal pelargoniums are impacted by this, but it is becoming more widespread. It arrived in the nation for the first time in 1968, and it does best in the moist summer or fall months. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to spread to the plants quickly and is simple to treat, so merely plucking the afflicted leaves is an effective management. You might also consider using the fungicide Dithane 945 as a spray.
Placing your overwintering plants somewhere bright and sunny will help them retain their need for light throughout the winter. Your plants will receive 50% less light if they are placed more than three feet from a window!
Because your plants continue to thrive throughout the winter, keep the roots moist. While geraniums frequently survive droughts, they rarely flourish. Show plant growers take special care to keep the roots of their plants damp but never soggy during the winter.
Ventilate as frequently as you can to maintain a dry environment surrounding your plants. Your plants will turn into a moldy, rotting heap if you don’t allow the air to circulate. The greatest electric fan heaters are those that operate automatically since they circulate air while simultaneously raising air temperature.
Geraniums are fairly inexpensive to overwinter in the greenhouse because they only need to be kept frost-free. To keep temperatures above freezing, however, we do advise utilizing a heater. Set the thermostat on your heater to 5C, which is 41F. The plant will not survive if the stems become frosty! The winter months are a great time to store your delicate pelargoniums in porches, sunrooms, or conservatories.

We hope that we have provided you with enough of tips so that you can continue to enjoy your geraniums year after year. Visit our geraniums hub page, which is brimming with useful resources, for additional details on how to cultivate and take care of these well-liked plants. And do get in touch with us through our social media outlets to share your personal favorites; we’d love to hear from you.

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.

Will my geraniums survive the winter indoors?

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.

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.
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.

Do geraniums grow back in the spring?

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.

How are geraniums wintered in RHS?

Store them with just the plant’s crown—where the stems and roots come together—exposed in trays of sand, coir, or vermiculite. In a cold, frost-free greenhouse or conservatory, keep them simply damp. Plants grown in containers can be stored in their pots after being pruned.