When To Repot Geranium Cuttings

Most people are aware that geraniums can’t withstand freezing and must go indoors as soon as it begins to get cold.

Unless your area never freezes, leaving it outside in a pot, garden box, or the ground throughout the winter will not cause it to grow back in the spring.

Thus, you must without a doubt maintain it in a cool, well-ventilated area that is protected from freezing.

You may choose between two possibilities:

For potted geraniums in garden boxes or pots

Before the first frost spells, move the garden boxes into a cool, dry, and well-lit location.
40F to 50F is the best preservation temperature (10C to 15C).
Reduce the stems by about two-thirds.
During the coldest winter months, irrigation should be minimized or possibly stopped entirely.
From February through March, start watering again a little at a time. In the spring, reposition the garden boxes outside.
Just before bringing the geraniums back outside, now is the ideal moment to repot them in brand-new soil mixture.

For geraniums planted in the ground

Before the first freeze, remove the geraniums.
Trim the branches to 2/3 of their original length and the tips of the roots.
Up until spring, keep them in a cool, well-lit location.
Plant them back in the ground in the spring using a mixture of soil and earth.

Geranium cuttings may be planted directly in the ground.

Geranium plant cuttings take root quite well and don’t require any herbicide or fungicide, yet complete success is unlikely. Simply place your cutting in a container filled with warm, damp potting soil. Place the pot in a bright area away from direct sunlight and give it a good watering.

Geranium plant cuttings are prone to decaying, therefore don’t cover the pot. When the soil feels dry, water the pot. Your geranium plant cuttings should have roots in only a week or two.

Allow your cuttings to remain in the open air for three days before planting them in the ground if you intend to do so. By doing this, the clipped tip will begin to develop a callus that will help protect it from rot and fungus in the non-sterile garden soil.

How long does a geranium cutting take to take root?

Water should be added to the jar to cover the main stem but not the leaves.

Place in a space that maintains a temperature between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit on a sunny windowsill.

To keep the water fresh, change it every day. At the base of the stem, roots should start to form after around four weeks.

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!

Are geraniums root-bound in favor?

Deadhead faded flowers on your geraniums by cutting off the entire flower stalk all the way to the point where it connects to the main stem.

Use a pair of sharp scissors, or even your fingers, to trim or pinch off approximately a half-inch of growth from the end of each stem to keep plants bushy, full, and jam-packed with flowers. This gives the plant a larger appearance and the potential for more flowers while also causing the plant to sprout two new stems.

Repotting your geraniums into a larger container only when necessary, and use a container that is just one size bigger than the previous one, as geraniums bloom best when they are relatively root-bound.

Geraniums are heavy feeders, so treat your plants with a balanced fertilizer as directed on the product label every few weeks during the spring and summer. At the conclusion of the summer, stop feeding.

Can geraniums be kept in pots during the winter?

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.