How to properly propagate geranium cuttings at home: recommendations and nuances

Geranium has become an inhabitant of many window sills in urban apartments and country houses, as well as in flowerbeds of garden plots.

This may be due to the fact that planting this flower at a fast pace and large volumes is not at all difficult. A few decades ago, geranium was very popular.

However, over time, humanity has lost interest in this wonderful plant.

In this article, we will consider a step-by-step algorithm when to plant and how to propagate geranium using cuttings.

Acquaintance with a houseplant

Today it can be stated that geranium is in demand, both among professionals and lovers of indoor flowers. This can be explained by the fact that geranium has a lot of advantages:

1. Geranium can be considered in two qualities: as a houseplant and as a garden flower.
2. A large number of varieties and varieties of plants can satisfy the demands of any sophisticated grower.
3. The maintenance, care and propagation of this flower does not require serious efforts and a lot of time.

Reference! In any floral arrangement, geranium successfully takes its rightful place.

Photo

Next, you can see a photo of what geranium looks like at home:

Breeding methods

Seeds

A familiar way for many gardeners to propagate flowers by seeds is not so popular when it comes to room geranium (more about how seeds look and how to collect them at home can be found here). Specialists resort to this in order to select new forms and colors, and as a result, plants with completely new decorative characteristics can be obtained.

It is optimal to start sowing seeds in March. If you decide to start earlier, you should consider and provide additional lighting, for example, incandescent or phyto lamps.

Before planting, the land must be prepared and disinfected by spilling with disinfectants, this will avoid infections at the very initial stage. When planting, it is enough to sprinkle the seeds with a small layer of earth, and create greenhouse conditions by sheltering.

More details about how to grow geranium from seeds at home and care after that can be found here.

Division

During a planned transplant, geraniums are conveniently propagated by dividing the bush. For example, when you dig it in the fall to move from the garden to the room, it will be time to carefully separate the overgrown curly bushes into several parts. Also do not forget to trim.

Scions

Attention! If you have problems with rooting cuttings, or you need to get a lot of planting material, you need to stimulate the appearance of future roots.

There are several ways to do this. The first is to water the cuttings with special tools, within the dosage specified by the manufacturer. The second method relates to the mother plant. Make cuts in advance on those branches where you will cut the cuttings over time.

The technique of cutting cuttings is quite simple, even an inexperienced gardener will cope with it. It is necessary to leave a stump of a certain height, and on the residual length of the stem under the kidney itself, numerous annular cuts are made through one kidney, to the very top.

As a result, you can get many small cuttings. They develop the root system directly on the original plant. After separation from the mother bush, such cuttings take root almost instantly.
Learn more about how to root geraniums here.

Cuttings

Cuttings - the easiest and most effective way to propagate geraniums. Moreover, all varietal properties are preserved and you get a flower exactly similar to the mother. The main condition for grafting geraniums is constant heat and plenty of light. We consider the detailed technique below.

General rules for cutting at home

When is it better to cut?

Propagation of geraniums by such a vegetative method is best done in the spring-summer period.

Interesting that preparation of cuttings can be carried out, as in spring during the planned pruning of apical and lateral shoots, as well as in autumnwhen, for example, you need to transplant a plant from a summer cottage into a pot for further maintenance indoors.

We prepare seedlings step by step

1. The very first step in the entire procedure is the selection of the mother plant.
2. To carefully cut the stem from the uterine plant, you need to use only a sharp knife, you can even take a scalpel. For cuttings in the summer, branches of at least 10 cm long are taken, a cut is made in the middle, between two adjacent leaves.
3. Cut cuttings do not need to immediately send the pot. First you need to give the slices time to dry. Do not dry extremely; roomy atmosphere is enough.
4. As soon as the sections of the sections dry out (covered with a thin film), it will be necessary to treat them with absorbent or ash from the tree. So the slices will not become a source of infection for the donor plant.

Important! Propagation of geranium by cuttings involves trimming their lower leaves and buds before planting.

All these operations can not be done, but order cuttings by mail.

How to root?

In dry soil

At the initial stage of such cultivation, care should be taken to root the cuttings in separate small vessels. The bottom of such containers must be perforated in several places, put in a bowl a brick or other drainage, as well as loose non-acidic soil. It is permissible to mix turf, soil from the garden, humus and sand as soil. A universal soil mixture purchased at specialized points of sale is also suitable.

In water

Some use a different rooting method. Dried cuttings are placed in a container with water, where the drug is preliminarily added to accelerate the appearance and growth of roots, in the dosage specified by the manufacturer. Cuttings stand in water until the first roots appear. Then they are transplanted into a pot in a permanent place. How to implement this correctly, we consider further.

Landing

In prepared containers with soil, a hole is made for each cuttings, then we insert the stem into it and compact the earth around.

Pay attention to the composition of the soil. The soil must contain peat, sand. Looseness is the main quality here. In order not to be mistaken with the choice of soil and everything went well, you can opt for a specialized soil for geraniums, which is sold in any flower shop.

To accelerate growth, some gardeners recommend creating a greenhouse effect using cellophane pacts. But such measures are not required.

In more detail about the propagation of geranium leaf can be found in this material.

Care of seedlings after planting

In no case should you use fresh organic fertilizers for geraniumssuch as, for example, humus or manure. After such feeding, your beauty will cease to bloom. It is possible to fertilize room geranium with nutritious mixtures, which include all basic minerals in equal doses. To increase the flowering volume and extend it, give preference to potash substances.

In order for a flower to grow stably after propagation, it requires trace elements, especially iron, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and boron. During the summer heat, one should refrain from fertilizing, because the plant is already in a state of stress. The optimal frequency of making nutrients for geraniums after planting is 2 times a month.

Humidity is not the most important indicator for the content of geranium at home. It takes root calmly, develops and blooms in any atmospheric conditions.

Attention!Geranium in no case does not tolerate water on leaves and flowers.

Possible problems

Cutting geraniums - a fairly simple procedure. And how well it was carried out will be visible in the appearance of the plant.

But, besides this, it is worth remembering that some diseases and pests are dangerous for pelargonium.

Key issues include:

1. Yellowing of the lower leaves. If there is a lack of moisture, then only the edges can dry. When waterlogging the soil, the leaf will wither completely.
2. Redness of the edges of the leaves indicates that the plant is frozen. In winter, the pot with the plant should be moved away from the window.
3. The darkening of the stem at the base indicates the defeat of the plant with a black leg. Such a plant will not work. It will also not be able to reproduce. The cause of the disease is a dense and excessively moist soil.
4. Stalks are exposed due to lack of light.
5. The appearance of gray mold on the leaves. It is a fungal disease that is also caused by excessive moisture. You can get rid of the disease by treating the plant with a fungicide and removing the affected parts.

Findings

Thus, we were convinced that cultivating geranium by cuttings is not at all a complicated process. It is important to decide when to plant and correctly select the period of preparation of planting material, soil and carry out the rooting procedure. In this case, you will be able to grow a real beauty at home, which will become a true decoration of your home.

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