Geraniums - Sky Rocket

Orange_King

I was one of the many who got the T&M offer with the 5 geraniums and having put them in 5 inch pots they are now appearing to be quite healthy and needing to be moved on.

I have never had these before so can some of you kind folk advise how I can make the most of them? Do they survive the winter, do they need cut back, are they fond of a sheltered spot?

All tips greatly appreciated!

Jake'sGran

Take cuttings. You can do it now. They should be about 3" long and without flower buds. Remove the leaves near the bottom if there are any so that you have just 2-4 remaining.
Some of my friends use rooting powder but I never bother. You can put one in a small pot 3-4" wide or put them close to the sides of a pot about 4-5" across. You need to water the compost and let it drain first. I really hope you have success with them. There is nothing more unattractive than long leggy geraniums (proper names is pelargonium).
They need to be kept very dry in the winter.

peter_the_piper

As above but they must also be kept frost free down to a min of 6deg C if possible. I tend to keep mine at 12deg C as it gives a greater margin of error if the temp really drops.

Orange_King

Thanks very much. So I assume then the parent plants will die off in the winter time then.

I will take a few cuttings later on and see how it goes.

tanith

You can try keeping the parent plants in a dry frost free place overwinter... they will need no watering then come spring time if they have survived you can cut them back and see if they produce new shoots... but as other posters have said take cuttings now in case you lose the original plants overwinter.. I don't have much success overwintering geraniums but others do...

Jake'sGran

Regarding survival, I have heard of another method of keeping pelargoniums. Remove all leaves after letting them get dry and then lay them flat in a cardboard box loosely covered with soil. Apparently, when you shake them out in May/June they will have new growth starting. Never tried it though. One of my pals told me that at the start of winter 2008 she just put her pots of geraniums and fuscias in the garage out of lazyness and got a lovely surprise next Spring as both types of plant were starting in growth. I lost some this winter but all the geraniums in now in full flower are bushy and were grown from cuttings.

peter_the_piper

She was very lucky in 2008 as it was a comparatively mild winter, the same ploy last year would have seen them all die. I generally overwinter hundreds of geraniums and the only sensible way for me is an insulated greenhouse and a large heater running at 12degrees. A warmed conservatory will do just as well.

Davesnave

If it's any help, I used to overwinter all my geraniums/pelargoniums in a 'just about frost free' greenhouse that often dipped just below zero. If they were dryish, I generally got away with it.

I could do this as, unlike Peter, I didn't sell many of these, so the leccie bill was more relevant!