Over wintering geraniums without a greenhouse

pandora205

I have several large healthy geraniums but nowhere to store them over winter. I was wondering whether I could take cuttings and put them in my spare room. There is no window sill but I could set up a wallpaper table. Would this work? Any tips would be welcomed.

I know I'll have to do it soon as they won't survive when the temperature drops to zero.

Thanks

lostinrates

pandora205 wrote: »

I have several large healthy geraniums but nowhere to store them over winter. I was wondering whether I could take cuttings and put them in my spare room. There is no window sill but I could set up a wallpaper table. Would this work? Any tips would be welcomed.

I know I'll have to do it soon as they won't survive when the temperature drops to zero.

Thanks

No spare window sills?

That's where mine live, and I value them at least as much as house plants through winter than garden pot plants tbh. They are resoundingly tough when in side and protected from frost. mine have coped in our unheated house, and in quite low light levels. I swap them about occasionally if someone looks a but peaky in a draughty window or like it needs some light.

aggypanthus

I read that they can survive without water in a dark loft, cut them back and leave them dormant.
I dont know if it works though. ]
Its so annoying as small new plants take till the autumn to really bloom large and strong, then we lose them,
I kept mine is the shed last year, but they didnt survive.
keeping in window cill is a hassle due to blinds and curtains too.

Elsewhere

My mother used to dig them out, shake off the soil and store them dry in crates in an unheated - and dark - garage.

About 50% would sprout when replanted in the spring.

nb. She lived in Bournemouth, so the winters were usually not too cold; further north I'd think storing them in the loft would work.

RAS

Pot them up and cut them back and place near a window.

Or

Dig them up, wrap in newspaper and store under the bed in the spare room if you have one. Re-pot in the spring.

Do not put them in the loft as it is likely to be insulated. In the days when a quarter of the heat in the house escaped throught the roof, they would have bene kept warm enough; not nowadays.

I find that they survive mild frosts quite well if placed near the house but like to have a cutting or two as insurance indoors incase we get a really hard frost before I drag them in.

peter_the_piper

In my opinion the OP is right. I overwinter a lot of geranium cuttings as the stock plants take up too much room. No real need to use rooting hormone for the cuttings but there is no reason not to if you are happy doing it this way. Try to give them reasonable light or they will draw, and don't let the temp go below 10deg c to be more certain of them surviving the winter. Keep them fairly dry but don't allow them to dry out. Don't cover them over because they hate humid conditions. Start to give them a weak feed about March or when the light gets stronger.

Davesnave

I used to do what Peter does, except I was super-tight and my greenhouse heater was set for zero. The bench was heated....a bit!

They survived.

peter_the_piper

Mine are on a heated bench at present and will be moved into a heated greenhouse, along with some fuchsia and osteo's. I keep the stock fuchsias in there also but have dropped keeping the geranium stock plants as it was getting too expensive to heat the main greenhouse. Saved 5 months of oil with this at the expense of a few gas bottles.

Jnelhams

In the 1930's my grandfather use to wrap them in hay and then newspaper and bury them in a trench to which had been partly filled with stones, and the sides lined with hay/straw, they when then placed on a bed of more straw, covered with straw and a layer of sand and then a 2 inch layer of dry soil and then a couple of bricks either side of the plot covered with an old board to keep the rain off. It needs to be about 2-3 feet deep depending on how bad your winters are. It does work you need to dig 'em up as soon as the spring comes and the frosts have gone. You can also build a "clamp" which is a pyramid instead of a pit built in a similar way, and this is also used to store Potatoes and Carrots, Swedes etc.

Dimey

I remember an old Aunt used to keep them under her bed. She had beautiful begonias.

pandora205

Mmm - lots of ideas here. My (few) window sills are very narrow and mainly over radiators so not ideal. I don't have a conservatory either. The plants are huge too, mainly in tubs and large containers.

I tried cutting the parent plants back and putting them in my small shed but they froze. The following year I did the same but covered them in bubble wrap when it got really cold. I lost all but one.

I've tried cuttings before indoors with varying success but I think they may have been too damp. So I'm going to try that again and put them on my pasting table. I can't store them under beds as they're all divans.

So, before the end of the month I'm going to take lots of cuttings and pot them up. The geraniums I have are lovely, mainly from Vernons Geranium Nursery, so a range of varieties. It would be a shame to lose them all.