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Geraniums, which are actually a genus of plants with about 200 species and are called Pelargonium, They are one of the most valued and popular flowering plants on balconies and terraces of all kinds when the warm months arrive. These plants, which are also not demanding in their care, are as striking as they are decorative and have another great point in their favor: their easy reproduction.
Although we can reproduce geraniums naturally, from seeds, doing it by cuttings is much faster and more comfortable, and this multiplication method rarely fails with this plant. If you want to learn how to do it, keep reading us in this Green Ecologist article in which we explain how to do and how to plant geranium cuttings step by step.
How to make geranium cuttings
The first step will be to cut a mature and healthy geranium. Keep in mind that the cutting will grow as a copy of the plant from which it was extracted, so it should be done from a strong and in good condition geranium. Follow these Steps to Make Geranium Cuttings:
- Start by selecting the stem or stems to cut. Choose stems that do not have buds or flower buds to punish the plant as little as possible, since forming them requires a lot of energy and in the cutting you will have to remove them anyway. However, if you see that there are no flowers without a flower, you can use a healthy one with a flower, but we recommend that you take advantage of it for decoration or other purposes.
- Select a suitable tool, such as a pruning shears or pliers. It is very important that it is as sharp as possible and that you sterilize it before making each of the cuts.
- Cut it above the second armpit. As with pruning, don't cut completely straight - giving it some slant will help the plant heal better. In this other article you can learn more about when and how to prune geraniums.
- Leave about the top 15 cm of the cutting, discarding the rest so that it is not too large. Also remove all the leaves except the top two.
When to plant geranium cuttings
The cuttings cannot be cut and planted at any time, since it is necessary to attend to the life cycle of the plant so that the trauma is not too much and at the same time the new cutting has a good chance of growing, despite the fact that in the case of geranium it is a plant especially resistant to the process.
The best time to make and plant geranium cuttings it is in the warm months, from spring to fall. In the winter months is when the plant is in a state of rest, and the cutting may not take root until the arrival of the heat again. In midsummer you also have to be careful, as especially hot and dry days can be a lot of punishment for a newly planted cutting.
How to plant geranium cuttings step by step
We recommend using the method of geranium cuttings in water, since it allows to prepare several cuttings in very little space, because a single container can be enough and, in addition, it allows us to check with the naked eye how the roots evolve. Take note of these Steps to Planting Geranium Cuttings, starting by putting them in water so that they take root and ending by planting them in a pot or soil.
- Prepare a container with enough water to cover at least the bottom half of the cut cuttings. The leaves must always be out of the water.
- The next thing is to place the cut stems in the container. To prevent them from sinking too much or slipping, you can use a small string or ribbon that connects several stems loosely, just to hold them, taking care that the leaves do not bend or crush each other.
- Place the container in a bright place but where it does not receive direct sunlight and change the water in the container every 48 hours to avoid the appearance of diseases.
- When the cuttings have developed roots, we can plant them in their final location in a pot or garden.
- It is advisable to prepare a particularly nutritious substrate in these first steps. A mixture that works very well is that of coconut fiber with vermiculite and peat moss, to which it is worth adding some vermiculite and perlite. It gives a light substrate, with great drainage and very nutritious, which will greatly favor the new plant. To learn more about the process of planting a geranium cutting that already has roots after several days or weeks in water, we recommend this other article on How to transplant a plant.
Basic care of geraniums
These are the main care of geraniums that you should take into account to care for them at home, whether it is an acquired plant or one that comes from the geranium cuttings that you have made.
- Geraniums have two big key needs: sun and watering. These plants need a minimum of 6 hours of daily light if we want them to grow and flourish well, but direct exposure to the worst hours of light could also burn them.
- Find a location where they receive light during the morning, but covered during the afternoon hours of greatest sunshine.
- When it comes to watering, the plant needs to maintain a certain level of constant humidity in its substrate during the warm months. Be careful not to overdo it, because a humid substrate does not mean that you will water it. If you go overboard, you will drown the plant. That is why it is necessary for the pot to have drainage holes and the soil to drain well.
- In the cold months, it will be necessary to space the waterings much more. Finally, the plant will appreciate a contribution of fertilizer with the arrival of heat and on a monthly basis, as well as an autumn pruning that favors the next flowering.
Here you can learn much more about Geranium Care and here you can discover 23 types of geraniums.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to plant geranium cuttings, we recommend that you enter our category of Cultivation and care of plants.
