Sunlight Makes Geraniums Bloom

Geraniums will bloom indoors in the winter if they are given enough sunlight. Unlike most plants, geraniums have no dormant season when they are not supposed to bloom. A dozen different geraniums will provide a window sill of fun throughout winter days when snow and ice, and salting down the roads is the rule of the season. If you have not been successful in growing geraniums at your first try, buy some more plants and start again. Going by a few essentials, you can have geraniums blooming freely throughout the winter, and outdoors in the summer.

If you have healthy plants with good foliage, but no flowers, you probably have not given your geraniums enough direct sunlight. Unshaded east or south windows usually grow flowering plants. Geraniums like to be cool-60-65 degrees at night, with a rise of 10 to 15 degrees in the daytime. A low percentage of humidity in the air around geraniums is no problem if the temperature is cool. If it is warm, however, and there is no humidity, the leaves will turn yellow, and if buds have developed, they will wither and drop before maturity. To provide humidity, set the pots on a tray of moist sand, or pebbles. Be sure that the bottoms of the pots do not rest in the water in the tray.

How to Water

Water geraniums from the top of the pot. A thorough watering should be done as often as the top of the soil shows signs of dryness. Pinch a little of the soil between your thumb and forefinger to tell if the soil is dry. A soggy wet soil helps breed a kind of fungus that causes geranium “black leg,” or black rot. This devastating rot starts in the roots, and progresses up the stems until all life-giving elements are cut off from the plant top. Cuttings may be taken from a part of the stems not yet infected by the rot, and started so that the variety will not be lost from your collection.

Geranium soil must be loose and humusy to provide aeration and fast drainage. The mixture must be firm enough to allow for firm potting. The soil should be slightly acid. Here are two standard geranium potting mixtures: two parts soil to one of sand; or three parts soil, one part sand and one part peat moss. One teaspoon of steamed bone meal should be added to each pot of either of these mixtures. Some growers praise the benefits of blood meal for geraniums.

If Undernourished

When geraniums do not have enough food, the leaves and flowers will be small and the color poor. Your seed store has well balanced plant foods for pot plants. Make the dilution according to the manufacturer’s directions - and remember, too little is better than too much.

Geraniums like standard clay pots although plastic will do, and most young plants will thrive and bloom in three to five inch containers. Geraniums flower best when slightly pot bound - that is, when some of the most adventuresome young roots are wrapped around the outside of the rootball, next to the inside of the pot.

Fresh air and “elbow” room make healthier geraniums.

Cuttings from favorite plants will root if they are firm enough to break like a snap bean. After making the cutting, lay it in a cool, shaded place for several hours so that a “heal” can form over the cut part. Insert cuttings an inch or two deep in sand, or a mixture of sand and peat moss. Keep this mixture moist (not wet) at all times, and when roots have formed, pot in regular geranium potting soil.

Geraniums have, seeds about the size of a shriveled grain of wheat, and a silky “tail” is attached to these. They are handled much in the same manner as for sweet peppers or tomatoes when started indoors. Barely cover the seeds and never allow the soil to dry out during the germination period. They usually sprout within two weeks, and when they begin to crowd, it is easy to transplant them to three inch pots, or into a community flat. Blooms come in from four to seven months.

Rejuvenation

If you have some straggly old geraniums, it is not hard to prune them into respectable looking inhabitants for your window sill. Remove such plants from their pots and wash off the old soil. Prune off old, dead-looking roots. Prune the top parts back to eight or ten inches into neat and symmetrical plants. Repot in smaller pots (usually four or five inch sizes are right) and keep the soil moist. Such a plant, placed in a sunny window and given good care, will be in full bloom by January.

To acquire new and different geraniums, it will be necessary to order them. Several geranium specialists have hundreds of different and unusual geraniums. These young plants come through the mail in good shape. Place your order immediately before sub-zero weather begins. You will receive these plants usually in small pots. Repot into three or four inch pots, give a sunny window and regular care. They will acclimate to your home and produce flowers within a few weeks time.

by E McDonald

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