Are you sad at the thought that your cheery geraniums
will soon fall victim to winter frost? Why not take them inside for the
winter? Gardeners have several alternatives, including potting the plants,
taking cuttings from them, or storing the plants as bare-root specimens.
It’s important to make sure that the plants are
vigorous, healthy, and insect- and disease-free. White flies, aphids, and
mealy bugs, often hide on the plants; these will spread indoors, where
predators can’t keep them in check. Consider repotting the geranium
in fresh houseplant soil, which practically guarantees no soil-borne
insects are brought indoors.
For plants in larger pots or in the ground, carefully
dig up the geranium and plant it in a 6- or 8-inch pot. Prune back each
plant by half.
Geraniums require at least 10 to 12 hours of light and
temperatures of 65 to 70 degrees during the day and 55 to 60 degrees at
night. Excessively warm temperatures tend to encourage legginess.
The approach of taking cuttings permits the use of
smaller plants that take up less space and have a better chance of
acclimating to indoor light, temperature, and humidity levels. Take 4 to 6
inches of terminal growth and strip off the bottom 2 or 3 inches of leaves.
Dip each cutting in a rooting hormone. Stick the cuttings in sand, perlite,
or vermiculite up to the first set of leaves. Water thoroughly and place in
a bright, sunny window or under fluorescent lights. Cuttings should root in
one or two months. When rooted, pot in a 3- or 4-inch pot and continue to
grow until spring.
The bare-root approach is by far the easiest but also
the least successful. It involves digging up your geraniums, shaking most
of the soil from the roots, and hanging the plants upside down in a cool
basement or dry crawl space where the temperature hovers at 45 to 50
degrees.
Once a month, soak the roots for an hour or two in
warm water. Expect that leaves will probably turn brown, dry up, and fall
off. If all goes well, though, stems should remain green. In March, cut
each plant back by half or to green, fleshy, solid stems. Pot each plant up
and water thoroughly, placing the geraniums in a bright, sunny window.
Plants should start budding out, sending out new shoots, and developing
into attractive plants that can be set outside in May.
These tips first appeared in Illinois Times Oct. 18
last year. Dave Robson is an extension educator with the Sangamon/Menard
unit.
For more information visit
www.web.extension.uiuc.edu/sangamonmenard.edu.
This article appears in Sep 18-24, 2008.
