Geranium: home care

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Florists love pelargonium for its unpretentious disposition, long flowering and a riot of colors. Despite the abundance of varieties and varieties of geraniums, caring for a flower at home comes down to a few simple rules. If you create comfortable conditions for the plant, it will delight with flowers of incredible beauty throughout the summer.

Lighting

Geranium is very fond of light. The more sun the better. She is not afraid of direct sunlight, but on especially hot days, it is advisable to shade it a little, otherwise the leaf plates will get burned. On other days, shade is a big risk.

Pelargonium will begin to stretch and bare the shoots, the intensity of flowering will decrease, and the splendor of the bush will decrease. Therefore, to place it, you need to choose the lightest windows.

If you bought an ampelous geranium, it needs special care at home during the first two weeks. Place the flower in a well-lit area without direct sunlight. He needs to be given time to adapt to new conditions. After 14 days, you can gradually accustom pelargonium to brighter lighting.

In winter, a houseplant definitely needs additional lighting. The most capricious is the royal geranium.

If there is not enough light for her, she refuses to plant buds for future flowering. Special fluorescent lamps will help to eliminate the problem.

Temperature

The flower loves warmth, but reacts sharply to heat. Comfortable conditions for its growth and flowering are provided by a temperature of 20 ° C-25 ° C.

Royal pelargoniums feel great on glazed terraces and loggias, where there are no drafts and sudden temperature changes.

Trumpet geranium adapts well to fresh air and light breeze. But first, you need to harden it a little. To do this, in the spring, the flower must be taken out to the balcony for a short time.

In winter, geraniums of any variety enter a dormant period. Place it in a cool place and keep the temperature between 10 ° C and 15 ° C. Avoid places with drafts and sudden temperature fluctuations.

Watering

Proper watering is one of the main aspects of caring for geraniums at home. It is on him that novice florists should pay attention. Pelargonium loves moisture, but an abundance of moisture can lead to root rot, so it's important to find a balance.

In the summer, water your pet with settled water 1 time in 3-4 days. In winter, soil moistening is carried out no more than 1 time a week in small portions. Moreover, it is advisable to pour water into a pan, and not into a pot with a plant. After half an hour, the excess liquid must be drained.

If you forgot to water the geranium, it will survive it, but it will be “offended”. Drooping, yellowed or fallen leaves will tell you about the lack of moisture. Watering will help to correct the situation.

Humidity

The dry air of the apartments suits pelargonium quite well. Therefore, it does not need additional spraying.

Transfer

Geraniums can be transplanted at any time of the year. But it is best to choose spring for this procedure. If you decide to choose winter, the plant will take root for a long time, since during this period all processes are slowed down. In summer, it blooms, so it is better not to disturb it. All the forces of pelargonium are aimed at maintaining the flowers. Therefore, she does not tolerate a transplant very easily.

To summarize, the best time to “settle in a new apartment” is the end of February, March and April.

It is possible to determine that an indoor flower needs a transplant by several signs:

1. Appearance. You are a caring owner: you water, feed, protect from drafts in a timely manner, and the flower grows poorly. Normally, its green biomass doubles in one year.
2. If this does not happen, the plant must be transplanted.
3. The soil. In a cramped flowerpot, the soil dries out much faster, and the plant has to be watered more often.
4. Roots. If the earthen lump is completely entangled with roots or they look out through the drainage holes, it's time to replant.

On average, geraniums need a procedure every two years. There are no difficulties in transplanting.

The main thing is to follow simple instructions:

1. Prepare a pot. It is better if the container is made of wood or clay. Plastic does not like a flower. The flowerpot should be several centimeters larger in diameter than the previous one. If it is too spacious, you will not wait for flowering until the root system grows.
2. Priming. You can purchase a special substrate or prepare it yourself. Take 8 parts of turf, 2 parts of humus and 1 part of sand.
3. Lay a drainage layer on the bottom of the flowerpot: pebbles, broken brick, expanded clay.
4. Moisten the soil in an old pot and remove the bush.
5. Examine the root system carefully. Remove damaged areas.
6. There is no need to rinse the roots. Along with the old soil, place the pelargonium in the center of the new flower container.
7. Sprinkle prepared soil on the sides.
8. Compact the earth.
9. Water liberally.
10. Move the plant to shade for one week.

After 7 days, the geranium can be returned to its usual place. There is no need to feed the first 2-3 months after transplantation.

Fertilizer

If your beauty ivy (ivy) geranium is planted in open ground, it must be fed only once a month with fertilizers for flowering plants.

Indoor pelargoniums need feeding no more than 2 times a month. The fertilization period is from April to October.

To make the plant happy with abundant flowering, during the formation of buds, use products with a high content of potassium and phosphorus. They should be applied immediately after watering into moist soil.

Reproduction

You can propagate a flower in several ways:

• grafting. The simplest method, which preserves all the features of the mother flower. Favorable time is the beginning of spring or the end of summer. The stalk is cut from the top of the plant under the lower bud. There should certainly be 2-3 leaves on it. For 2-4 hours it must be dried in air, dipped in crushed activated carbon, then planted in the ground. Some resources advise putting the cutting in a container of water. But waiting for pelargonium to take root in water is not recommended. Most often they rot, especially in royal geraniums. It is better to plant the plant in light soil containing peat and sphagnum. Roots appear within a month. At this time, the flower must be covered with a plastic cap, to ensure a high temperature and sufficient illumination;

• seeds … They are purchased in a specialized store and sown at the end of February in loose sandy-peat soil, with the addition of a small amount of humus. It is not necessary to deepen the seeds. Watering is carried out from a spray bottle. Until the first shoots appear, geraniums are kept under a film, providing sufficient illumination. After 3 weeks, you need to pick. The method is suitable for growing most types of pelargonium, but the royal, as always, is capricious. With this type of reproduction, the signs of terry in the most luxurious varieties are usually not transmitted.

  To speed up the rooting of geraniums, the future stalk can be stimulated on the mother flower. To do this, two weeks before grafting, you need to choose a healthy shoot and make circular cuts along the entire length under the buds. Very soon, root tubercles will appear there, which will allow the cuttings to take root much faster.

  

  Pruning

  Novice florists are most interested in the question of when to prune geraniums. This is a very important procedure that promotes abundant flowering, ensures active growth of lateral shoots, rejuvenates and maintains a neat bush shape.

  Most varieties of pelargonium are pruned in the spring. But there are some subtleties to consider:

  • To ensure the abundant flowering of royal geraniums, pruning should be carried out immediately after the end of the flowering period (late August or early September). It is recommended to carry out the procedure in 2 stages, with an interval of 1, 5 months. In autumn, new shoots are pinched over 4-5 leaves. The last pinching should be done no later than the beginning of February;
  • ampelous pelargonium is cut in the fall. In this case, the main shoots are shortened to seven leaves, the lateral ones are cut off. Young lashes coming from the roots do not need to be touched. If during the winter period the flower has grown, the procedure is repeated. Throughout spring, pinching is carried out: the tops of new shoots are removed after the fifth leaf plate;
  • caring for tulip geraniums at home involves pruning in late winter or early spring. Too long or old shoots are removed, wilted inflorescences are cut off. Each branch should have 5-6 buds.

  Regardless of the type of flower, pruning is done with a sterile knife or scissors. For the processing of sections, crushed activated carbon is used.

  

  The main problems in growing

  Pelargonium flower is unpretentious, but regular violation of proper care is fraught with diseases:

  • gray rot. Typical signs are gray bloom, weeping brown spots, lack of flowering. To save the flower, you need to reduce the humidity, remove the affected parts and treat with "Fitosporin";
  • alternaria … It occurs due to poor-quality dense soil, excessive moisture. The leaf plates dry out, brown spots with a gray tint and bloom appear on them. To eliminate the problem, it is necessary to remove the affected leaves, thin out the shoots, transplant into favorable soil, treat with fungicides;
  • edema. Bubbles filled with liquid appear on the leaves. The reason is excess moisture, low temperature of the earth and air. To cure the plant, it is enough to adjust the watering regime and create a comfortable microclimate;
  • bacterial diseases … Spots appear, often in the shape of a triangle. The color ranges from yellow with dark veins to brownish black. The affected areas dry out, the plant withers. Transplanting and fungicides will help to save the flower;
  • rust. Reddish-yellow zones appear on the leaves. Occasionally, pads are formed that give off a spore powder when opened. The disease spreads very quickly, the flower becomes lethargic, the leaves begin to crumble. At the last stage, decay and blackening occurs. If you start a plant, you can no longer cure it. At the initial stages, it is necessary to remove the affected parts, go to the bottom watering and treat with fungicides;
  • verticillary wilting. Geranium turns yellow, turns black, the lower leaves wither, the vessels become coarse at the cut points. The disease can be provoked by bad soil, lack of pruning, drying out of the soil. Alas, it is impossible to save. The plant is destroyed;
  • suberization … It appears as brown growths on the inside of the leaves. To save pelargonium, it is necessary to reduce air humidity, treat it with insecticides from pests, adjust watering and fertilization.

  If geranium leaves turn yellow, the reason may lie in improper feeding. You do not need to fertilize the soil more than once every 2 weeks.

  In addition, there may be an excess of nitrogenous substances in the soil. You need to switch to another remedy with a high content of potassium and phosphorus.

  

  Do not forget that pelargonium can be attacked by pests:

  • mushroom gnats cause stem rot;
  • thrips deform new foliage, bend growth points, provoke the formation of cork growths. Because of them, the edges of the petals turn brown, holes appear;
  • aphids cause yellowing of the leaves, sticky discharge appears on them;
  • spider mites can be identified by the presence of cobwebs, yellow dots on the plates and dried out areas;
  • mites of various claws slow down the growth of the upper leaves and provoke the appearance of a brown crust on the petioles.

  

  To get rid of pests, the plant must be sprayed with insecticides.

  Growing geraniums at home is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. It is absolutely unpretentious and will patiently endure if you forgot to water it. To be completely happy, she needs bright lighting, no drafts, annual pruning and infrequent fertilization. If you create comfortable conditions for her, in return, she will delight you with enchanting, indescribably beautiful flowering.