The birthplace of the plant, which we today call pelargonium is South Africa, it belongs to the geraniums, almost all varieties cultivated today are hybrids obtained as a result of the painstaking work of breeders. Conventionally, all known varieties are divided into three groups: ivy pelargonium, large-flowered and striped. In each of the groups there are plants that can be grown not only in the house, but also in garden conditions.

Content:

1. Pelargonium - reproduction
   1. cuttingsvideo
   2. dividing the bush
   3. seed video
2. Feeding pelargonium, how to organize it correctly
3. How to keep pelargonium in winter video
4. How to accelerate the growth and beginning of flowering in spring
5. Composition of pelargonium, pelargonium in the garden video

Pelargonium - reproduction

Geranium is unpretentious in care, just as easily and without problems it reproduces. In practice, three methods of plant propagation are used:

• seed
• cuttings
• dividing the pieces

cuttings

Experienced gardeners and gardeners argue that the best option is the cuttings of the plant. You can perform this procedure throughout the year. But the best time for cultivating geraniums with cuttings is nevertheless the beginning of spring, when daylight increases and sunny days become more and more. The beginning of April will be a good time.

For the operation, you need only a sharp knife. Naturally, there should be a bush that gives lateral shoots. Also, in advance it will be necessary to prepare a pot with a substrate in which it will be possible to plant a new plant for rooting.

It is recommended to choose shoots:

• at least 5-7 cm long
• with 2-4 leaves

The cut off shoot should be kept for a couple of hours in the air, during which time the cut will dry out. To exclude the possibility of developing putrefactive processes, you can sprinkle the place of cut with coal dust.

The stalk is planted in ordinary soil or in coarse river sand, the advantages of the second option are that the stem rot in the sand is practically not observed. In this case, moderate watering should be carried out, the soil or sand should be constantly moist, but not wet.

The optimum temperature for the growth of young plants is considered to be within +20 C, it is not necessary to build a greenhouse for the stem. When watering the plant, make sure that water does not fall on the leaves.

After about two weeks, the stalk will give good roots and it can be transplanted to a permanent place.

Some gardeners prefer rooting cuttings in water, while cut shoots are placed in a jar of water, after the appearance of roots - they are planted in flowerpots with prepared soil.

About the propagation of pelargonium by cuttings - in the video:

dividing the bush

Note that pelargonium does not like to be transplanted, but if the pot becomes too small for the plant, in practice you can try reproduction by dividing the bush. By dividing the bush, for example, lush geranium is propagated.

After extracting the plant from the pot, the state of the kidney renewal should be examined. If they are not rotten and not dry, then you can proceed to the separation of a new bush. You can plant it immediately in the ground, care will be in moderate watering.

Both transplantation and division are best done at the end of spring, during this period rooting occurs quickly, then active growth begins.

seed

Sometimes you want to experiment with seeds obtained from your favorite geranium or to breed some interesting variety from purchased seeds. It is quite realistic to get young plants from seeds at home, just keep in mind that if their seeds obtained from hybrids are sown, they most likely will not convey the properties of their parents to young plants.

To preserve all the signs, hybrid plants are propagated by the vegetative method.

Since the seeds have a very strong shell, then before sowing they should be turned over to the treatment, grinding between sheets of fine sandpaper. such a process is called scarification. Purchased seeds do not need to be processed - they are sold in prepared form. If you sow unprepared seeds, then the process of their germination may take several months.

You can prepare the soil for sowing yourself by mixing the following components:

• 2 parts of turf land
• 1 part sand
• 1 part peat

After planting the seeds, the surface of the soil is sprinkled with sand, it is better to use a sprayer to moisten it.

The container with sown seeds should be covered with glass and kept at a temperature of about +20 C, lighting does not play a role. In order not to form condensation, it is recommended to clean and ventilate the soil daily.

When the first shoots appear, the glass is removed, the container is moved to a well-lit place, it is advisable to provide an air temperature in the range from +16 C to + 20 C. Within a month and a half, full leaves appear on small pelargoniums, this means that the time has come to transplant plants into individual pots.

When planting, it is not recommended to deepen the stem, the level at which the seedlings grew will be a guideline.

If we compare the different types of propagation of pelargonium, then we can conclude that it is rational to resort to sowing seeds if you want to breed a new variety that is interesting to you, if you need to breed existing varieties, it is easier to use cuttings.

Feeding pelargonium, how to organize it correctly

In order to receive active growth and high-quality flowering, it will be necessary to produce timely top dressing of pelargonium. This is especially important for plants grown not in open field, but in pots, in room conditions.

It is not recommended to use organic substances for feeding pelargonium, it is best to seek advice from the seller of the flower shop, he will most likely recommend using dressing for flowering plants.

It is desirable to have in its composition:

• zinc, manganese, nitrogen,
• boron, copper, potassium,
• iron, calcium, phosphorus.

Fertilizer should be guided by the following rules:

• fertilizing plants located under the scorching sun should be avoided, first you should move the pots with the plants into the shade, water them, let cool for a couple of hours and only then proceed with fertilizing,
• fertilizers can only be applied to moist soil, otherwise there is a risk of a burn of the root system,
• geraniums are fertilized only in the warm season, from the beginning of May to September, the frequency of top dressing is once every two weeks.

The plant especially needs additional doses of nutrients during the growing season and flowering.

It should be noted that the changes you noticed are not always the result of a lack of nutrients, for example, yellowed leaves most likely indicate insufficient watering, and wilting or rotting of the leaves indicates excessive moisture in the soil.

Fertilizers will not help if the stalk begins to be exposed, the reason for this phenomenon is usually insufficient lighting, i.e. the plant should be rearranged to a more lit place.

How to keep pelargonium in winter

When summer is coming to an end, all gardeners-lovers have a lot of problems, of course they are connected with ensuring the right wintering for their beloved perennials. Some of them will have to be cut accordingly and insulated with mulch, spruce branches, shelter from them with plastic film, etc., some will not be able to withstand frosty and snowy winters, they will have to be transplanted into pots and kept in a house or basement . The latter include pelargonium.

There are several options for preserving pelargonium in winter. The easiest and most affordable way is to dig up plants, transplant them into pots or containers and bring them into the house. A place for them should be found well-lit, perhaps - windows facing east and south, insulated balconies or loggias. The ideal option is to place the plants in a heated greenhouse, of course, if any.

With insufficient lighting, window sills will have to take care of the backlight, for this you can use ordinary fluorescent lamps.

As for the temperature regime - at night the temperature should not fall below + 12 - 13 C, in the daytime - it is desirable that it be within +18 - 21C. Too high a temperature will provoke a rapid forcing of the stem, but the formation of deciduous mass will be slower.

Another important point - pelargonium pots should be from 15 to 20 cm in diameter, smaller ones are not recommended. Before transplanting, it is recommended to trim the top of the plant and roots.

If you bring geraniums that grew on the street in pots to the house, you should make sure that they are not affected by any diseases or insects, the appearance of such in the house is extremely undesirable.

If it is not possible to place adult plants in the house, you can use the cuttings method. In addition, from each plant it will be possible to get several full bushes, ready for planting next spring.

The optimal length of the cuttings is 10 cm, for storage you will need to root them in sand or perlite. To create a greenhouse effect, you can use a plastic bag, but at the same time the leaves should not touch it. After rooting, and it can pour about 2 months, the seedlings will need to be placed on a well-lit window sill.

If this option is not acceptable - you can cuttings in early spring, about two months before the onset of real spring heat, when it will be possible to plant plants in the open air.

A good option for storing geraniums in the winter is a basement - it will allow you to store a lot more bushes, but at the same time the cellar or basement should not be heated.

Plants are prepared as follows: they are dug up, the soil is shaken off from the roots and stored in a suspended state, roots up. To maintain cleanliness in the cellar, plants can be packaged in paper bags by making holes for ventilation. The temperature in the cellar should be between +7 - + 10 C.

It should be warned, practice shows that with such storage, not all copies survive. It is much more reliable to store especially valuable varieties in the same basement conditions, but planted in pots with soil.

On the storage of pelargonium in the winter in the apartment we look at the video:

How to accelerate the growth and beginning of flowering in spring

The most important conditions for active growth and development, as well as the beginning of flowering are:

• good lighting, even slight shading can cause poor flowering,
• rare but plentiful watering,
• providing good drainage,
• planting should not be done in too greasy soil - you can get increased growth of green mass in the absence of flowering,
• fertilizing with minerals should be regular,
• yellowed leaves and wilted flowers should be removed in a timely manner.

Accelerate the onset of active flowering watering plants water with iodine. It is enough to add 1 drop per liter of water. For one pot, 50 grams of the mixture will be enough. They bring it by pouring along the walls of the pot to prevent burning of the roots. Such irrigation allows you to expect the onset of flowering in the near future, after 2-3 fertilizing. It is recommended to carry out watering with the addition of iodine no more often than once every two weeks.

Geraniums are also used for top dressing. cow dung. If you approach the use of this type of fertilizer, you can get very strong plants with juicy, bright leaves and a lot of very large flowers, in the conditions of growing in the house such a flowering is almost impossible to obtain.

It is recommended to repeat the application of a universal complex of fertilizers every 2-3 weeks. In winter, such top dressing should be halved.

Accelerate the development of plants will help introduction nitrogen fertilizer, to accelerate flowering, it will be necessary to start applying nitrogen-containing fertilizers from the beginning of March. After two months, you can start adding plants once every two weeks. fertilizers for flowering plants. After such irrigation, the active formation of buds usually begins.

You can also use one of the old methods, to add pelargonium solutions of B vitamins: 1, 6, 12. One ampoule will be enough for a 2-liter bottle of water. With each watering, the vitamin should be changed. Such irrigation can be carried out every 2 to 3 weeks, during the spring and summer.

Composition of pelargonium, pelargonium in the garden

Pelargonium refers to plants often used in landscaping summer cottages and suburban areas. They plant it in flowerbeds, while arranging plants in groups, from interesting varieties of pelargonium they create interesting colorful motifs, it looks wonderful in large vases, which are usually placed on lawns.

Also, single planting of bushes is practiced. Pelargonium planted in pots is decorated with verandas and balconies, arbors. When creating garden compositions, pelargonium is often used as a monoculture.

Interesting combinations can be obtained when creating compositions, which in addition to pelargoniums include annual plants and flowering perennials. When choosing companion plants, it should be borne in mind that when grown in a garden, pelargonium can have a height of 30-60 cm.

Most often, garden varieties are hybrid varieties with large flowers, such as:

• Enzette Anna Melle, which gives bright red flowers,
• Autumn Haze with salmon flowers,
• snow-white Destiny.

The thyroid form of pelargonium, with shoots about 0.8 m long, can be used as a groundcover or ampelous plant, it is attractive that its flowers can have different degrees of terry, different colors.

As the most hardy varieties, gardeners recommend:

• Ville de paris
• Carnaval
• Holstein
• Le pirat
• Sybil Holmes, characterized by extremely large flowers.

Zonal pelargoniums, characterized by a heterogeneous color of leaves decorated with brown or brown stripes, can be used as a container plant or planted alone, it should be borne in mind that they can be compact in size, but among them there are real giants with a height of more than a meter.

Those who want to get very early flowering should pay attention to the varieties:

• Enzett richards schrader
• Suprema

Close attention of gardeners is also worthy of other, no less attractive hybrids, a sufficiently large number of varieties will allow you to choose among them the one that suits your version of garden design.

With proper care, pelargonium will delight your eyes with its bright bloom throughout the summer, because most of them bloom from spring to mid-autumn.

Let's see how great pelargonium looks in the garden:

Author: Sergey and Svetlana Khuentsov

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