📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Propagating & Growing Geraniums
- 🌺 Overwintering & Cuttings: Many gardeners overwinter mature geraniums (pelargoniums) indoors and take fresh cuttings from them in early spring. These cuttings can be used to fill massive summer window boxes and flower borders.
- 💧 Rooting in Water: Some gardeners try to root geranium cuttings in a glass of water. While it can work, it often takes over a month, and many cuttings simply refuse to root or rot away.
- 🌱 Rooting in Soil (The Pro Way): The most reliable way to propagate geraniums is to dip the cut end in rooting hormone (gel or powder) and plant it directly into a small pot or cell pack with moist potting mix.
Good morning! It’s warm here, spring has arrived!
Yesterday I transplanted broccoli and white cabbage into cell packs. The rest of the broccoli and cabbage went into bags out in the greenhouse, along with the onion sets.
gala7496 (Galina) wrote:
Galya, your conservatory looks wonderful! But why are the strawberries watered so heavily, or is that just how it looks in the picture?
gala7496 (Galina) wrote:
Good afternoon everyone. Galina, are you going to plant all those geraniums out in the garden too?
Olivia (Svetlana) wrote:
are you going to plant all those geraniums out in the garden too?
I plant them outside in open ground every year. And then in the fall, I take fresh cuttings from them to bring inside.
Ludmila, I plant mine outside too. I was just asking because in Galina’s photo, there are a massive amount of cuttings rooting on that windowsill.
Aleksan9ra (Ludmila) wrote:
But why are the strawberries watered so heavily, or is that just how it looks in the picture?
Luda, this is inside the greenhouse. The strawberries overwintered along the edge of the bed. The soil on that side was bone dry, so I watered it, and then after taking the photos, I watered it some more from a watering can. There are strawberries on the other side of the bed too, I watered those as well. The rest of the beds are covered with black plastic mulch, so the soil underneath is nice and moist. The onions I planted in the fall are starting to poke up along the edge of the bed closer to the polycarbonate wall.
Olivia (Svetlana) wrote:
I was just asking because in Galina’s photo, there are a massive amount of cuttings rooting on that windowsill.
It’s not just cuttings in that photo, but mature plants too. Right now I am taking cuttings from the large overwintered plants that need to be pruned back anyway. And that’s only half of my geraniums! I plant them in long flower boxes (about 43 to 47 inches / 1.1-1.2 m long). I have 10 of these boxes, and I hang them on the railings of my open veranda.
I also have a lot of geraniums, which is why your photo caught my eye. I usually only plant the simpler, common varieties directly into the garden soil.
I also plant some out in the flower beds to use as borders. Geraniums are always the very first ones to start blooming out of all my flowers.
gala7496 (Galina) wrote:
Right now I am taking cuttings from the large overwintered plants…
Galina, how exactly do you root your cuttings? I’ve had a cutting sitting in a glass of water for a month and a half now, and nothing is happening. My neighbor gave me some in the fall too, and not a single one of those sprouted roots either.
You need to plant the cutting directly into a small pot or cell pack. First, dip the cut end into rooting hormone. You can buy rooting gels or powders at any garden center.
YANGUN (Irina) wrote:
I’ve had a cutting sitting in a glass of water for a month and a half now, and nothing is happening…
Out of my 10 cuttings, only 1 is refusing to root right now. They are still sitting in water. The main thing is that the leaves are intact and alive. I’m going to wait it out until the bitter end.
Tatunya (Tanya) wrote:
They are still sitting in water…
Tanya, are you really supposed to root geraniums in water? I thought practically everywhere says you should stick them straight into soil…
👨🔬 Editor’s Botanical Note: Anna and Galina are absolutely right! While many houseplants (like pothos or pothos) root easily in a glass of water, Geraniums (Pelargoniums) have thick, fleshy stems that are highly susceptible to stem rot.
Leaving a geranium cutting in water for weeks often causes the tissue to drown and rot before roots can form. The most successful propagation method is to let the cut end callus (dry out) for a few hours, dip it in rooting hormone, and stick it straight into a well-draining, slightly moist potting mix!
