I love geraniums!! I've always bought the established plant, never tried starting them from seed. Has anyone had success doing this? Any tips?
Hi Stratsmom, Yes, I have started seed geraniums. They are very easy to start, if you have fresh seed (less than 1 year old). I have saved seeds and have bought seeds to start. The problem is they take a very long time (10-16) weeks to produce a flower. This year I started a variety from HPS that is supposed to be a 10 week to bloom plant. We started them at the beginning of February and they are just now sending up a few buds. I'm not sure, because the catalog doesn't give great growing instructions, if this was a pinched geranium or a single stem geranium. A pinched geranium is a much fuller and nicer bedding plant. The seeds that I saved are just now looking like a nice sized bedding plant, but have NO flower buds in the flat and these were started in January, not Feb.
I have started geraniums from seed. I actually found some at walmart. Here in upstate SC I keep them going all year. In summer I keep them potted and they stay outside. just before autumn I bring them indoors, check them for "bugs" and I keep them in my east facing window and I use them as a natural curtain. It blooms all year. It goes back outside again in spring. I kept it going for 5 years. In MA i used to bring them inside and hang them down in the dark cellar. Most of them came back to life again in the spring as I added water and light.
Some of my geraniums are 9 or 10 years old. Like you, DMJ24 I put them out in the spring and bring them in during the winter I've tried hanging them upside down but didn't have a good survival rate I think maybe it's just too cold out here. I think I will try the seeds next year since it's so late now. I didn't realize they were such late bloomers. I will have to write a note on my calendar to remind myself, I'm getting so forgetful. :-? Carolyn, how did you start yours???
I start mine in Dec. and Jan.,under a growlight and on a heat mat. Sterile potting mix and sterilized seedling tray with a humidity dome. Turn the lights off last thing at night and on first thing in the morning. Watch for new starts everyday and take off/prop the dome when a majority looks to be germinated. I saved seeds from a generic batch that I started last year for my m in law, and tried those this year. They germinated just fine. The tray of them looks great. Just NO buds insight yet.
hey stratsmom I didn't wait to start mine. I just figured they would grow indoors. sort of a experiment. They did great. I put them in separate pots when they were about 3 or 4 inches high. As long as they have good light they kept going and going. Then I put them out in spring on my porch with the overhead roof and they rocketed. I brought them in every fall. Put them in my east facing window and they flowered most of the time. Not prolifically like when they are outside. But enough to make me smile and give them the green thumbs up. I had to turn the pots every week for their light requirements. Kept them going for 5 years. All winter long they made a great natural curtain in front of my double kitchen window.
I've been growing geraniums in pots for years now, both indoors and out. Here's one hybrid I grew from seed a couple years ago that I particularily love. It's called "Black Velvet Rose"... The leaves become black as the cool autumn weather hits. : )
Hey Germinator, That is beautiful. How do you get enough light to all the plants so they flower so nicely? What do you use for fertilizer?
Thank you. Light is never an issue. I have huge south and east windows and supplemental lighting when I need it. I use an organic water soluble fertilizer called DNF (Dutch Nutrient Formula) for everything from cuttings to mature grown plants. : )
Oh my goodness! That is a gorgeous geranium! If it were mine,I would have to sit and watch it grow! I'd get nothing done in the garden or in the house.
At present, I have two large containers full of geraniums I started..from seed..10 years ago that are quite large (not leggy), full of softball-sized blooms. The secret to wintering them over..which I didn't see mentioned..is drastically cutting them back in fall before bringing inside. I cut mine down to 6 inches, use some of the tips of cuttings to propagate new then. As the plants come back, it's advisable to keep pinching the tips to force "bushing": otherwise the growth keeps reaching for light and gets extremely scraggly. When plants do blossom, as soon as any petals begin to drop, remove them to instill more blooms to form. In winter, don't be afraid to water starve geraniums: when pot feels "light" when you lift it, water well then. In February, begin liquid fertilizing once every two weeks..and keep inching back those growing tips! On starting the cuttings, I found that it works to cut a tip, about 6 inches long, on an angle just above a leaf node, let the cuttings sit for 1-2 days to allow the cut to "callus" (a refrigerator is an excellant place to do this). Leaves will get droopy; place stems in a glass of water for a few hours and they'll pick right up. Dip wet ends in a rooting hormone; place cuttings in GOOD soil in 5 inch pots..one per pot..keep soil MOIST til cutting firmly takes root, approximately 4-6 weeks, and you have a new batch of geraniums! (When starting from seed, plant seeds in 3 inch pots to allow for root development; transplant into 5 inch pots at a later date or when roots begin coming out the bottom.) These are one of the easiest, most forgiving plants to grow: there's nothing like seeing their bright blooms on a cold, snowy winter day to lift the spirits!
