You are dazzled by a variety of geraniums present at one of your friends or neighbors, you wish to multiply yours! Summer is the best season for cuttings. Get started, it's easy!
The right time
In summer the warm temperatures will ensure a good rooting of your cuttings, so it is the right season to propagate your geraniums and pelargoniums. Proceed to the cutting preferably in the morning on a healthy subject, without spots or parasites because it would then be weakened.
The right tools
Take a pair of disinfected pruning shears, small peat pots that can be placed directly in the ground afterwards or a bowl. Choose a "special seedling or cutting" mixture from the trade. You can also make it yourself by mixing 1/3 of good potting soil, 1/3 of peat and 1/3 of river sand.
If you want to multiply your chances of success, it is possible to use the cutting hormone available in powder.
How to proceed?
- Take an end of about fifteen centimeters in length by cutting it cleanly with the secateurs;
- Remove the basal leaves to leave only the two or three leaves of the upper part in order to limit evaporation and cut the flower buds if the cutting presents some to avoid the exhaustion of the plant;
- Prepare your pots or your terrine by filling them with the mixture recommended above;
- Pack the mixture well in the container;
- water copiously and let the excess water drain away;
- with a large pencil or with your finger make a hole in the substrate. This will receive the cutting;
- brush the base of the cutting with hormone powder (about 2 cm);
- place the prepared cutting in the hole;
- Gently fill in around the stem and pack it down;
- water again to eliminate air bubbles.
What next?
Keep your cuttings in a shady spot and water them often to keep the mixture moist without getting soggy. Do not use any fertilizer during this stage.
As soon as the first signs of recovery appear, which will be marked by the appearance of new leaves, you can transplant your cuttings into larger pots containing a good commercial potting soil. You will keep them in a sheltered place all winter to introduce them the following spring in their definitive location.
