The Rural Voice, 1979-07, Page 44The humble geranium
Geraniums are popular bedding plants
grown as houseplants or as single plants in
a mixed flower border. Although some of
the newer cultivars are being grown from
seed, traditionally, geraniums have been
propagated from cuttings.
Plants produced by commercial growers
are started in the late winter or early
spring. Terminal or leaf -bud cuttings are
taken in early March, grown in a green-
house and sold as flowering plants in
mid-May.
Hobby propagators can take cuttings
from plants growing outside in the fall, root
them, and grow the plants indoors in a
sunny window all winter. In early spring,
cuttings may be taken from these plants to
produce new plants for outdoor growth in
the summer.
Terminal cuttings of geraniums consist
of two or three nodes, broken from the
mother plant. There is less danger of
spreading disease by breaking the cutting
orf, than by using a knife. If a knife is used,
the blade should be wiped with alcohol
after taking cuttings from each plant. The
cuttings should not be woody.
To prepare cuttings, remove the lower
leaves and dust the end of the cutting with
Seradix #1 or Stimroot #1, to speed rooting.
Stick the cuttings in a rooting medium, and
keep them from wilting by syringing, or by
surrounding them with polyethylene. The
rooting medium may be sand, vermiculite
or turface, mixed with peat moss. In 10
days to two weeks, the cuttings should be
PG. 42 THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1979
Gardening
rooted, and the plants can be potted.
More plants can be produced by cutting
the terminal cuttings into leaf -bud cut-
tings. These consist of a leaf, a short piece
of stem, and the axillary bud, formed
where the leaf petiole joins the stem.
Leaf -bud cuttings are usually cut with a
knife because it is difficult to break them at