The Rural Voice, 1979-07, Page 45the right places. Cuts are made about 1.5
cm above, and 5 cm below, the leaf axil.
The cuttings are stuck in a rooting medium
and roots should form in about two weeks.
As with terminal cuttings, rooting is
enhanced by using one of the rooting
hormones. Plants from leaf -bud cuttings
usually take a couple of weeks longer to
flower, than those from terminal cuttings.
A number of geranium cultivars.
propagated from seed, are available now.
This does not mean that the hobby
gardener will be growing his own ger-
aniums from seed. Although annuals, such
as petunias, zinnias and marigolds, are
grown from seed, most people prefer to
buy these as young plants from nurseries
and greenhouse establishments, so they
can have flowers as soon as possible. This
is also true of geraniums from seed.
Geraniums require from four to five
months from seed to flower. Although this
time may be shortened during the long
days of spring and early summer, direct
seeding in the garden will be unsatis-
factory. Plans seeded in May will not ticom
until July or perhaps August.
Bedding plant producers sow geraniums
in mid-January for sale as flowering plants,
and in mid-March for sale as non -flowering
plants. Geranium seedlings requirelots of
light for optimum growth, and therefore
seeding in the house, even under artificial
light, is not recommended.
Geranium seedlings are not necessarily
cheaper than geraniums from cuttings.
This is particularly true of flowering plants.
The production cost of geranium seed is
high because it involves a lot of hand labor.
Losses during germination and early
growth of seedling, increase the cost of
production of seedlings.
to be cont.
If there is little or no difference in price,
and the gardener cannot grow seeds
himself, what is the advantage of
geraniums from seed? The plants tend to
be healthier and more vigorous. Many of
the diseasesof the geranium are not seed
-borne, and if stock plants are not
maintained, there is Tess danger of
spreading disease by taking cuttings from
aparently healthy stock.
Gardeners who try to grow geraniums
from seed collected from some of the seed
geranium cultivars, should remember that
these are hybrid plants, so they will not
produce seed progeny identical to the
parent plants.
The seed sold as a particular cultivar is
producedby the hand pollination of two
inbred lines of geraniums. These inbred
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THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1979 PG. 43