Gardening Magazine

Potting-up Pelargonium Cuttings

By Mwillis
A couple of months ago I took some cuttings from an over-wintered Pelargonium plant, a "bog-standard" red one that I originally bought on a market somewhere. This is my way of maximising value for money on my plant purchases!
The cuttings all "took" successfully and were looking very healthy, and I judged that with the weather seemingly set fair for the next 10 days or so it would be safe to plant them up. Pelargoniums are frost-tender and prefer nice warm sunshine.
Potting-up Pelargonium cuttings
I have put my four new young plants into much bigger pots - mostly ones that until recently held Daffodil bulbs. I have used ordinary garden soil instead of compost, because I think that Pelargoniums (or Geraniums, as most people call them) actually do better in quite poor soil. They tend to produce more flowers and fewer leaves.
Potting-up Pelargonium cuttings
Just before doing the transplanting, I watered the small plants quite generously and then let them drain for about an hour. This makes the root-balls easier to keep intact, causing less transplant shock. You can see from my next photo that the plants already had well-developed root systems.
Potting-up Pelargonium cuttings
Here are the four plants on completion of the task. The one in the smallest pot (at right) is going to go outside my front door, where I have a sunken pot into which this will slip. The big green pot currently empty is reserved just in case I happen to buy anything next weekend at the Fleet Food Festival, at which there are usually a couple of stalls selling plants - for instance the Pepperpot Nursery !
Potting-up Pelargonium cuttings

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