The origin of geraniums is associated with South Africa. In total, in botany there are about 400 species of perennial and annual plants of the geranium family. Its representatives first appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 16th century. This bright plant is a relative of pelargonium. The colors of room geraniums depend on the variety selected. In this review, we will consider how to properly care for this beautiful flower.
Growing Features
This process should be given special attention. Indoor geranium is a beautiful and fairly unpretentious plant. It is able to decorate any home greenhouse. It is enough to provide the flower with the necessary conditions, and it will delight you with a magnificent carpet of bright colors. After planting, geranium does not require special care. The plant is not afraid of drought and shade.
Self-seeding geranium flower propagates quickly enough. Beauty is distinguished not only by the plant buds, but also by the leaves themselves. Gardeners are especially fond of using this flower in flower beds. Geranium will look great on an alpine hill.
This plant belongs to the ground cover. Despite the fact that the name of the flower is consonant with room pelargonium, green cultures belong to different types. Garden geranium provides a huge selection of colors. Bright small buds of this plant will be a great accent in your garden. If you decide to plant several types of this species at once, it is better to choose different angles on the site. If you plant flowers together, they may look too colorful and bright.
The combination of garden geraniums with plants with large leaves will look especially elegant. The flower does not require special care. You just need to choose the right location. Water on the site should not stagnate. At first, it is recommended to water the seeds regularly. Be sure to carry out the mulching procedure.
Indoor beauty at home. Choose a pot
So what is worth paying attention to? Conventionally, geranium is considered a houseplant. In the cold season, she will feel great at home in a pot. The choice of capacity for growing will depend on the root system. You should not choose a pot based on the principle "the more the better." Using too spacious can cause problems associated with controlling flower growth and height formation. If you have chosen a suitable container for geranium, it will delight you with beautiful bright flowers of various shades. In a too small pot, only the bush itself will develop. Flowering, most likely, will recede into the background. For young plants, it is worth considering changing pots as they grow. If you only have a large pot available, you can solve the problem by planting 2-3 geranium cuttings in it immediately.
As for the material, it is best to give preference to models of baked clay. You can also plant geraniums in a plastic pot, but in this case, be prepared for the fact that the earth will dry much more slowly. In addition, in such containers, the roots are more prone to decay. Clay pots prevent the excessive passage of air, which positively affects the plant.
Choose the soil for planting
How to choose the right soil for geranium room? The flower will grow better in loose and light soil. It can be bought in a specialized store, but experienced gardeners recommend preparing the soil on their own.
For this purpose you will need:
- 1 part of turf land;
- 1 portion of fiber-peat substrate;
- 1 part fresh humus;
- 1 serving of medium grained sand.
At the bottom of the container for growing pre-lay drainage. Expanded clay and broken brick are suitable for this purpose. The roots of the plant require good aeration.
Plant Nutrition at Home
Indoor geranium belongs to thermophilic perennial crops. She will perfectly tolerate the winter in a city apartment. In order to keep the flower in excellent condition as long as possible, it must be regularly watered and fed. Geranium is the best performer of mineral fertilizers. Organic dressing, on the contrary, is recommended to be excluded. They can not be used to fertilize the flower at home.
As a rule, the composition of fertilizers for room geranium includes:
- phosphorus;
- nitrogen;
- potassium.
Each of the above components should be attributed to mineral fertilizers. Universal mixtures can also be used.
Graft
What you need to know about this? How to plant a geranium flower? For this purpose, it is necessary to take a tall shoot older than one year. With a sharp razor, the stem should be cut 3 cm below the internode. Next, you need to make a wedge-shaped cut in the stem. The grafted stalk is inserted into it. It is important to ensure that the slices do not dry out. The variety that you plant is best chosen as compact and medium-sized, but this is not necessary at all. You can even vaccinate the crown of the stock.
The grafted stem is temporarily placed in a bag of polyethylene so that the sheet does not crumple. For ventilation, small holes can be made in the corners of the bag. After a week, it will become clear whether the vaccine was successful or not. After 8-10 days it will be possible to remove the package. You can untie the tape when 2-4 weeks pass. The stem fully grows together not earlier than after 15 days. At home, in the absence of additional lighting, the best time to vaccinate is the end of February or the beginning of March.
Proper watering
Geranium flower is very afraid of hard water. The result of such watering will be immediately noticeable. White spots form on the ground caused by the presence of harmful impurities in the water. It is best to use rain or melt water at room temperature for irrigation. Such a liquid will be softer than a simple tap.
Leaves of room geraniums do not require frequent spraying. Otherwise, they may dry out and darken. The flower perfectly absorbs and accumulates water, so it is resistant to drought. It can be attributed to plants that do not require abundant watering. A hole must be made in the pot to ensure drainage. This will save the roots from decay. Due to excess water, geraniums can become sick and disappear. At the same time, flowers and leaves may begin to fall off and change their color. To stimulate biological processes in a plant, use live water (under pressure). You will notice the effect after a few weeks.
Home Beauty Pruning
Indoor geranium is one of the most common types of flowers. This culture is often found on the windowsills of private houses and city apartments.
The plant is especially popular among the elderly. However, in many cases, a lonely geranium bush standing on a windowsill is a rather dull sight. Usually this is a curved long trunk with a small bunch of leaves at the top. Maybe for this reason, the geranium flower is gradually losing ground as a popular indoor plant.
In order for the bush to look good and be green and lush, it must be properly formed. But sometimes even experienced flower growers are perplexed by this procedure. When to cut indoor geranium? How to do it right? Let's try to figure it out.
The main pruning must be done after flowering, in the fall. The formation of the crown depends on the plant variety. If the geranium flower is small, then it is better not to trim. You can leave the plant until spring. Also, for winter, it is not worth trimming variegated varieties. They do not tolerate haircuts.
To cut geraniums, you need a sharp tool such as a pruner or scissors. Before performing the operation, the blades must be doused with boiling water to prevent infection of the plant with infection.
How to transplant geranium?
On this occasion, it is better to consult with experienced gardeners. Many are interested in how indoor geranium grows. Flower care must necessarily include a transplant procedure. It will be much easier for the plant to tolerate stress in early spring. In this case, the flower will perceive the transplant as a natural process. This will stimulate the plant to intensive flowering and growth of green mass. Best for transplantation are the end of February, March and the beginning of April. After this procedure, the plant will delight you with lush flowers until winter. If you missed the transplant dates, then it is better to postpone it to the fall. But there are times when you can’t do without it.
An emergency transplant is performed only in the following cases:
- the roots begin to stick out from the drainage holes;
- mold forms on the ground;
- signs of the disease appeared on the plant.
Breeding methods
A geranium flower can also be grown from seeds. This is a fairly simple process that even a beginner grower can handle. First of all, you need to decide on the variety. In flower shops today, various types of indoor geraniums are presented. Quality seeds have a fairly large size. Seedlings do not need to dive. Creating special growth conditions is also not required. A week later, the seeds will appear first seedlings. Over time, they will grow up, and velvety dark leaves form on them. After a few months, the first peduncles will appear on geraniums. In different varieties, germination periods differ. All viable seeds should germinate within the first 10 days.
If you used a common container for planting seeds, then after the appearance of the first true leaves of the plant, you can dive. For a transplant, a container with a diameter of approximately 8 cm is required. The root does not need to be freed from an earthen coma. Simply transfer the geranium into a new pot.
Propagation by cuttings
This method is considered more simple and effective. It is best to carry out this procedure in the fall. At other times of the year, propagation by cuttings may result in failure. The shoot is cut off and dried a little. The future plant must be placed in the soil. Occasionally, it should be watered, but not sprayed. The method is good in that the plant obtained in this way is very resistant to various diseases. You can also try propagation by cuttings in water. Simply put the plant in a jar of water, and after a week it will take root.
Diseases and pests
So what are they? The following room geranium diseases are most common:
- Gray rot. It manifests itself in the occurrence of brown spots on flower sections located above the soil. They spread rapidly throughout the plant. Geranium does not bloom. Often, gardeners are worried about why the geranium is turning yellow. In many cases, this disease is the cause. The first disease affects leaves located closer to the ground.
- Alternariosis is a serious disease that can prevent a luxurious flower from growing. It manifests itself in the appearance of brown spots along the edges of the leaves and on the petioles. In case of increased humidity, velvety deposits may be present on the formations.
- Rhizoctonia rot. With this disease, dark spots form on the stems below. They are characterized by a depressed structure and extend up to 25 centimeters. As a result, geranium does not bloom, and the leaves wither. Rhizoctonia rot infection usually occurs through the ground.
Conclusion
In this review, we examined what room geranium is, how to properly care for it. This plant is quite unpretentious, so even a beginner grower will be able to cope with its cultivation. It is enough to simply follow the above recommendations, and then there will be no problems.