How to raise potted geraniums?

Pelargonium is also known as hydrangea, red wax, mosquito repellent grass, etc. It is a shrub flower plant belonging to geraniaceae geranium. The young plant is a fleshy herb, the old plant is semi-lignified, its adaptability is strong, the color is bright, the flowering period is long, it is a good decorative window sill flower in the west, suitable for indoor display, flower bed layout, etc. Let's take a look at how potted geranium is raised!

Growth Habits of Pelargonium

Pelargonium likes warm winter and cool summer. In winter, it can bloom normally when it is kept at 10~15℃ indoors and above 8℃ at night. But the optimum temperature is 15~20℃. Like dry and wet, winter watering should not be too much, to see dry and wet. Wet soil is tender stems, adverse flower bud and open, long-term too wet will cause excessive plant growth, flower bud position upward, leaves yellow and fall off. The growing season requires plenty of sunlight, so it must be placed in the sun in winter. Light is insufficient, stem and leaf is excessive long, peduncle is thin and soft, inflorescence grows badly. Flowers in weak light often bloom poorly and wither ahead of time. Don't like big fertilizer, too much fertilizer will make geranium grow too prosperous adverse flowering.

Geranium cultivars

1. vine geranium: vine geranium is also called shield leaf geranium, vine geranium, etc. Its varieties include purple amethyst, pink blue Bada 98, semi-double deep red Shannon, semi-double pink Pengwei, single white tornado, and tetraploid such as pink freckles and large flowers.

2. Geranium: Geranium is also called fragrant geranium. Its commercial name is mosquito repellent. It is popular because of its volatile aroma. It can be used to make essential oils. Its main ingredients are geraniol, citronellol, linalool, etc. There are many kinds of aroma, including lemon, rose, fruit and so on. Because of its easy cultivation and high essential oil yield, it can be used as a substitute for other essential oils with low yield, such as rose essential oil or orange blossom essential oil.

3. Horseshoe Pelargonium: Horseshoe Pelargonium is a subshrub plant with a plant height of 30~80 cm. The stem is upright, cylindrical and nearly fleshy. The leaves are ovate or obovate. There are dark brown horseshoe striations on the leaves, and the leaf edges are obtusely serrated. Flowers crimson to white, fewer flowers, annual flowering.

4. Home Pelargonium: Home Pelargonium is 30~40 cm high, with upright stems and branches. Base lignified, spreading villous. Leaves alternate, stipules scarious, triangular-broadly ovate, leaf blade reniform, base cordate or truncate. Umbels opposite leaves or axillary, distinctly longer than leaves, with several flowers, sepals lanceolate, corolla pink, reddish, crimson, or white.

Breeding method of geranium

1. Sowing: Geranium sowing and reproduction can be carried out in spring and autumn, and indoor pot sowing in spring is good. The optimum temperature for germination was 20~25℃. Pelargonium seeds are not large, and the soil should not be deep after sowing. It germinates in about 2~5 days. Autumn sowing, the next summer can flower. The seedlings propagated by sowing can breed excellent intermediate varieties.

2, cuttage: Pelargonium cuttage in spring and autumn is good, choose cuttings 10 cm long, the best to the top, growth potential, rooting fast. After cutting, let the cut dry for several days, form a film and then insert it in the sand bed or the mixed matrix of expanded pearlite and peat. Be careful not to damage the stem skin of the cutting, otherwise the wound will rot easily. After insertion, put it in a semi-shady place, keep it at room temperature 13~18℃, and root it 14~21 days later.

3. Tissue culture: Pelargonium can also be propagated by tissue culture method. MS medium is used as basic medium, 0.001% indoleacetic acid and kinetin are added to promote callus and adventitious buds from explants, and 0.01% indoleacetic acid is used to promote rooting. Tissue culture method provides a new way for the breeding of improved varieties and the reproduction of new varieties of Pelargonium.

How do potted geraniums grow?

1, soil: geranium adaptability is also strong, all kinds of soil can grow, but rich in humus sandy loam growth best, in the flower market to buy soil mixed with some sand effect will be better. Geranium grows faster, need to change pot once a year, and in early spring, change pot to old roots and old soil, in late April moved to outdoor sunny maintenance.

2, temperature: geranium likes warm, humid and sunny environment, the most suitable temperature for growth is between ten and twenty degrees, that is, the temperature of spring and autumn, so in winter and summer to take protective measures for it, if it is winter, it is necessary to put it in the temperature is not lower than zero in order to avoid frostbite, and in the hot summer, it is necessary to move it to a cool place to avoid exposure to the sun.

3, water: geranium is a kind of plant that does not like much water, so in the breeding process should not pour too much water for geranium, if too much watering will lead to geranium root rot, if long-term growth in this kind of watery environment, it will affect its growth and lead to death, so in the breeding of geranium only two to three days for it to pour water once, but each time the amount of watering should be sufficient.

4, fertilization: geranium one-time fertilization too much will cause dehydration, fertilization too much can be watered in the future to alleviate symptoms. However, if it is not fertilized for a long time, it will also cause insufficient nutrients, and the amount of fertilizer applied to geranium is directly related to its soil quality, flower size and pot size.