Content of the article:
Geraniums - unpretentious and willingly flowering plants. And yet, if geranium appears, care at home becomes the key to the duration of its flowering. It only depends on the care of the grower how long the external attractiveness of the plant will remain, how lush and bright the inflorescences will be.
For two hundred years of cultivation as indoor plants, geraniums have become firmly established in the life of Russians. Pink, scarlet, white and variegated umbrella inflorescences of pelargoniums or geraniums can be seen on the windows of city apartments, on summer cottages on summer days and on the verandas of rural houses. A truly folk flower that has become truly a native of South Africa, to whom Russian conditions are not always comfortable.
In nature, wild geraniums are perennial plants:
- with powerful, weakly branching shoots;
- with smooth or slightly pubescent split leaves;
- with umbrella buds, which collected up to 20 individual flowers.
Culture is valued for its mass character and duration of flowering, which, with proper care for geranium at home, lasts from spring to pre-dime. At the same time, many species are quite fragrant, and the docile nature of the plant is its great advantage.
At home, ornamental varieties of geranium retain their decorative effect for at least 4–5 years. But properly organized care helps to prolong the life of a blooming specimen up to ten years and more. How to care for geraniums so that it blossoms, has long remained attractive and healthy?
Growing conditions and peculiarities of care for geranium to bloom
Geranium feels best on well-lit places and only on the hottest days requires light shading from the sun's rays. If the pot is exposed to the north window or turns out to be at the back of the room, the grower should expect that with a lack of lighting, the shoots will stretch and the plant will lose its compactness and decorative effect.
How to care for geranium at home, if it is not possible to bring it to light, or lack of lighting threatens the plant in winter? In the winter, when keeping on a loggia or on the north windows, it is useful to use special fitolamps. Extending daylight hours to 12–14 hours has a good effect:
- on preserving the shape of a bush;
- on the uniform growth of shoots and their quality.
In geranium bushes that receive enough light, the newly formed stems have a rich color. The same applies to the foliage, which does not become smaller or paler, but remains juicy and bright.
For geranium to bloom, caring for it necessarily involves maintaining a comfortable indoor culture temperature. It is best of all if the air in the room where the pot stands:
- is heated in summer to 22–27 ° C;
- in winter during the rest period has a temperature of about 12–16 ° C.
Plants are good for ventilation, but like other indoor cultures, they do not like cold drafts. Being near hot radiators, geranium will also experience discomfort.
Watering and feeding indoor geraniums for home care
Geranium can do without spraying or additional humidification of the air, but is well aware of these procedures. If in the care of geraniums, as in the photo, at home include foliage irrigation, then this should be done with warm water, filtered, or previously settled. Otherwise, on the bright foliage of the plant, unsightly spots from salt stains will appear.
Watering, as a primary measure for the care of geraniums, should be abundant and regular. In summertime, it is important to moisten the soil under the bush as soon as signs of dry earthy coma appear. In winter, the intensity of irrigation is much less. On average, plants are watered more than once every 7–10 days. At the same time the soil should not dry out completely. If the leaves turn yellow on the bush, care for geraniums at home should be reconsidered. Obviously, the plant gets enough water, or the roots, feeling an excess of moisture, began to rot.
Geraniums are fast-growing crops that require not only watering, but also reimbursement of nutrients selected from the soil. Plant feeding is carried out from March to August, that is, in the midst of active growth and flowering.
To maintain the luxuriance of the inflorescences, potash fertilizers are used, with which geranium is fed twice a month. If a complex composition is chosen as feed, it is better to give preference to where the nitrogen compounds are the lowest. This element contributes to the growth of green mass, and the growing foliage inhibits the formation and opening of buds.
Pruning geraniums and home care in winter and spring
And for experienced gardeners, and even for beginners, home care for geraniums does not seem difficult and time consuming. But one operation always causes a lot of concern - this is pruning.
Geranium growth rate depends on the type and variety. But in all species, as the length of the stem increases, the lower leaves gradually wilt and fall. Greens are only at the very tops. Inflorescences are also formed here.
As a result, if the shoots are not shortened in time, the geranium turns into a shapeless volumetric bush completely devoid of any attractiveness. To prevent this from happening, in the fall, when the emergence of new flowers ceases, geranium is cut.
The more pruning will be included in home care for geraniums:
- , the more new shoots are worth waiting for next spring;
- the greener and thicker the crown of the plant will turn out;
- bloom will be more abundant and longer.
There are dormant buds on bare stems, so you should not be afraid of deep pruning. Especially since the growth of geranium continues even in winter, and some particularly “nimble” plants have to be formed again, but by the end of February or in early March, before the active growing season began. Particularly important pruning zone geraniums, which are most often found on the windowsills of amateur growers. The royal varieties have somewhat different agricultural techniques, therefore such plants are formed more carefully and only in the second year after planting.
In winter, pruning geraniums at home care is best not to do, because from December to early February the plant goes into a dormant period, its defenses and metabolic processes are weakened. Cut at this time shoots are not suitable for rooting.
The tops cut from the shoots are not discarded. This is an excellent material for breeding plants and obtaining new blooming geraniums. With this method, young parents completely retain all parental signs, and the first bloom is already possible in the first summer after rooting. 
In summer, so that fading inflorescences do not delay food for themselves, they are carefully cut off.
Transplanting geraniums at home and taking plants into the garden
How to care for a geranium flower at home, if the roots of the plant are completely twined around, there is little soil left in the pot and the large shrub soon after watering will noticeably fade?
In this case, it is impossible to do without a transplant, which is a real stress for geranium, like for other domestic plants. It is necessary to transfer the green pet to the new pot carefully, without breaking the existing earthen coma, and no more than once every two years. Every year you can only pour a little fresh substrate.
For a geranium bloom to be long and abundant, the plant developed well and gave new shoots needed:
- loose soil rich in nutrients;
- powerful drainage;
- is a small pot, with approximately the same depth and width.
As a substrate, use ready-made soil for decorative indoor crops, which add a little sand and humus, or make a mixture of equal parts of humus, peat, turf land and sand.
If the plant is taken out in the garden for the summer, then here it is better not to take it out of its usual container. This will help to avoid:
- overgrowth of the root system and green mass to the detriment of flowering;
- infection of geraniums with soil parasites and fungi, which are sufficient in garden soil.
And when geraniums are brought back to the premises in the fall, before the onset of cold weather, they cannot be immediately put on the usual window-sills to other cultures. To ensure the health of plants and the absence of pests, geraniums are satisfied with a monthly quarantine, and with alarming symptoms, they are treated with fungicides and insecticides.
