Almost every house on the windowsill can find such a beautiful and fragrant plant, like geranium. Although it can grow on the balcony, and even on the street. For all its unpretentiousness, geranium still requires several rules of care. If you follow the recommendations below, then this flower will always please you with appearance.
Caring for geraniums at home
In floriculture, it is proper to take care of any indoor plant - it means adhering to the rules of planting, and then the lighting and watering regimes, as well as the use of good soil in combination with fertilizers. Important criteria are the temperature and humidity in the room. In addition to these factors, it is necessary to correctly reproduce and transplant the flower. Here are some tips on how to care for such a plant:
- Soil. Planting should be carried out in moderately fertile soil. So the plant will have more flowers, not greens.
- Drainage. This layer is required for geranium. As it can be used large claydite.
- Lighting. The flower loves bright light and even direct sunlight, but on more hot days it still needs to be covered up.
- Temperature. Concerning this factor, geranium is referred to heat-loving plants. The optimum temperature for it is 18-20 degrees, although in winter time these boundaries drop to 10-15.
- Pot. From the entire range offered by flower shops, it is worth choosing those models that are made of natural materials, such as baked clay.
How to water geranium at home
The flower name of geranium is pelargonium. In the process of reproduction, more and more of its types were obtained: royal, tulip, ampel, etc. The watering regime is determined by the season of the year. In the summer, the plant needs more water to avoid drying out, but it is not necessary to fill it, otherwise it will cause death. The sign of excessive moisture is:
- lethargy and decay of leaves;
- appearance of gray mold;
- blackening of the stem.
If you observe at least one of these signs, immediately reduce the watering. Otherwise, the whole root system will die and there will be nothing to look after. Geranium is considered drought-resistant, but with insufficient moisture it will not bloom abundantly. In the summer, the drying takes place 1-2 days, and in winter is slightly rarer. A lack of watering can be noticed if the leaves began to turn yellow and dry.
How to transplant geranium at home
Carry out a transplant only as a last resort, when the pot is already too small. The optimal time for the procedure is spring. The pot will need a little more in size than it was before. Too spacious to take is not worth it, because then the flower does not blossom because of wasting all the energy solely on shoots. The frequency of the procedure can be higher with the rapid growth of the young geranium. In this case, it is necessary to transplant even several times a year. The pot should be taken about 1.5 cm higher each time than in the previous planting.
How to properly cut geranium
Knowing how to care for geraniums includes the clipping point. The optimal time for this procedure begins with the onset of autumn. There are several rules for how to trim geranium:
- It is necessary to clean shoots that have a root not from the root, but from the sinuses of the leaf.
- It is necessary to leave about 6-7 leaves on the stem.
- When the plant grows over the winter in spring, you should again prune, leaving only a couple of kidneys.
- The remaining branches can be seeded.
- So that the plant can normally bloom, you need to pinch all the shoots after 4-5 leaves.
- Do not trim from December to January.
How to prickle a geranium
To get a beautiful lush crown of geranium it should be pinch. Here it is necessary to take into account how the flower was multiplying: from seeds or cuttings. When growing by the first method, the pinching should be done on 8-10 sheets, on the second - at 6-8.The right time for this is from February to March. The procedure is as follows:
- remove the leaf growth point;
- remove new shoots, which began to grow from the sinuses, or pinch them after some time after the appearance of 2 pairs of leaves.
Diseases of geranium
It is easy to care for geraniums also because it rarely suffers from pests or diseases, although such cases do happen. The list of possible problems is as follows:
- Gray mold. Occurs because of an excess of moisture. For treatment it is required to immediately remove decayed leaves and stop watering.
- Root rot. The consequence of waterlogging, which for geraniums is fatal.
- Aphids. Pest that settles below on leaves. Cope with it will help insecticides.
- Powdery mildew. The disease is a fungal nature, which is a white mealy plaque. Caring for the plant with such a disease is necessary with the help of the Bordeaux mixture, a solution of copper sulfate or ammonium nitrate.
Fertilizer for geranium
How else to care for geraniums? It is periodically fed with mineral and organic fertilizers. Do this as follows:
- During active growth, it is worth making mineral mixtures and liquid fertilizers.
- When Pelargonium begins to bloom, it is necessary to exclude nitrogen compounds, and feed it with phosphorus and potash, which stimulate the process.
- Start feeding in the spring and lead until the beginning of autumn with a frequency of once every 1-2 weeks.
How to feed geranium for abundant flowering
Iodine-based mixtures are considered to be good formulations for top dressing. To prepare one of the folk fertilizers in 1 liter of water, dissolve one drop of this medicine. Then it is spilled on the walls of the pot in an amount of 50 ml. If you take more, you can burn the roots. How to feed geranium for abundant flowering? You can use cow dung. With it, and the leaves become more juicy. For the preparation of fertilizer in a 10-liter bucket of water, dilute 1 liter of well-fermented manure. In addition to these funds, you can fertilize and universal feeding.
How to grow geraniums of different varieties
Before you look after geraniums, you should learn more about its varieties. Here are a few of its types:
- Zone. It reaches a height of 80-150 cm. The cause of the name was a special color of the leaves. As the soil, peat, garden soil, sand will be suitable. To keep a flower is better on the southern or eastern window.
- Royal or grandiflora. Its feature is dark spots or bands along veins, mainly on the lower petals. How to care for the royal geranium? First of all, it must be planted in turf ground with the addition of peat and sand. Among fertilizers it is better to use those that do not contain nitrogen.
- Ampel or ivy. This variety has a wide range of shades: from white to red and purple. It is considered the most unpretentious, since in the care it does not require much heat and easily tolerates drought.