shadiya
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Overwintering geraniumsI've got quite a few geraniums, pelargoniums if you prefer, and they did so well that I can't bear to simply chuck them in the compost heap. I've tried in the past overwintering them dry and cut right back, with poor success, but I've only got one window that is frost free and I already have house plants......
What do others do? Remember, we're off grid so no clever electrical solutions!
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Chez
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My Mamma cuts 'em back and chucks them under the bench in the greenhouse. It works for her - but I can never get them to overwinter for me.
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earthyvirgo
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Same here, cut back (but not too severely) and try and find a slug-proof, frost-proof part of the garden. I wouldn't keep them too dry ...
They don't flower quite as well in the second year but they might if you fed them as they came into bud (which I invariably forget to do).
Had relative success with a very nice scarlet flowered one last/this year.
EV
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marigold
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I don't cut them back until the spring - they do fine indoors and usually keep on flowering on sunny windowsills (don't over-water). Most winters ones in big pots will survive outdoors down here (not last year though!). Take cuttings in the spring.
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nettie
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I brought mine in last winter and they grew leggy and awful, and took up loads of space in the conservatory - this year they looked silly in the hanging baskets and pots! This time around I'm going to root cuttings on the windowsill and chuck the original plants, so i have nice shiny new ones next year.
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Ian33568
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We generally get a good display from one year to the next with our trailers. Cut back and kept damp-ish and away from frost, top dressing of fish, blood and bone, over winter, top dressing of home compost in spring - they come back a treat.
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Tavascarow
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Make cuttings from your prunings.
Strike in a gritty compost.
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James
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I give them a prune in late autumn (take cuttings from the pruned material as Tavascarow says), then overwinter on a shelf in the greenhouse. I give a light watering a few days after I prune, then leave them alone for most of the winter. If they become very dry (really dusty soil), I'll give another light watering.
Then in spring, I take off any material that's died back over winter, given them a second pruning to create the shape & structure I need (when I've decided were each one's going), then re-pot and feed. I've got a pellagonium that's many, many years old and still flowers heavily.
I take many cuttings in the knowledge that I'll probably neglect them and quite a few will die.
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nettie
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This has inspired me to do something different this year. I've pruned the big ones quite severely, and potted up the cuttings. The big ones will stay in their pots and be fed, and the little ones will be treated as free low-maintenance annual bedding.
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shadiya
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Ok, will try and squeeze space for a pot of cuttings and the rest will have to take their chances in the polytunnel. I'm hoping to overwinter a couple of my chilli plants too in much the same way only that with the chillies, I plan to cover them with straw]and a cold frame. I fondly imagine that this might keep them alive until next spring, whereupon they reward my care by leaping into production extra early and I don't have to wait until September for my first properly red habanero....
I may be being wildly optimistic! 
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nettie
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That could be a plan on the habanero front just watch out for red spider mite and aphids 
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vanessa
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Brilliant thread, that I missed due to the timing of my move.
So, those of you taking cuttings / potting up prunings, you do this NOWish?
I've never really grown pelargoniums before, and the two I brought back from France are so beautiful I'd love to have them here for next summer.
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nettie
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Yep you can, a warm spot to grow the cuttings in will be fine.
I dropped a few odd bits of cuttings carelessly on the lawn and they are flowering - taking their moisture from the dew!!!
So easy to propagate, I just dip about half a dozen soft green cuttings in rooting powder, stick 'em around the edge of a 6" pot, and pot them on in Spring
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vanessa
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Thanks Nettie
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Tavascarow
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| shadiya wrote: | Ok, will try and squeeze space for a pot of cuttings and the rest will have to take their chances in the polytunnel. I'm hoping to overwinter a couple of my chilli plants too in much the same way only that with the chillies, I plan to cover them with straw]and a cold frame. I fondly imagine that this might keep them alive until next spring, whereupon they reward my care by leaping into production extra early and I don't have to wait until September for my first properly red habanero....
I may be being wildly optimistic! |
I thought chillies where true annuals as aposed to a lot of our tender plants that although stated as half hardy annuals are actually half hardy perenials?
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James
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| Tavascarow wrote: | | I thought chillies where true annuals |
nope, short lived perrenials, like tomatoes. But we treat them as annuals.
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Mary-Jane
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I just don't know whether I have the time or energy to over-winter my geraniums to be honest. Is it best to take cuttings, or to try and over-winter the whole plant?
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marigold
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| Mary-Jane wrote: | | I just don't know whether I have the time or energy to over-winter my geraniums to be honest. Is it best to take cuttings, or to try and over-winter the whole plant? |
You can overwinter the whole plant - all you have to do is shove the pot in the polytunnel and maybe water it lightly a few times. I take cuttings in the spring as they seem to do best for me then, but other people seem to be doing it now.
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Millymollymandy
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I put mine in an unheated bedroom and take cuttings in the summer. I would never just overwinter the young new plants and chuck the old ones because last winter all my young ones got some disease and died, but luckily the original plants were fine and I took more cuttings!
I wouldn't bother much with overwintering bedding type (i.e. ivy leaf or bog standard) as you need a lot of them for big tubs or windowboxes, but my special geraniums with pretty coloured leaves would be impossible to replace in France (you just can't find ones like that here) so they must be looked after with TLC!
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