Gardening: How to Root Geraniums

While you can take geranium cuttings anytime of the year, they root best in spring and summer. After successfully rooting the cutting, repot it to create a new geranium plant. Whenever you cut on the parent plant, always use garden shears with clean blades, to avoid spreading plant disease. To sterilize the blades, simply wipe them down with rubbing alcohol. If gathering cuttings from several plants, sanitize the blades when moving from one plant to another.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You’ll Need

• Container
• Sand
• Perlite
• Vermiculite
• Garden shears
• Rooting hormone
• Plastic bag
• Pot

1. Fill a planting container with equal parts moist, coarse sand, perlite and vermiculite. Use a container that is between 3 and 4 inches deep.
2. Cut off a stem tip, between 3 and 5 inches long. Select a vibrant stem tip from a healthy parent plant.
3. Pluck off the leaves from the bottom half of the cutting. Remove any buds.
4. Dip the cut end in rooting hormone, lightly coating 1/2 inch of the cut end. This stimulates root growth.
5. Insert the cutting into the soil mixture, about 1 1/2 inches deep. Pat the soil to firm around the cutting. Depending on the size of the container, you can add more than one cutting, as long as you don’t crowd the cuttings.
6. Cover the pot with a plastic bag to make a greenhouse. Place in indirect sun. While it requires plenty of bright light, avoid direct sunlight.
7. Check the soil once a week to maintain a moist, not dry or soggy, soil. If additional irrigation is needed, water by misting with a spray bottle.
8. Tug gently on the cutting to test for root development. If it holds to the soil, roots have formed. Do this after a month.
9. Repot cuttings with root growth in individual pots and place in the indirect sun. Maintain the same soil line when repotting.

Tips & Warnings

• Pour a little rooting hormone into a small paper cup to dip the cutting, so as not to contaminate all the rooting hormone with the cutting.