Plant Knowledge

[STEVIEBOY1]

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

This may sound an odd question for this forum, but here goes, owing to the recent very wet, then very dry hot weather, in this part of the UK, the South East, a number of my potted plant cuttings, geraniums, lobelias etc, have a lot of foliage but not too many flowers so far, although there are a few buds, also many of the leaves have quite a yellow tinge, could that be because I may have over watered the plants in the hot dry weather? also, how does one propagate geraniums for next year? Many Thanks.

 

[sheeplady]

Yellow tinge can mean over or under watering. If they are stressed by the heat (or anything really) that will lead to them having fewer flowers. With a wet spring and a dry summer, it could just be a bad year to get blooms off of them. Are you feeding them fertilizer?

For my potted plants I wait until they are dry to water them. If you feel an inch down and it's dry, then water. Unless you're watering more than once a day, it's unlikely you're over watering if it's been really hot and they are in a sunny spot. My potted plants need water once a day if they face east, twice if they face west. You can make a self-watering planter out of PVC pipe (plumbing pipe) by putting an end cap on one end, drilling holes along the length, adding an elbow at the other end, and putting a short piece up to the soil line on your pot. Place this in your pot, add the plant and soil. Then when you water, fill the tube as well as watering the plant. This will extend the watering time to probably every other day.

As far as propagation, if you have a cellar with windows, or a sunny windowsill, I'd just bring them in the house. You can take clippings of the germaniums and put them in water, but it's just as easy to take the whole thing inside and you'll have better luck. You may need to repot them into a pot with new soil in the spring.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Thank you for the infomation. Rgds.

 

[sheeplady]

Oh, the other thing. If you take them in over winter, and they get scraggly, cut them back/ trim a third off when you put them out in spring. They will get bushy again.

 

[scottyrocks]

My outdoor potted plants, mostly impatiens, need water every day or they begin to wilt. I water them until I get some runout from the bottom of the pot.

Also, I use some Miracle Gro Shake 'n Feed. It definitely helps the blooms.