Can geraniums also be grown into big flower balls? Come and give it a try
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Stefanie Sun
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Geranium
Geranium is a very beautiful houseplant. It is very suitable for decorating windowsills and placing on tables. Its beautiful flowers always grow densely together like small bouquets, and are especially eye-catching like a large flower umbrella. But did you know that if this flower umbrella is well cared for, it can turn into a big flower ball!The flower language of geranium: a chance encounter, you are my happiness, symbolizing the beginning of beautiful love.
Geranium is a plant that likes a cool and ventilated environment. During the peak growing seasons (spring and autumn), it needs sufficient sunlight, water, and fertilizer, but it is very afraid of heat, so getting through summer is the biggest challenge in its care. In winter, it only needs to be kept above 0 degrees to survive the winter safely. For the care of geraniums, let us still summarize it according to the conventional key points:
1. Soil
Use loose soil with good air permeability. The growing medium can be made by mixing humus soil, peat soil, perlite, and organic fertilizer. The classic formula of peat + perlite = 2:1 is still very effective for growing geraniums. Water retention, air permeability, and root affinity are all very good, and the weight is also light. If you want to reduce costs, you can use coconut coir to replace part of the peat. Friends who really do not want to buy soil can dig some leaf mold under pine trees and mix it with pine needles. Overall, it must achieve a loose and breathable effect. It is best to repot once in autumn.
2. Watering
Spring and autumn are the growing seasons for geraniums. A heated indoor environment in winter is actually also considered a growing season. In fact, it mainly depends on temperature. 10-25 degrees is the most suitable growing temperature for geraniums.
During the growing season, geraniums need adequate water and fertilizer, especially during the flowering period, when water consumption is relatively high. Although geraniums are relatively drought-tolerant and short-term dehydration will not endanger their lives, it can damage root hairs, affect growth speed, or cause bud drop.
Because weather, temperature, light, ventilation, pot size, plant size, growing medium, and other factors are all different, the saying of watering once every few days is very unscientific. Generally, you can judge whether to water by touching and weighing.
Touch: sometimes the surface looks very dry, but it is still moist underneath. So put your finger into the medium and feel the moisture of the soil with your finger. Water only when it is dry about 2 cm below the surface.
Weigh: before and after each watering, you can weigh the flowerpot by hand and feel whether it is light or heavy. After a few times, you will have a clear idea of the weight of the flowerpot. When it becomes light to a certain degree, it is definitely almost short of water.
This watering routine is common for growing most flowers and is still quite reliable.
3. Temperature
The temperature suitable for geranium growth is 15-25°C. The indoor temperature in winter is best kept at around 10°C, and not lower than 3°C. Below this temperature, it will easily suffer cold damage. Some varieties can tolerate a low temperature of 0°C. The maximum temperature should also not exceed 35°C. Once it is in a high-temperature environment, it will enter a semi-dormant state.
Geraniums like cool conditions and fear heat. When the average daily temperature is higher than 28 degrees, they hardly grow. When it is higher than 32 degrees, they enter a dangerous period (grandiflora geraniums and angel pelargoniums are relatively more heat-tolerant).
Too high a temperature will affect the synthesis of chlorophyll in new buds of geraniums. New buds lacking chlorophyll will become "albino." If you see white new buds, it clearly shows that the geranium already cannot stand the heat. Most geraniums die during the high-temperature period in summer. So the goal of growing them in summer is: stay alive!
4. Light and ventilation
Geraniums need sufficient sunlight, but when the sunlight is too strong in summer, shade measures should be taken. In other seasons, they can receive sunlight. If there is insufficient light, they will not bloom. During flowering, avoid direct sunlight and you can move them indoors for display. After the flowers fade, they can be put back in a place with light. Turn the pot as much as possible so that the leaf surface receives light more evenly. Choose a ventilated environment. Keep it in a ventilated environment as much as possible, and avoid a stuffy and hot growing environment.
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