Want to know how to transplant geraniums? Geraniums are beautiful flowers the come in bright and cheerful shades of pink, red, and oranges.
Whether you want to plant your nursery geraniums in the garden or transfer them to a place where they can overwinter, geraniums are easy to transplant. Just make sure you’re giving them enough access to light and moisture after moving them. Read on to know more about how to transplant geraniums.
How to Transplant Nursery Geraniums
Geraniums bloom each spring, donning their beautiful and colorful flowers. There are three most common types of geraniums: Garden or zonal geraniums (Pelargonium x hortorum), Ivy geraniums (Pelargonium peltatum), and Scented-leaf geraniums (Pelargonium spp.)
When you’re transplanting nursery geraniums avoid doing so until after the last scare of frost has passed. The best time to transfer your plants is when the soil warms and the plants will receive about six to eight hours of full to partial sunlight.
Before transplanting nursery geraniums, you’ll need to rough up the dense roots and remove the loose rims of the peat pots. Clean the peat pots and soak them thoroughly.
Plant the young geraniums in a pot that’s 6 to 12 inches large and filled with high-quality potting mix. You can also plant it directly into your garden in high-quality soil mixed with compost and peat to provide good soil drainage.
Also, make sure that you’re spacing your plants far enough (about 8 to 12 inches apart) so they won’t touch each other when they grow. Otherwise, it may stunt their growth and maturity. After transplanting, water your geraniums deeply until the soil is soaked and water drains at the bottom of the pot.
How to Properly Move Mature Geraniums
There are several ways to tell whether you need to move your plants or not. You’ll know that it’s time to transfer your plants when they’ve outgrown their pots; their flowering has slowed, or they need more sunlight.
It’s best to wait until the following spring to transplant your plants. When you transplant your plants to promote growth, they’ll need the energy to generate new roots. Before transplanting, cut the flowers and leggy branches using clean scissors or garden shears so your plants could focus their energy on growing.
Always remember to sanitize your shears before and after you use them. You can use a ready-made solution, or you can make your own by mixing one-part water and one-part alcohol. This prevents diseases from spreading and damaging your plants.
Carefully lift each geranium plant out of the soil by using a garden fork. Gently put the plant in a bigger pot filled with fresh potting soil or place them in a new planting hole in your garden. Remember to set your geraniums at the same soil depth where it was previously planted. If you plant it deeper than it was, your plants will take more time to grow new roots.
Be sure to water your plants immediately after you’ve transferred them. Water them until you can see it drain from the pot’s drainage hole. For gardens, water them to a soil depth of six to eight inches. Water your plants daily, so the soil is evenly moist.
How to Transplant for Transition
Many gardeners commonly treat geraniums and their relative plants as annuals. However, they’re actually tender perennials as they’re only hardy in USDA hardiness zones 10 to 11. You don’t need to dig your plants, clean them, and bag and hang them, as you would with most flowering bulbs. Instead, you can simply transfer geraniums indoors and place them by a south or east window.
You can give your plants supplemental light so your geraniums can continue to bloom throughout the colder seasons. Additionally, you can move outdoor geraniums indoors during the fall and move them back outdoors the next summer season.
How to Transplant for Overwintering
Once the temperature drops during nighttime, it’s time to prepare your plants for winter. Carefully dig around your geranium plants using a garden fork. Trim the remaining flowers using gardening shears. Don’t worry, they’ll grow back once your transfer your plants indoors and place them by a sunny window.
Plant your uprooted geraniums in a pot that’s 8 to 10 inches and filled with quality potting mix. Make sure that the pot has enough drainage and the soil is well-draining. Cut back your geraniums until they’re six inches tall. Water them immediately.
Main Reasons to Plant Geraniums in a Mini Greenhouse
There are several reasons why you should consider planting your geraniums in a mini greenhouse. For one, it protects your plants from pests and diseases. Aphids, cabbage loopers, fall cankerworms, scale, and slugs are the most common pests that attack geraniums.
On the other hand, they’re also susceptible to certain diseases such as bacterial blight, Alternaria leaf spot, pelargonium rust, and blackleg. Keeping your geraniums inside a mini greenhouse lowers the risk of pest infestation and disease infections.
Additionally, a greenhouse can also keep these tender perennials safe from unpredictable weather. Frost, snow, ice, high winds, and heavy rain can easily damage your perennials. Growing them inside a mini greenhouse protects your plants from the effects of bad weather.
Conclusion: How to Transplant Geraniums
Knowing how to transplant geraniums is necessary to ensure healthy and flowering plants. Be sure to keep these tips in mind so you’ll be able to grow beautiful flowers all season.