How to Take Pelargonium (Geranium) Cuttings
How to Take Pelargonium Cuttings
Taking cuttings is one of the easiest ways to increase your collection of Pelargoniums, also commonly known as geraniums. It is also a great insurance policy: young plants take up less room over winter and provide a backup should anything happen to your established favourites.
At Growing Crazy, we propagate our Pelargoniums from cuttings each year to create strong, healthy plants for the following season. In the video above, we demonstrate the process using the wonderfully fragrant scented-leaf Pelargonium ‘Radula’, but the same basic technique works for many other varieties.
What you will need
- A healthy Pelargonium plant.
- Clean, sharp scissors or a knife.
- A small pot: approximately 9 cm or 3½ inches is ideal.
- Good-quality seed compost.
- A little vermiculite to help keep the compost open and free-draining.
- Water.
Step 1: Choose a strong, healthy shoot
Select a healthy shoot with a strong growing tip and enough stem to form a good-sized cutting.
The quality of your cutting matters. A weak cutting is more likely to produce a weak plant and may struggle to establish, whereas a strong, healthy cutting has the best chance of developing into a vigorous new Pelargonium.
Step 2: Remove the lower leaves
Carefully remove most of the lower leaves and any small leafy structures attached to the stem, leaving just a modest amount of foliage at the growing tip.
Too many leaves will cause the cutting to lose moisture before it has developed roots. Reducing the foliage helps the cutting conserve its energy while it establishes.
Step 3: Cut just below a node
Look closely at the stem and you will see small points where the leaves were attached. These are known as nodes.
Using clean, sharp scissors or a knife, make your final cut just beneath one of these nodes.
This should leave you with a neat, strong cutting with a clear section of stem and a small amount of healthy growth at the top.
Step 4: Prepare your compost
Fill a 9 cm pot with good-quality seed compost. We like to mix in a little vermiculite to help open up the compost and improve drainage.
Seed compost is ideal because it is relatively low in nutrients, giving your cuttings a suitable environment in which to establish their roots.
Moisten the compost and gently firm it down before inserting your cuttings.
Step 5: Insert the cuttings around the edge of the pot
Push your cuttings into the compost around the edge of the pot, taking care not to bury them too deeply.
You can usually fit around four cuttings into a 9 cm pot.
Positioning them around the sides helps keep their developing roots compact and encourages the cuttings to become firmly established. Gently firm the compost around each stem so the cuttings are supported and do not wobble.
Step 6: Keep them sheltered while they root
Place the pot somewhere sheltered and bright, but away from strong, direct sunshine.
Keep the compost lightly moist, taking care not to let it become waterlogged. Pelargonium cuttings do not appreciate sitting in soggy compost.
Within a few weeks, your cuttings should begin developing roots and establishing themselves as new plants.
Growing your cuttings through winter
Once rooted, keep your young Pelargoniums somewhere light, sheltered and frost-free over winter. Avoid overwatering, particularly during colder weather, when the plants need considerably less moisture.
With a little care, your cuttings should grow into strong, healthy plants ready to provide a fantastic display the following year.
Whether you are propagating a scented favourite, preserving a treasured heritage variety or simply adding more Pelargoniums to your collection, taking cuttings is a wonderfully satisfying way to keep growing.
Happy growing!