As much as I love them I don't have much luck with them.
Seem's like so many people have these big, lush, beautiful Geraniums
but mine never seem to thrive like that.
This year I thought I'd try again....granted our weather has been
odd with quite a cool spring but anyway I bought this HUGE, gorgeous
red, hanging Geranium and its in 3/4 sun, AM - late afternoon.
I know about proper watering (I think)
with not too much and not too little (I soak it until it drains out the drain hole
then don't water until its feeling on the dryer side but not bone dry)
but alot of the leaves get yellow and they're dying off
at a higher rate than I would think normal. Also the flower clusters develop at different
speeds so I've got a bunch of dead flowers mixed in with some that are still blooming.
I also bought 3 smaller Geraniums this year and put them with some annuals in a large
pot and while their leaves aren't as bad they don't seem to be growing that well.
They we're potted up with Miracle Grow potting soil with the time released fertilizer.
What am I doing wrong? Do they like less sun? Should I feed them more often?
Any tips appreciated. Thanks!

Geraniums in pots need to be watered daily.

You also have to dead-head them (break off the spent blooms) to keep them fresh and constantly blooming.

If your Geranium came from a greenhouse you will get some brown leaves until it adapts to its new environment. Just pop them off.

That's such a pretty picture! Thanks for the advice.

I got some small geraniums off the clearance rack at Lowe's that I need to pot up. They have some tattered, wilty looking leaves, and I wasn't sure if I should leave them or not. I'll remove them when I repot them tonight.

Yup, yup know about deadheading
and I do water it daily as you have to do with most hanging plants.
Are they heavy feeders?

I never fertilize...but I do mix compost in my soil I use for containers.
I wouldn't call them heavy feeders...but it couldn't hurt to give them a shot at least once in the summer.

I never fertilize mine Vicky, probably should. Mine have outgrown most of their pots and I neglected to cut them back this winter so I do need to refresh the soil and do some pruning.

I'll have to start a new thread to show off some of mine and my Mom's. We both love them and pick up new ones every year from our favorite vendor that specializes in pelargoniums at the Landscape and Flower Show.

I got several Pels from a co op last year, and managed to keep most of them alive through the winter. I hadn't really tried my hand at Pels, I used to think of them as too common, but have done a turn around on lots of plants as I've gotten older. I'm loving them now, especially some of the modern varieties with mottled and variegated foliage.

I used MG potting soil, and added some grit and fine mulch to give it sharper drainage. I added some Osmocote this spring when repotting them and that seems to have made them happy. They're all in clay pots, and this year I've got them in quite a bit more sun than last year, and I'm seeing lots more blooms.

Vicky, are those in the hanging baskets ivy leaved? I have a bit more trouble with those.

Neal they are the standard leafed variety. I just got some Martha Washington's on clearance and I'm going to fertilize them every few waterings and see what happens. I have talked to some local people who have *gorgeous* Geraniums and one uses a weak solution of MG every time she waters and the other one uses Monty's "Root & Bloom (2-15-15) every time he waters! I just bought some of the Monty's fertilizer.
The red Geranium is doing better, now that I'm fertilizing it more often but I have some that are in a container with mixed annuals and they never seemed to grow much.
I'm going to try to winter some over this winter.
BTW all my containers have MC potting soil with Osmocote and I can't see where that made any difference!

Martha is not your average carefree pel. The Regals are finicky. They need cool weather. I bought one a few years ago and killed that baby immediately.

http://www.colegardens.com/con...

Karen

Hmmm, didn't know that about the Marthas! Interesting.
Mine have been doing better despite our hot weather, even the clearance ones that were pretty ragged looking when I bought them....but they are on the east side of my house so they do get shaded from the afternoon sun.
I've been feeding them about 1 x a week with the fertilizer mentioned above.
I'm going to winter some of them over in the house in soil.
I think I read where you can take the roots out of the soil and let the go dormant
and save them that way too.

Pelargoniums are generally easy to root from cuttings, too. I don't imagine the Regals would be much different. I have started cuttings in fall from regular pels and kept them in the house over winter.j


Karen

They look like real nice plants!

They did well, and very easy to propagate from cuttings.

Karen

I may just try that.
Did you just dip them in a rotting hormone and stick them in some soil?

I googled for how to start pelargoniums from cuttings. One source recommended letting the cuttings dry and callous over for a day to prevent rot, so I did that. I took the cuttings and threw them in the garage for a day. The next day they were pretty wilted and the cuts were calloused. I stuck them in barely moist (not wet) potting mix. Didn't bother with rooting hormone. After potting I misted them, put in a flat and covered with a humidity dome. They perked up and rooted pretty fast- within a week or two. I kept them under my lights and they bloomed most of the winter. Very easy.

Karen

Thanks much for that info!

I just break them off and stick them in what ever empty pot is available, sometimes a pot with other things in it that has a little room. I rarely loose one. I have a lot of the zonal/fancy leafed ones, some pansy faced ones and a few of the scented ones. I moved to a slightly colder zone so I may have to take cuttings for the coldest nights. We'll see.

Vicky, I added a thread of a few of mine:
The thread "A few shots of my Pelargoniums/Geraniums" in Geraniums and Pelargoniums forum

Pick up a few clearance Pels in August, all runty looking, potted them up and have been feeding them weekly with Monty's Root & Bloom ( 2-15-15) and they popped!
I'm convined they are heavy feeders because these certainly responded to weeky fertilizing.

I'm nursing a something geranium or the other type of what people call a geranium. It is having yellow at the edges of the leaves which gradually works its' way towards the middle of the leaf, and then the leaf goes yellow brown to brown, then it eventually falls off, or I remove it because it is too far gone. The plant looks reasonably healthy. Should I feed this plant more? I know that it was extremely dry when I first started taking care of it. I'm keeping the soil moist, not wet. Also, I took a few cuttings and put them into water, should I pot these cuttings? Any advice would be very, very helpful because it's been over 30 since I've had any of these plants. Safe travels & many blessings.