Winter care for geranium

During summer geraniums adorn our balconies with bright colors and abundant blooms in exchange for a few tricks.

If you want to keep them in good health for the next year, in winter you must have some extra care and place them in places suitable to their climatic requirements. The geraniums fact begin to suffer to below 10 ° C and do not tolerate temperatures below 2-3 ° C.

When it starts to get the Autumn is advisable to decrease the water watering to help the plant to enter a period of dormancy. Subsequently it will provide a pruning and to a treatment that averts diseases by mushrooms.

At this point should be placed in a sheltered place, preferably a greenhouse. There are small greenhouses are specially designed for balconies and terraces. There are models of all kinds and price, starting from the very cheap with steel and PVC tarpaulin, or more elegant solutions, with transparent elements in glass.

In the absence of the greenhouse, you can shelter in the stairwells, but only if unheated and very bright, or on the windowsill in the gap between any double glazed windows facing south.

Another solution is to leave the pots on the terrace, but addossandoli the house wall and covering them with of non-woven fabric or sheets of transparent, in order to recreate the conditions of a greenhouse.

The most proper exposure is always to south, without shadowing by objects and surrounding buildings. It 's also important to place the pots on wooden pallets, in order to ensure the ventilation necessary to oxygenate the earth.

As long as the weather will be cold but mild, it is good to water the plants occasionally. Below 2° C is better to suspend until the temperature returns to higher values.

During winter, if your geraniums have a few years, should be pruned back drastically, because over time they tend to grow branches loosely compacted, sometimes empty and ramifications. In this case, the pruning will be useful for promoting the sprouts also in the lower part of the plant.

To give new vigor and nourishment, in spring and sever the geraniums from the vessels, replacing the soil and starting to water and fertilize.


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arch. Sara Martinelli