Get a jump on next season by overwintering (red) frost-tender plants

September 23rd, 2009 admin Posted in flowers |

By Wendy Mundy

Have you fallen in love with a new coleus cultivars? Or are you simply feed-up of paying big bucks for your favorite Scented Geraniums? Have you consider overwintering your favorites indoors by taking cuttings this Fall to propagate tender perennials–and help your thumb stay green while the snow flies.

Garden Flowers that make the cut:
Try these to save time and money next year: fibrous-rooted begonias; coleus; fuchsias; impatiens; zonal, ivy and scented geraniums (Pelargonium); and Plectranthus spp. and cultivars, including Swedish ivy.

Flowers that you cannot save

Real annuals flower that set seed in a single season, like as cosmos and sunflowers–are can’t for propagation by cuttings. Nor are tender perennials such as petunias and marigolds). At the end of the season, just throw these onto the compost heap.

Here are 10 super ways to get the most out of your garden.

1. Take cuttings from strong plants, They will only be as good as the parent plants, Remember they must be robust and completely free from any signs of disease or insect infestation.

2 Summer or early autumn is the best time to take tip cuttings. Select a new, young stem and remove any flower buds. Use a sharp, clean knife, clip the branch eight to 12 centimetres below the growing tip, just beneath a leaf node. Each plant should give you six to eight tip cuttings.

3. Once you’ve made all the cuttings, snip off the leaves from the lower half of eachcutting. Make three or four vertical slits, about 1.5 centimetres long and one to two millimetres deep, at the base of each cutting. Helps rooting.

4. Carefully dip the bases into a rooting hormone containing IBA (indolebutyric acid). A light dusting is enough–too much will cause the cuttings to rot.

5. Fill the terra-cotta pots with a sterile, soilless mixture formulated for cuttings and starting seeds.

6. Insert the cuttings into the mix five centimeters deep & spaced eight centimetres apart. Place pots in an area with bright light,but out of direct sunlight, and keep the soil nicely damp.

7. After about five weeks, each cutting will have developed lots strong roots; re-pot cuttings into their own small containers.

8. In another one to two weeks, signs of new growth will be noticeable; move plants to a bright, sunny window. Once a month, fertilize cuttings with a dilute solution high in phosphorus; Best to use African violet food (0-12-0). Keep room temperatures cool over winter–between 10 and 15?C is ideal–and allow plants to dry out between waterings.

9. If cuttings become gangly, pinch them back to encourage bushy growth, and increase light levels using grow lights or fluorescent tubes.

10. By late spring, you will have a crop of healthy, young plants identical to those available at your local nursery. After all danger of frost has passed, harden off plants by moving them to a protected, partly sunny area of the garden. Keep plants well watered for two to three weeks and feed at half-strength with a fertilizer formulated for flowering plants (such as 15-30-15). Transplant the rooted cuttings into your garden as you would any other annual.

More info at Bluemundy.com

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