If you want to save your geraniums for next year or add a friend’s geranium to your collection, why not take a cutting or two? 

Whole geranium plants can sometimes get leggy when brought inside. Growing cuttings is an easy alternative that results in more compact plants for next year. 

The cuttings may even reward you with blooms indoors late in the winter. 

Making the cuts

Start with your healthiest plants. Select your cutting material from stems with new green growth that is firm but not woody. Cuttings should have at least three nodes (which are the points where the leaves attach). Take a sharp knife and cut across the stem, just below a node. Trim off all but the upper few leaves and remove any flowers or flower buds. Let the geranium cutting dry for an hour or two in a shaded area. This will help to let the ends of the cut seal and help keep organisms from infecting the cuttings.

Prepare the cutting medium

Geranium cuttings need to root in a light soil medium so that moisture won’t collect around the stems. Good choices include:

• Clean builder’s sand
• Perlite
• A mixture of one part sand and one part peat moss
• A mixture of one-part perlite and one-part peat moss

You can also purchase a soil-less mix, typically used for seed starting. Press the medium firmly into a container. A plastic five-inch pot is big enough for five cuttings. Moisten the medium to make it damp but not soggy.  

Placing the cuttings

You can use a rooting hormone powder to coat the ends of the cutting, but it’s not mandatory for geranium cuttings. Simply insert each geranium cutting one inch deep into the soil medium in a plant container; use a pencil to make a hole beforehand and place the cutting in the hole. Leave enough space between the cuttings so the leaves won’t touch each other. Firm the medium around each cutting to eliminate air pockets.

Taking care of your cuttings

Place the pot of geranium cuttings in a light, warm place, out of direct sunlight. Water the cuttings with a gentle stream of water when the surface of the medium feels dry to the touch.

New leaves should begin to appear in a few weeks; gently pull on the cutting, and if it resists being pulled up, the cutting has formed roots, and it’s ready to be transplanted into individual containers’

Don’t move them outside in spring until all danger of frost has passed.

Home and garden questions can be emailed to Cornell Cooperative Extension Oneida County’s homeandgarden@cornell.edu or call 315-736-3394, press 1 and then Ext 333. Leave your question, name, and phone number. Questions are answered weekdays, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.