Watering geraniums: What can you add to the water to boost flowering?
Geraniums are the most popular plants for balconies and in gardens, with more than a thousand different species and an intense and varied color range that is certainly their strong point. Simple to grow and maintain, they are particularly decorative and lush, provided you follow a few basic rules to ensure their healthy growth. You also need to use a fertilizer to stimulate leaf development and boost flowering. You can count on a ready-to-use product, but for those who prefer natural homemade solutions, the possibilities are endless. Here’s what you can add to the water for best results!
Table of Contents
Watering Geraniums – Water Additives for a Beautiful Bloom
Keeping your geraniums healthy, strong and blooming all summer long doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, with a few simple care and maintenance tips, you can have stunning blooms from late spring until the first frosts!
Geraniums have always been favorites of gardeners looking for bright, long-lasting summer blooms. With their long, showy flower stalks, they are perfect when planted directly in flower beds, or to fill pots, containers and hanging baskets with color.
Geraniums are rarely attacked by insects or pests. In fact, they’re even grown in many vegetable gardens near cabbages and cauliflowers, as they’re believed to repel pests like cabbage worms.
Unfortunately, many gardeners struggle with geraniums in mid-summer. Without proper care, plants can become feeble and flowers sparse and disappointing. However, it takes very little for the flowers to come back to life. With a few simple tricks, you can get your plants to flower and thrive and stay that way until late fall!
Use Iodine to Stimulate the Flowering of Geraniums
To boost the development of the flowers of your geraniums, you can enrich the soil with an iodine-based solution. Here are the steps to prepare:
- Leave 1 liter of water at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
- Add a drop of iodine. If the plant is sick and needs extra support, you can add three drops, but no more, as this may harm the root system.
- In the solution, you can also add 10 drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide.
- After stirring the mixture, it can be used for watering geraniums.
It is recommended to spread the iodine solution along the edge of the pot so as not to damage the roots. Care must also be taken when pouring the liquid. If a drop has fallen on the leaf or stem of the plant, it should be wiped off with a damp cloth or sponge.
After watering with this natural fertilizer, you will soon see the difference, and your plant will produce three-dimensional, colorful flowers. Since geraniums are watered rarely, the bloom booster should not be used more than twice a month.
How to Use Banana Peels to Make Geraniums Bloom?
Potassium is very important for geraniums during the flowering period as it lowers the risk of attack by the most common pests. One of the most effective strategies to make sure that your plants get the optimal potassium supply is to use banana peels to prepare a natural.
Banana peel water is similar to compost, but it comes from one source, the cut banana peels. They are immersed in water and soaked from an hour to a few days. Soaking time varies in different recipe sources. Some instructions even advise you to keep a bottle of banana water in your fridge and add peels to it over several weeks. After the recommended time, the liquid is filtered and added to the plants once every two weeks.
Banana water can be used for both indoor and outdoor plants. Some instructions call for aeration to prevent the peels from fermenting.
Watering Geraniums: Brewer’s Yeast Stimulates Plant Flowering
Brewer’s yeast contains many valuable vitamins and minerals that can be of great benefit to geraniums. It is enough to prepare a liquid fertilizer by simply dissolving a few teaspoons of brewer’s yeast in about ten liters of water, obtaining a solution which will then be used to water the plants.
In addition, it is possible to add a small dose of beer to the water for watering geraniums. Finally, the famous drink is also an excellent remedy for glossing the leaves. Just wet a cotton ball slightly and pass it gently over the leaves, so that they regain their natural shine.
Care Tips for Geraniums to Boost the Blooming
The cultivation of geraniums is not particularly complicated. However, those new to gardening and plant care may find some useful tips:
- Water twice a week during the summer season, preferably in the evening.
- Clean the plant of dry or fallen leaves, as well as damaged flowers and stems, preventing the development of rot.
- To avoid water stagnation, water only when the soil is dry.
- Prune once a year, preferably during the spring months.
- In winter, it is advisable to cover the geraniums with a cloth, without completely eliminating the air inlet, and if possible, to place the pots against a wall.
