Want to get the most out of geraniums? Forget about expensive fertilizers and reach for a bottle from the medicine cabinet. Why and how to dose geraniums with iodine?
Just a few drops of iodine
Geraniums are quite robust and can withstand direct sun and occasional drought, but if you want the famous waterfalls of flowers from them, water alone will not be enough. Geraniums are incredibly hungry plants and without proper nutrition, after a while you will only be left with long stems with a few leaves.
Most growers rely on conventional fertilizers from the store, but there are a number of simple things that will make your gardening easier. A bottle that almost everyone has in their home pharmacy can do wonders for flowering. It is ordinary iodine.
Plants do not need this element in kilograms, but in a minimal amount it works as a powerful catalyst that will wake up even the most lazy seedlings.
Not sure how to geraniums? The author of the post from the YouTube channel Honzík Lací will advise you on growing.
Why iodine and what will it do to the plant?
Iodine in the plant world functions similarly to humans, i.e. as a regulator of important processes. It has several essential benefits for geraniums.
- Flowering stimulation: It stimulates the plant organism and makes the pelargonium put on many more flower buds instead of just growing the leaf part.
- Protection against diseases: Iodine has natural antiseptic effects, which also helps plants fight unwanted fungi and root rot. Although geraniums are hardy and grow in a well-drained substrate, they too are at risk of rotting.
- Brighter colors: The flowers are richer after the iodine treatment and last longer on the stem before they start to fall off.
How to prepare an iodine solution and how to apply it?
With iodine, less is more. If you overdo it, you can permanently burn the roots of the plant, so stick to the exact ratio.
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Preparation of the mixture: Add exactly one single drop of pharmaceutical iodine to one liter of standing water at room temperature. Mix the solution well.
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Correct technique: Before fertilizing geraniums, first water them with clean water. Fertilizing a dry substrate is a mistake because there is a risk of burning the roots.
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Amount: Approximately fifty milliliters of solution is enough for one plant (or one box). Do not pour it directly to the stem, but rather to the edges of the pot.
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Frequency: Repeat this treatment no more than once every three weeks. It is abundantly enough for the plant to run at full capacity.
Fertilization rules and other household helpers
In addition to iodine, there are others that clearly benefit nutmeg and that will cost you almost nothing.
Wood ash
It is an excellent source of potassium and phosphorus, which are key elements for strong stems and abundant flowering. It is enough to add a spoonful of ash to a liter of water or just dust it lightly on the surface of the soil. But beware, it is a fertilizer full of calcium. Handle it with care too, because geraniums do not like an alkaline environment.
Coffee grounds
Geraniums like slightly more acidic soil, and coffee will supply them with the nitrogen they need. Just let it dry, and then gently work it into the top layer of the substrate. Coffee grounds suit geraniums because of their pH, but that doesn’t mean all coffee machine waste should end up under geraniums.
Sugar water
Once in a while you can treat geraniums to a “quick energy” in the form of a teaspoon of sugar dissolved in a liter of water. This will encourage the activity of microorganisms in the soil.
When fertilizing geraniums, don’t forget that they consume the most nutrients from May to August. As soon as it starts to get cold, reduce the fertilizer doses gradually so that the plant can rest before the winter.
