Actually, the colloquial name “geranium” for the popular balcony flower is – botanically speaking – not correct, because the experienced gardener means “geranium” to mean the cranesbills that are native to us. The flowers that bloom lushly in red, pink or white on many balconies are actually called pelargoniums and originally come from southern Africa. But no matter what you call your favorites: they need to be fertilized regularly so that they bloom beautifully all summer long.
What is the best way to fertilize geraniums?
To optimally fertilize geraniums, we recommend using liquid flowering plant or geranium fertilizer, light but frequent fertilization and alternative fertilizers such as coffee grounds, which contain nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.
Provide geraniums with liquid fertilizer
Geraniums, as the pelargoniums should be called here for the sake of simplicity, are real heavy feeders and therefore need regular good “food” in the right proportions. The fertilizers used should focus more on magnesium and potash than on nitrogen - a lot of nitrogen stimulates leaf growth, but not flowering. For this reason, specially formulated liquid fertilizers for flowering plants are also ideal for geraniums - or you can use geranium fertilizer (€10.00 on Amazon).
It is better to fertilize geraniums weakly and more often
When fertilizing geraniums, the rule of thumb is that it is better to fertilize the plants more often - and in weaker concentrations - than less often (and then in stronger doses). The more frequent fertilization continuously supplies the plant with nutrients and at the same time prevents the sensitive roots from being burned by too strong (because caustic) fertilizer.
Insider tip for geraniums: fertilizing with blue grain
Blaukorn is considered a real insider tip for geraniums and other flowering plants. In fact, this tried and tested fertilizer is an excellent geranium fertilizer - provided you use it in the correct dosage. Blue grain is very strong and can therefore burn the roots if overdosed and cause the plants to die quickly. The following dosage has proven to be effective:
- Dissolve a tablespoon of blue grain in 10 liters of water
- and water your plants once a week.
- Don't overdo it with watering,
- but only water as much as the plants really need.
Grandmother's home remedies: coffee grounds etc
But before you run to the garden center and buy fertilizer, save the coffee grounds from your breakfast coffee - these are ideal as a natural fertilizer for geraniums and many other balcony plants. Coffee grounds contain exactly the right composition of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus and can be administered once a week together with irrigation water - or simply distributed like compost in the root area of the plants.
Tip
When watering or fertilizing the plants, be careful not to wet the leaves or flowers.
