Geranium is among the easiest of annuals to make more of.
Simply take as many cuttings as the 'mother' plant will allow. Take only cuttings from healthy plants, never from plants that are sick.

The cutting should have at least 4 sets of leaves which you remove the bottom two. Dip in rooting compound #1...get rid of any excess (whether liquid or powder).
Place into a growing medium of your choice. Vermiculite, coarse sand, potting soil or peat moss or a combo of them.
Water.
They should set roots within a week or two.
When the roots are about 1" long, they can be transdfered to your permanent growing pot.
How do you tell the roots are 1" long if you cant see them.

Good question. Try pulling on the cutting. When it has roots it will put up a fight.

Some start their cuttings in water. I don't, I prefer a proper starting medium.
You are advised in any case, to take many cuttings...there's always the chance of failures.

If you think to winter over the mother plant...it too is one of the easiest to do.
Simply bring the plant indoors before it is hit with frost.
Wash off the soil from the roots. Let dry for a day or so.
Then take to a cool place--no light, no water, no heat....just cool to spend the winter.
Hang up upside down...(that's the easy way to do it)
Some prefer putting into a paper bag...leave it open to breathe and get rid of moisture.
That's all there is to it. In mid February or March...or April, bring them out, cut back, give them fresh potting soil, water, and take to a sunny window.

I have heard that you can cut back the geranium and store it in a cool dark place all winter with no water and then bring them out early spring. They look really ugly but will come back. I'm just wondering about this process. Anyone have any idea on that.

I have outstanding success with leaf bud cuttings, in sterile potting media. Each node is a cutting. Even without hormone I get close to 100%. I did an experiment with my school kids comparing leaf bud cuttings with leaf cuttings. Almost all of the leaf bud cutting rooted in about 3 weeks. Most of the leaf cuttings died, those that survived rooted but did not develop.

I'm having trouble with my cuttings. They are from geraniums I have overwinter in pots. Some of the cutting are from new growth and some are from an older plant (tree). Basically the stems rot. After losing several, I put them under lights and let them callus before I planted them. I am still losing some. Is the age of the material the problem? I'm starting to take cuttings I would rather leave on the mother plant; it's getting some blooms indoors and I don't want to cut a budding tip.

I use oasis, works well also.
Get oasis block and cut into 2in cubes, soak well in water, then I use a chopstick to make a hole in the oasis cube, insert a geranium cutting with 4 true leaves, place in a conatiner than is 1/4th the way up the oasis cube and place in indirect light. Usually root in 2 weeks.
I don't bother with rooting hormone, they don't seem to need it.

I have overwintered geraniums in the past for quite a long time. All I do is drag the pot in the basement, water lightly once a month if I remember, then about this time I bring the pot upstairs in a protected area no heated porch, trim it back and it will be the first ones to flower

I use oasis, works well also.
Get oasis block and cut into 2in cubes, soak well in water, then I use a chopstick to make a hole in the oasis cube, insert a geranium cutting with 4 true leaves, place in a conatiner than is 1/4th the way up the oasis cube and place in indirect light. Usually root in 2 weeks.
I don't bother with rooting hormone, they don't seem to need it.

I have overwintered geraniums in the past for quite a long time. All I do is drag the pot in the basement, water lightly once a month if I remember, then about this time I bring the pot upstairs in a protected area no heated porch, trim it back and it will be the first ones to flower

This is my first year taking geranium cuttings, and I can't believe how easy it was! My husband bought me two good sized plants at our municipal greenhouse run by the city around Valentines day. I brought them home, and promptly took twenty cuttings from them. My husband was not very happy, he was having warm and fuzzy thoughts about how much I seemed to love the two plants he bought me a few hours ago, walks into the dining room and they are hacked into pieces! All that is left are some strange looking stems that resemble a wacked Jade (from the succulent forum) and our 4 year old very helpfully plucking the last surviving leaf off the mother plant!!

I told him not to worry, it would be fine! (Although I am not sure I believed it either!)

I let them harden for a couple hours, then potted them up in peat pellets. I did use rooting hormone because I had it on hand. I did not cover them, and made sure not to over water them. I let them become more dry then I would allow most plants to become before adding water.

3 weeks later... They all have rooted and are sprouting new leaves. I only had 2 original leaves even turn yellow, the rest are still going strong. It was a total success!!

I would suggest discussing just how you are trying to root them, and how much you water them / what sort of light they are getting. My gut though from everything I have read suggests you are keeping them too wet.

Is anyone here not talking about cranesbill? When I started this post I intended for answers on the perennial geraniums. Am I on the wrong forum?

Thanks,
Carla

Thanks for the suggestion homemommy. I have been keeping the moist. Although, I do let the soil get surface dry before watering.

Carla, you're not on the wrong forum....it's just that you weren't very clear on what you were asking, so all the responses pertain to pelargoniums rather than hardy geraniums or cranesbill. Honestly, I wish the two plants were not discussed on the same forum, as their culture, use and hardiness are totally different.

FWIW, division is a pretty reliable way of propagating any hardy geranium. Seeding also works but some cultivars are sterile and do not produce viable seed and others will offer rather variable offspring as a result. IME, cuttings are the least efficient method.

carla, the G. cinereum and G. sanguineum types can be propagated rather easily by root cuttings. You'll have to do some research re. the specifics, but simply cutting the thicker roots into 5cm (2") segments and inserting them vertically into a rooting media (with the right side up), OR laying them horizontally just under a rooting media, should result in many more plants.

Ok, I took some cuttings having 4 sets of leaves, took off the 2 lower sets and planted them. My question is this..on some of the cuttings the leaves were about 1 1/2 inches apart, so when I planted it only the very first leave junction was in the dirt and the rest of the plant was sticking out about 3 or 4 inches. Is this ok? or should I trim it down some? Am I not understanding something?

What makes the best cutting. Right now my geraniums are blooming like mad and need to cut them back due to they are blocking a garden path. Can you use the flowering ends with at least a couple of leaves on it...? And if cutting are just one strand, how does one achieve a bushy plant?

socalliegal - people need to know whether you are asking about geraniums or pelargoniums. If geraniums (aka crane's billes) none of the advice given above about cuttings, except coolplantsguy's talk of root cuttings, is relevant. If you have geraniums then you need to either divide your plants, gather seed or follow coolplantsguy's directions. If you have pelargoniums then your stem cuttings will work.

Hi I am new here
I have managed to keep a South African Geranium a live moving here. It was left by chance inside a pot. It has exquisite small wine colored flowers. Over the past 5 years I keep it in the garden in summer and indoors in the winter. Is had grown long rather not so pretty long dry stems and only green leaves at the ends.
How can I get rid of the center branches and re plant the healthy green ones in the center of the pot? I'd like to make it into a more fuller looking plant with the healthy stems starting from the center and not hanging over the edge. My cats love to much playing with these hanging stems where ever I put them.
How can I cut and re root etc I want to make SURE not to kill it as it has been through so much and I love the look in autumn when it blooms. I am in Vancouver Canada
Thanks a lot. Vic

Here is a link that might be useful: pics of my plant