How to Propagate and Overwinter Coleus
Have you ever had a favourite coleus in a pot and wanted to make sure you could have that same variety next season without having to rely on your local garden center? Or have you wanted to produce more of a particular coleus without having to spend more? Coleus are one of the easiest plants to propagate from cuttings and overwinter indoors.
Overwinter coleus indoors and by early next summer you can have huge plants that will be the envy of the neighborhood.
Things Needed for Propagation
The good news is you need very little to propagate coleus. As one of the easiest annuals to grow from cuttings you don't even need specialized rooting hormones or soil. The important thing is to get the plants started. What you need to do is take a small clipping with two or three leaves and getting it to grow roots. All you will need is:
- Sharp Scissors: for clipping stems from the parent plant.
- Clear glass vase or jar: to place cuttings in to root.
- Pots: to transplant cuttings once they have rooted.
- Potting soil.
Propagating Coleus
That's all you need. Start with a good healthy coleus with healthy foliage and many stems. Clip a few stems for propagation. The clippings should be at least four or five inches long. Remove a couple leaf nodes from the bottom of the stem. Place the stems in fresh water, in a clear vase or jar, right away. If a clipping is allowed to dry, the cut end of the clipping will heal and then it will not grow roots and will wither up and die.
Give the clipping about three weeks in jar to grow strong healthy roots, changing the water periodically. After three weeks gently remove the stems and separate the roots between stems with your fingers. Each clipping should have a nice root ball. The new roots will be white in color.
Plant the new rooted clipping in some good potting soil. Water in.
Place the pot in a sunny window and water regularly but allow to dry out between watering. Add a bit of water-soluble fertilizer to the water to create healthier specimens.
That's it. Maintain your new coleus on a window sill throughout the winter. Plant outdoors after all risk of frost has past or, in March-April start the process over again to create small starts for the garden in spring.