Bumping for maryjozone5

so did you do a previous post of this or similar topic? How do I go about finding it!

No, just trying to push the thread back up to the top so that somebody else sees it!

thanks so much! I am so new at posting- I had to look up the word bumping and then figured out what you had done!

agathafroo, that was very helpful- thanks! Since my original posting I have been fertilizing them with fish emulsion and that has stopped the leaves from falling off. They are doing so well though that they are running up into my fluorescent lights. So I will take the advice from the info in the post you sent me and the guy at the nursery where I get my soil from, and make cuttings again from them! I should have plenty of plants to share with family and friends- if they all continue to live!

I've been growing coleus for about three years, now, and have finally learned that I will always have more coleus than I have room for. Whether grown from seed or saved as cuttings, over winter they grow faster than I have room to keep up with. I think the best way to keep them is in a window and in a tall, narrow bottle. Just keep cutting off the top to keep them from getting too leggy.

Martha

docmom, do you mean a tall narrow bottle like a 2 Liter pop bottle or a smaller water bottle; and with it cut, holes in the bottom and the top part placed back on it with holes in it for ventilation?

I routinely grow numerous coleus indoors under lights for summer bedding. I've found that the most vigorous and shapely plants can be had by starting cuttings about 8 weeks before they are to be planted out.

So my advice would be to keep propagating over the winter, and toss out old woody plants.

Interestingly, coleus varieties seem to vary in how well they grow and take from cuttings indoors. Ideally, they should be healthy and well-branched indoors so they're decorative over the dark winter months.

This being my first year, my experimenting seems to prove just what you have said. I have been regularly making cuttings and the ones I started about 8 weeks ago are just gorgeous and ready for planting in pots with flowers etc! But the mother plants are now bigger, more spread out, and will probably look better in the ground between other things. I have thrown away some but that is so hard for me- I'll just have to bite the bullet- and pitch what needs to be pitched!