Pat, keep your Geraniums in a cool to cold room. Nowhere near heat. My MIL had a Geranium for years. It sat in an unheated hallway, in a small east-facing window. Her Geranium was huge, healthy and bloomed year round. Its trunk was at least 4" diameter. Her home was heated by space heaters. One day she decided to set her Geranium in the LR. A big mistake. A few months later, it was loaded with Mealy Bug. It managed to survive, but God only knows how since there were 50 times more bugs than leaves. lol. I've rooted Geranium cuttings in cold areas..they did fine, grew into large plants. They need sun, too, of course, so place your Geranium in the brightest window possible. Artificial light helps. A standard light bulb is better than no light at all. If your Geranium is growing spindly, pinch back a bit. If you feel comfortable cutting it to the soil line, do so, but if you're Geranium's healthy and compact, there's no need to cut it down. Water like you would a succulent, especially in winter. In fact, treat it like a succulent, and it will do well. Bright light, cool rooms, and let soil dry between waterings. No fertilizer is needed unless sun is shining, but reduce by 1/4 dossage. An All Purpose fertilizer is fine. Late Feb, early March, you should see new growth. If days are sunny, up the fertilizer to 1/2. If it's rootbound, repot in a larger container, but only if needed. When temps permit, place it back outside, and fertilize with the amount you normally give during summer months. Geraniums are one of a few plants that go outside in early spring. If it's outdoors early enough, it will adapt to sun, but if temps are too cold, 'under 45F,' it will have to acclimate to bright sun. That's about it. Toni

Daisy, its nice that you were able to keep them going through winter in as good a fashion that you did....but now you wish to get them ready to go outside .....about mid May....when your other annuals are planted. I will try not to step on what Janet has outlined....but if I may suggest .... take your geranium to a well-newspapered table, there unpot your geranium and cut it back...by a third....back to about 4 - 5 inches high. Clean off all leaves, cut back all broken or otherwise damaged branches. Clean all soil away from the roots. Inspect the roots for any sign of damage....and cut back if necessary. Then, with a clean pot (I like clay), to which you put into the bottom something to keep the soil away from the drainage holes, (I use clay shards) put some FRESH potting soil/mix in....make a hole in the center, and put your plant it...firm it up, take to the sunniest window you have. (north though will not do)...there water your plant to drainage. Let the plant drain ...and let the plant sit in that drainage water no longer than 15 - 20 minutes....then dump it. Now....no more watering until the plant begins to produce new leaves. Then, water as necessary and do not fertilize until new leaves begin to form....then at 1/2 rate until the leaves are well along. Will take maybe 2 weeks....less or more. Water always to drainage, letting it dry down a bit...never let it go dry. Maybe, in 5 or 6 weeks, you might get flower buds forming...in any case, they will form sooner or later. That's it...that's all there's to it. A couple weeks before you figure they can outside in their own pot....take to the garage and then outside to acclimate them....taking them back indoors at night. Back outside during daylight. This acclimates them to the outside temperatures....better to withstand a night that goes down when you do put them outside to stay. Then its just a matter of enjoying them through the season and not letting them be touched by frost later in the fall. Then, back out again in '08...'09....'10.....'20....'30..

kresca, I don't know if you started your own thread or not, seems no one is very interested in mine ;-) lol. If your grow lights are flouresents, chances are they are just fine left on 24 hours. They don't put off as much light as the sun, and the more light they get the better... Typically the 16 hour rule is for producing crops. But, you don't have to leave them on 24/7, they should do fine with a night time shut off too. Did you pinch them off at all? If not, I would do that now, you don't need to pinch very much off, but by breaking the growth node, it is like a tree, cut the top off, and then it has to branch out, so you will get more bushy plants. I have about 700 plants, but they are not all Pelargoniums, only around 40-50 are. So, I know what you mean about a daunting task. I am at the point where I am bringing them in and outside most days, unless it is really cold, then they have to stay inside. They are rewarding me for my efforts, but it is getting tiring, I can't wait to leave them out overnight, but with an inch of snow on the ground, winter seems stubborn this year! I think I solved my yellow leaf problem, I was overwatering them. I have repotted them for a final time, up to 4" pots, and will make sure not to let them get too wet ;-)

It sounds like your Pelargoniums are growing along a single main stem and putting off leaves only along this main stem. (I am going to call it the "trunk" like a tree trunk, although this is not its technical term). What you want to do, is get them to branch out, just like a bush. This is done by pinching them back. A lot of flowers will grow up like this and not put off any off shoots (branches) unless they are pinched. The leaf stems are not branches, they are only leaf stems that support one single leaf. If you cut off the leaf stem, most likely a new leaf and a new stem will grow from the base of the leaf stem, where it joins the "trunk" or main stem of the plant. So, you can very safely pinch off or cut off the large leaves you don't like the look of on your plants. I am not sure if it will put them back from flowering, but I really don't think so. However, you will likely see in a few days that a new leaf is forming. To get the plant to branch out though, you will need to cut off the growth node on the top of the plant. This is done by pinching the top off. The best place to do it so that it does not look odd, is right above the next set of leaves. Then you are not going to get an odd looking stump. The plant will then be forced to branch off to the sides if it wishes to continue growing, which it will. Because there are two growth nodes now (or meristems,) you will get two branches. Let them grow a bit more, and pinch back the branches again. After a few pinches, you will get a fairly bushy plant. Even if they are not flowering, I would still suggest selling them. Undercut the local nursery prices, and you should find buyers!