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Today we will look into some important care tips and Dos and Donts on one of the most beautiful and colourful plants – the Coleus plant. Its also known as landscape coleus or Plectranthus. We will also learn how to easily multiply or propagate coleus from simple cuttings.
- SUNLIGHT: Its basically a shade plant which prefers indirect sunlight, but the best leaf color is achieved with direct morning or evening sunlight or under a shade net. But Many varieties do well in both shade as well as partial direct sunlight as long as they are not allowed to dry out.
- WATERING: They need intelligent watering but Avoid over-watering these plants, which can encourage root rot and death. You water only when the top inch of the soil is completely dry or your plant is beginning to wilt. This wilting is easily reversed with watering.
- SOIL AND FERTILIZERS: They do not need much feeding. Small quantities of some compost mixed in soil is sufficient for them to grow. They thrive in any soil, but a well draining soil is always preferred to avoid root rot and congestion.
- PINCHING: This is the most important care tip for coleus. You have to keep pinching that is cutting off the top growing ends to promote more branching and make it bushy. You can see if this task is not performed, the stems just elongate and may not branch out properly. Just keep pinching the growing and multiplying branches to promote more branching.
- FLOWERS: They produce spikes of flowers, but if you want the plant to grow well just pinch them off. This is also an important tip for beginners.
- Avoid windy locations because coleus can be prone to breakage, as their stem is very tender and soft.
Propagation of Coleus plants from cuttings: It’s again the one of the easiest plant to multiply from cuttings. Its highly recommended plant for beginner gardeners to start their hobby of growing from cuttings from coleus plants. These cuttings are really easy to root in just about 1 to 2 weeks. You can grow the same cutting obtained by pinching your coleus or you can borrow few cuttings from your neighbour.
Take small cuttings and as usual, trip the leaves towards the base of the cuttings and leave the upper leaves as it is. Optionally if you have a rooting hormone, dip the lower end into it and insert into the holes in soil. Make sure your first make holes and then insert because the coleus stems are soft and tender. You should get nearly 100 percent results even without the use of rooting hormone powder. You can use any soil, potting mix or even just cocopeat to start your cuttings but later you need to transfer to mix containing ground soil because they need anchorage or else they tend to fall easily.
