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| Hello! I'm a bit new to this plant growing/care thing and earlier this year I picked up one of those little kiddy plant growing kits from a craft store. This one had a set of black dragon coleus which ended up growing quite nicely. The problem I'm having is that instead of growing bush-like as some images on google would like me to believe, they seem to be trying to grow a new life as trees in my windowsill. Haha! I've attached a image of... Well... My lineup of plants. for size reference, the skewer I'm using to hold up the largest one is sticking up above the soil nine inches. I was wondering what I could do to encourage them to branch off a bit and not continue to grow up my window like a tree. As for a quick explanation, the smallest plant between the two on the sides is actually the stub from a rather tragic re-potting accident where after I got it situated the top portion fell off and snapped the stem. That part I actually rooted and is now the leftmost coleus in the windowsill and seems to be doing quite well for itself. As for what's left, its put off two new little branches and is growing again. Also, I was reading online that if you let coleus put out flowers then they'll die shortly after seeding. I don't exactly want my lovely little plants to die, and my largest plant seems to be doing just that. What is your recommendation to solving that issue? If you could give me a few tips for these little plants, that would be great. Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by southerngardening24 7b (My Page) on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 20:48
| My coleus have been outside all summer. I pinched off the tips alot to encourage branching and it has worked well. I always pinch off all flower buds. It can be alot to keep up with since there are always some forming and I have many coleus plants. |
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- Posted by Silverling none (My Page) on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 21:39
| Alright, I'll try pinching off the tips of these guys, though the largest one I may hack off half of it and root that portion as it is getting to rather silly levels of tallness. And I considered placing these guys outside, but I unfortunately own a small army of chickens who, despite having 2 acres of green grass to pick through and eat bugs, love to destroy everything small and flower-like. Makes trying to plant anything a bit of a pain. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian MI z5 (My Page) on Tue, Sep 30, 14 at 8:56
| you are having trouble./. because ... though they might live ...they are not really houseplants ... you might want to try that forum ... the only way to do it indoors.... is to keep rooting new cuttings... and you get those.. by repeatedly pinching them back.. to form a new plant... so that they never need to be staked .. i would cut the tallest one back to about 3 inches... and root 2 inch pieces of what i cut off ... there should be a lot of information on taking C cuttings on google.. and i wouldnt be surprised if there werent videos ... i am not sure you media is good ... but you can discuss that in the houseplant forum ... they are technically not annual... in their native areas .... but that is how most of us .. up north.. grow them ... ken |
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| Coleus make very nice houseplants. 'Black Dragon ' may prefer a shady location outside, but to do well inside will need excellent light, even artificial lighting. Your plants are extremely etiolated.....leggy, stretched, not colorful. Keeping them pinched and providing great light will allow your coleus to grow full, well branched, and colorful. I'm growing "Jade " from the wizard series this year for the winter. |
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- Posted by Silverling none (My Page) on Wed, Oct 1, 14 at 0:59
| Yeah, I figured the lighting I have is a slight issue. There's a large bush outside my window which kind of blocks the sunlight coming in. I think I'll have to go trim that back this weekend, haha! Though I do have full spectrum lighting from my lizard tanks, I'm just not sure if that would be enough for the coleus. Thank you for the tips though! I think I am going to cut my tallest one down and root the cuttings. I might have to take one of the cuttings outside and see how it fares against the chickens sometime, though. There's a planter in the front of my house that gets a good amount of shade during the day, used to have lots of nice flowers growing in it but then, of course, the chickens dug everything up. -_- Sorry if I did post this in the wrong board. I wasn't entirely sure where to put it and I saw other people's topics on Coleus here. |
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| Silver, this forum is perfectly fine! Most people post their coleus questions in here...let's face it, coleus fits into several categories. |
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| Silver, this forum is perfectly fine! Most people post their coleus questions in here...let's face it, coleus fits into several categories. |
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