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Etoliation In Over-wintering Geraniums and the Brown Paper Bag
Etoliation is the result of too little light. Plants require sufficient light in order to produce chlorophyll, which is a green pigment in plants, but also necessary for regular growth and development.
When a plant suffers from etoliation, the growing branches, stems and leaves will look pale green to white. They will "snake" and stretch out, attempting to reach higher light levels.
This was very noticeable in some geraniums I was over-wintering with the brown paper bag method. The Brown Paper Bag method consists of pulling the geranium (in this case zonal types) from the ground or pot, removing most of the soil surrounding the roots, and placing the plant in a brown paper grocery bag. I stapled the top closed on mine. The theory to this method is that the plants will become dormant, and while stored in a cool (but above freezing) cellar or other room, they will stay alive until spring, when they can be re-potted and grown on for another season.
I had heard of this method, but it wasn't until I was very short of growing space that I had decided to try it. I happen to grow geraniums as houseplants as well as garden plants. This makes me want to see my plants in healthy green growth year-round, and placing some of my favorites in the bags was a little difficult to do.
After two weeks, following some discussion about potential fungus and using cinnamon as a preventative for the plants in the bags, I decided to both check their status and dust them with the cinnamon. What I found after opening the bags was a few plants that were blooming, most of the plants that were doing nothing new, and a few plants that had severe etoliation.
The scan below is of one of my favorite plants, the zonal geranium (Pelargonium x hortorum) 'Horizon Coral Spice', after two weeks in a brown paper bag.
On this plant, I had found some dead leaves and stems and had trimmed them off when I opened the bags. You can see the etoliation in these stems and leaves that had just started to emerge when I had placed them in the bags. The smallest and newest leaf is not dying back at the edges like the others, but is extremely pale green. The two newer stems in the foreground have grown what had been the direction "up" as the plant had been lying on its side in the bag. There are more stems and leaves in the background, that the scan didn't pick up. Those are not as etiolated as these in the foreground.
As a "casual experiment" I will now check the plants every two weeks and see how they progress through the winter. This Brown Bag method of storing plants has been used successfully by growers, and I do find it mentioned in literature, so I am not really concerned about losing the plants. I am sure in the spring, they will look terrible at first, but I will bring them upstairs and pot them up and they will sprout new growth and thrive.
On December 10, 2002, a sample plant looked like the scan below after four weeks in a brown bag
I expect the plants to look in similar condition throughout the winter storage.
| Date | Condition |
| 11-12-02 | Placed 24 geraniums (Pelargonium x hortorum) in brown paper bags in 40 to 45 degree cellar |
| 11-26-02 | Status of plants- Most showed no significant change - 5 had opened blooms while in the bags, 3 had significant etoliation |
| 12-10-02 | Status of plants - all new growth is completely yellow, no sign of any blooming. Etoliation continues, and any leaves trying to grow are very small. There are more dead leaves. |
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