Coleus care

The Coleus are easy to care for.

1. Place in a window with full sun, or on a porch, or even on the steps outside. Do not place outside in the winter or in extreme heat. Water daily or on alternate days to keep moist. Do not allow to dry so much that leaves droop or soil pulls away from the edge of the pot. These are signs the plant is too dry. When you water, add sufficient water such that some percolates all the way through and starts dribbling out from the holes in the bottom of the pot. If you are keeping the plants inside, be sure to put the plant saucers under the pots to prevent damage to furntiure. When you water, if more than a small puddle accumulates in the dish, then dump out the excess water - don't allow the saucer to fill with water.
2. Once you have watered your coleus and put them in an appropriate sunny environment, put a sticker (from your general supplies bag) on one of the pots, then photograph the two plants together with the sticker showing (the sticker shows me that it's your own photograph). Upload the photograph to the Padlet page linked here.

Note to Instructors

Needed supplies:

• 2 Coleus plants
• 2 5- inch pots
• potting soil
• two plant saucers
• shipping supplies if you are mailing plants (cardboard tubes, or fashion tubes out of old boxes, tape, staple-gun helps)

Students use Coleus for a couple of activities:

1. They make a cutting, put it in water and observe adventitious root development
2. They make a cutting from one and graft it onto the other (on the spot from which the cutting for the root development activity was taken)

I grow coleus from cuttings or purchase in the right season. Be aware it is hard to buy Coleus in January or even September, so plan head. I pot the cuttings into ~ 5 inch pots with commercial potting soil. I send students two varieties, so when they make cuttings, it looks cool (and is easier for instructor to see they have accomplished it).

The hardest part is shipping live plants. The best way to learn how to ship coleus is to buy a plant from Carolina and see how they package it, and then to replicate it as well as possible. It involves cardboard, tape and ideally a staple gun. It's worth the time spent to perfect packaging; otherwise, they do poorly in shipping. I've wondered if there are other plants students could easily purchase at garden stores throughout the year that would substitute - any ideas?

To reduce the hassle, I require students who living within 30 minutes of campus to come pick up their supplies, and I tell them that if they can't pick up replacements from campus in the event a plant dies, they may need to order replacements from Carolina Biological if they can't find Coleus at a garden store.