Beautiful Coleus!

[fruit&veg]

I have quite a few gorgeous coleus plants which I have grown from seed over a few months and I have taken some cuttings from them which are doing great. I want to eventually have enough to be able to sell them at a car boot or table top sale. Some of the 'mother' plants are getting enormous and I'm a bit worried about whether I should be nipping them down at the top so they might grow bushier? If so, how do I best do this?
Also has anyone got any tips on caring for coleus, getting them to grow faster, colour strains or just anything interesting about them? I would love to know, I think they are a beautiful plant!
And does anyone know of any other houseplants which grow quickly and provide many cuttings like coleus?
Thanks!!

[Kisal]

I would pinch back all of the growing tips once in awhile. It will make the plant bushier, and it's a way to help control the size.

I haven't grown coleus for years. They can be pretty, though.

[fruit&veg]

Yeah I love them, definitely my favourites!! Thanks, how exactly do I do that though?! Still a bit of a novice lol. Also, some of the plants now have flowers on the top?

[Kisal]

Pinch or cut the stems just above a node. The nodes are the slightly swollen looking places. I haven't looked at a coleus in a long time, so if there are no nodes, just pinch or cut the stem about 1/4 inch (.5 cm) above where a leaf emerges.

There are buds at that point which will develop into new stems.

[fruit&veg]

Great, thanks!!

[thanrose]

Your days are getting shorter now, so you might not see any bloom spikes. In case you do, cut them off right away, pinching back to the set of full leaves just below the bloom spike. If you pinch just the spike, you'll probably get twice the number of bloom spikes. Aside from drawing nutrition from the plant's reserves, the flowers may cross pollinate with other coleus and the resulting seeds will give you more common looking coleus.

At every node, there is the potential for two more branches. Some will grow anyway, but if you pinch off above the node you'll promote branching.

Coleus roots easily in water or sand or potting soil. I've had cuttings root on piles of yard waste waiting for pickup. Very easy to root and grow.

Lots of plants root very quickly and can spread easily. Spider plants and philodendron for foliage, begonia and impatiens for flowers are a few of them.

[fruit&veg]

I didn't realise coleus produced seeds, are these from the flowers?
I have a few plants that have flowered, I will cut them off now! Thank you!