Thursday 29 August 2013

My step by step guide of starting off standard fuchsias

This summer has been great for my fuchsias, they are still blooming their socks off. You can see some of them here.

You can now start to feel a chill in the air and see some of the leaves turn yellow, so Autumn must be on its way. But we really are coming to the end of our fuchsia growing season.

This is my 2nd year really getting interested in growing whips and I will show you how I do it in this blog.

To start with I look for a fuchsia with 3 leaves.

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Now I take off the flower buds like so.

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I use small pots or recycled cups to fill with compost and vermiculite.

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Then make a hole to place fuchsia in.

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Then add your cane and tie in.

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And as the fuchsia grows keep tying in to keep stem straight and give good water. I will keep you updated with my progress with this fuchsia.

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4 comments:

  1. Kath a couple of question - I hope you don't mind.
    Do the stems grow without leaves or do they need rubbed off? and What do you do for winter protection?

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  2. Angie you keep the leaves growing on all the top when you wan tto pinch out for the head.

    The head then becomes a bush on top of stem Angie.You keep the leaves as this is feed for the plant.

    But you nip out any side shoots as you would with tomatoe plants.

    This was just an example but I started my whips end of June.

    For winter protection my standards would come into my conservatory as long as you have frost free place to contain them.

    But last yr I lost all my fuchsia in that were in my unheated greenhouse.

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  3. Right - I will give it a try and let you know how I get on ! I have taken fuschia cuttings for years and always found I get a high strike rate, but never thought to grow standards !

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  4. Great hoehoegrow and you must remember to keep a stick in and tie the stem so it stays straight.

    Share some of your fuchsia photos on the forum Jane.

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