Fuchsia Cuttings

Hi All.
I may of touched on the subject in previous posts about taking fuchsia cuttings.

I have planted a cutting only when a shoot has broken off the fuchsia. Normally trim it up and pop it into water until roots grow, This has had various success but mostly failures.

Last year I took some cuttings and kept them on shelf in computer room. They also were failures mostly to my mismanagement and growing conditions. They all grew ok but were about 4 “tall with just leaves on the top!!

Still got them and I experimenting with them by cutting them down and taking cuttings from them. This year I wanted to try and get a bit more success and took cuttings in spring, including what I wanted to succeed at which is tip cuttings. All the cuttings are doing well and the one of the two tip cutting has 3 nice stems so pleased with result so far.

Been reading, fuchsiaclark.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk, web pages on fuchsia and some very interesting tips & advice on there. I took my cuttings in spring but for Dave Clark who runs the web site December is his main time for taking cuttings as by spring they will have rooted well.


Dave C has heating in the greenhouse & heated bed for thousands of cuttings but I suppose he sells them so got to have this. For me it is totally different as I have unheated garage with NW facing window and some heated propagators. I would like to try taking cuttings in Autumn and trying to grow them over winter, may be a complete failure but got to give it a go.

Has anyone tried and succeed with the Autumn cutting of fuchsias and if so what are the conditions they grew them in.

I cannot see the problem of growing cuttings in heated propagator first but it is after the heater stage and into the cold garage that I can see a problem?
P.S Anthony R, your advice on leaving a dip like a saucer in earth when planting hardy fuchsias was spot on. When watering the water stays in the the dip rather than running away.As you also predicted I can see the dip naturally filling in by winter by which time the roots will have established.

 

Hi Trogre,

I like to grow from autumn cuttings.

What I do is take cuttings with 2 or 3 sets of leaves, making a cut just below the bottom set. Then remove the two lowest leaves by pulling them downwards gently or cutting the leaf stalk as close to the main stem as you can without damaging it.
When you plant it, plant it to the depth of the lowest leaves still left on the plant. This gives you two areas where roots can develop, giving a stronger plant.

You can also do stem cuttings (i.e. without a growing tip) in exactly the same way.

I usually do four or five in a 3" pot and put the pot in a clear food bag.

I keep them on my kitchen window, facing roughly sw/w.

During the winter I keep them on my unheated bedroom window, facing w/nw. ( unless they're something that require a little heat to keep them ticking over in green leaf, but no more than 5 deg, otherwise they grow too leggy as they don't get enough light).

I also do cuttings in december ( I start on the 21st), in exactly the same way. By doing this you miss the days where the nights are getting longer, so they root and grow as the day lengthens. This is when you could use your heated propogator. I wouldn't use it for autumn or spring cuttings though.

I hope I've helped you Trogre, and not confused you even more.

If you hang on ( although if you're unlucky enough to have a branch break off etc. do as above), I'll put a post up into the Fuchsia thread around September time.

 

I tend to do cuttings in the spring when I trim them using last years semi hardwood material with fresh growth on it. By far it's how I get the most success.

 

Thanks for the advice.Never even considered semi hardwood cuttings but will have to look into that in the winter months reading. I am presuming that to take cuttings in December Anthony you would have to keep fuchsias in a semi -dormant condition?
Either that or you do not strip all the leaves off plant or even cut mother plant down ready for overwintering??

 

If they're hardies planted outdoors, then autumn/ spring cuttings are the only way off the mother plant.

I take cuttings off my hardies in September just in case they don't survive the winter outside.

You shouldn't cut the mother plants back hard ( just remove the soft tips) as the stems and leaves provide extra frost protection.

My tender/half hardies are potted into the smallest pots they'll go into and pruned back to about 6" ( if they're small plants then cut back by removing soft tips and 2 or 3 pairs of leaves.

Thus, by doing all this then you have the material for your autumn cuttings.

If you keep these at a low temp you'll find that they will just keep ticking over and therefore you have the cutting material for December.

 

Thanks for the advice Anthony.I can see the wisdom now in not cutting plant right back and removing all the leaves.

 

"Small plants" as in ... only bought this Spring? ( Hoping to take cuttings from my two so I have them next year) .

 

Hi "M",

Nah, small as in they're slow growers or miniatures like "Tom Thumb" e.g.

Anything that is bought and planted out before the end of July should grow well enough to be treated normally by the end of Sept/Oct.

Which ones have bought ?

 

Shrimp Cocktail and Army Nurse. Prolific flowering, both!

 

My Shrimp Cocktail's only just coming into bud. Haven't got Army Nurse, I've got a similar one though ( still on the army theme though Lol.... ) General Monk.

Two nice hardies there.
Have a look on the Fuchsia thread ( I think it's page 7 ), I've put some diagrams up about planting them.

 

You did, and I remember taking notes ... (just where did I put my notes? )

Here she is, "Shrimp Cocktail"



Ok, so not the best of photos and certainly doesn't do her justice, but she is bonny