Fuscia advice please

I have a Lady Boothby and a winston Churchill - First year for both. Do any of you guys have any advice for a TOTAL beginner gardener as to how I should treat these plants??? At the moment my WC is planted into a slightly bigger pot and seems to be coming on well. I am watering, its in the sun and I am feeding twice a week. I haven't pinched any bits off.....should I? and if so where????

My Lady Boothbys were from QVC -and are still in 3 small pots. They said they were climbing ones. At the mo they're on my window sill. When should I put them outside and how do I know that they're ready to be put into bigger pots? How often should I feed them?

Sorry for all the q's but you are obviously all successful at growing yours

Thanks

 

Hi Sarah. Can you put up some pics ?

Cheers...freddy.

 

oooh I will dig out the camera and give it a go!

 

Here are the photos I have NO Idea how to make them appear within the message??

 

Hi Sarah. Ok, those in pic 1, I would keep them in the same pots for now, pinch out those two largest stems (on each) and keep them outside during the day, in a bright spot, but out of the sun(young plants are a bit delicate), and bring them in at night. You need only do this for a few days (bringing them in and out) until they harden off a bit. After that you can leave them outside. After they've put on good growth, put them into their final planting place.They ARE a bit behind, so you will probably find they won't flower for some time, but should provide a show later.
Ok, the one in pic 2. It looks fine to me, no need for any pinching out. BTW, to pinch out, just remove the top pair of leaves. I would hold off with any serious feeding right now, better to wait until they start flowering. Just make sure they don't dry out.
Hope this helps

Cheers...freddy.

 

Ok I will give that a go - I will keep you posted. For the Lady Boothby - it said it's a climbing one. When should I add some kind of support to it and what do you recommend. I have seen these teepee things or trellis? Thanks very much for your help and advice.

 

Hi Sarah. I can't say I've heard of climbers. If they actually ARE climbers, then I guess I would use some short canes or the like (maybe 3) to form a wigwam shape, probably no more than 18" long.

Cheers...freddy.

 

Hi Sarah, I'm growing LB for the second year. They don't climb as such, (no tendrils) they sort of lean on the supports.:wink: I've got 2 on wigwams and 2 on trellises. The ones on the wigwams do fine by being left alone. The ones on the trellises I tie onto the trellis when they're about 2' tall otherwise the long stems grow away from the support. Both the ones in the pots and the ones in the ground happily survived the Winter. There is some die-back on the longer stems. Most have started shooting from about halfway up the stems but I had to cut one right back to the ground and it's shooting again from the bottom. I have noticed that they require a fair amount of water both in pots and in the ground but that might be due to the fact that my ground dries out very quickly. I've got them on North-facing aspects and on West-facing aspects and they both did fine.
I think everything is a little slow this year, I'm sure they'll catch up as the weather improves. ( He says with an eye on the weather from Wednesday onwards:hehe Hope this helps.

 

Oh! Sorry, I should have said that they grow up to about 6' tall. (2metres!)

 

WOW that's tall. They're shooting up very well at the mo - pinched the top out as suggested by Freddy. Also what size pot do you think I should put them in? I have 3 baby plants - one is for a friend and the other two for me :-). Should they have a pot each or go in together? I'm thinking a pot each by your description on how they grow!

 

Hmm! No disrespect to Freddy but I wouldn't pinch out the LB. They throw out long stems that are the climbing bits. That's why they're called climbers.:wink: Mine are in 12" pots. Given the way they grow, I wouldn't fancy more than one in a pot.

 

"Hmm! No disrespect to Freddy"

None taken. As I said, I've not heard of climbers, so I was sticking to the general practice. If you've already pinched them out Sarah, I'm sure they'll still be fine, they'll just take longer to flower.

Cheers...freddy.

 

Also have a 2 yr old Lady Boothby which I found a little dissapponting as it is offered as a 'climber'. Mine has wintered outside quite happily and is coming into growth just now with three or four shoots. Cajary's comments look fine to me - no need to 'pinch out' just let it grow........

 

Hi Sarah. There's no need to be feeding Fuchsias twice a week at this stage. Just let them grow.
Also I don't think there's any such thing as climbing fuchisas - no matter what the sellers blurb says. They don't make any tendrils to hold on with, so if they grow tall you will have to tie them in to some kind of support.
I'm sure your fuchsias will make a great show - they always do.