I have never tried propagating cuttings before and I want to take cuttings of my Fuchsia Gartenmeister Bonstedt in September and grow new plants for next year. Has anyone successfully started new plants this way? I really need a step by step tutorial, from the cutting to root hormone to growing medium to over-wintering under the lights.
Much appreciated. Thanks!
Anyone propagate cuttings of Fuchsia Gartenmeister Bonstedt?
My 'Gartenmeister' is several years old and I usually do cuttings late winter/early spring every year. They're pretty easy to start from cuttings and aren't fussy at all. Since I want to prune it anyway at the time, it's great to make use of the cuttings.
Remove any remainders of flowers from the previous season since you don't want the plant to try to make seeds. You can use cuttings with 2 or 3 pairs of leaves. Make a nice clean cut (using clean scissors, razor blade or pruners and make sure they're sharp) just below the bottom pair of leaves. Then remove the bottom pair of leaves. I usually dip the bottom in a little water and then into the rooting hormone so the hormone sticks to the cutting better. Using clean pots or 6 packs, fill them with a clean mix (usually sterilized seed starting mix or a mix of perlite and peat moss) that's been slightly dampened (the mixes can be difficult to wet once your cuttings are inserted and this facilitates water absorption). Poke a hole with a skewer or pencil and stick the cuttings in. Use the skewer (or whatever) to push the dirt up around the cutting rather than pressing down with your fingers. You don't want to compress the medium too much. Once planted, I gently water from the top just to settle the mix around the cutting. Future watering can be done from the bottom. Use a clear dome or plastic wrap to keep the humidity in but still allow for some air circulation until they've rooted. Don't let the mix dry out but don't get it too wet either. Under lights, make sure it doesn't get too warm - maybe 75 degrees tops. Keep the lights on for 14 to 16 hours per day. You can pot them up into bigger pots as they grow. I don't start mine much before late January since they're more for putting outdoors in spring (after last frost).
Good luck!
Thank you so much! I wanted to do the cuttings in October so I don't have to bring the whole plant inside, it's rather large and my seedling/propagation station is very limited space. Is that too soon?
If you're set up with indoor lights and have the space for growing plants, you should be okay starting them in Oct. I was wondering if you have a heated garage for storing the mother plant. Mine did fine in a 55-degree greenhouse over winter. I had a white fly problem with mine a few years back - probably got carried in on the mother plant - but they're easy enough to see on that dark foliage but harder to get rid of.
I have 4 mother plants growing and planned on taking cuttings off each. My garage gets down to 35 degrees in the winter, even a touch colder if the outside temps are really low. In my basement I have set-up a gardening area in a corner near the furnance and hot water heater. The appliances keep my corner toasty at about 70 degrees during the cold months. My homemade gardening bench is plywood on top saw horses with adjustable 48" grow lights hanging above. For a few years this has been my seedling station, which I start April 1st, and has work beautifully. This year I bought several tropicals I want to take cuttings from to save on the expense of buying new plants next spring, the Gartenmeister being just one variety. When it's time to start seedlings, late winter early spring, I can move them to a rack on the finished side of the basement where I have grow lights and succulents. The temp on that side is cooler, about 65 degrees.
Does this sound workable to you?
'Doesn't leave much space' has been a worrying thought in my brain. Besides tropical cuttings and seedlings, I also need room for vegetable seedlings; have 4 raised beds!
Something I did this past winter/spring that may help you. In my GH, I have cedar growing benches about 4 ft long and about 2 ft deep. DH added a bottom shelf to them so that I could take advantage of the space under the benches. Knowing I wouldn't have enough space for all of the seedlings with all of the tender plants I was also overwintering, I rigged up two double fluorescent lights to hang from underneath the top shelf of the bench. Those shop lights come with little chains. I attached a timer and then ran the power cord to the electrical outlet I have in there. Because I put up that rigid foam insulation all around the bottom half of the GH in the winter, those bottom shelves don't normally get any light. I also added a little clip-on fan to keep the air circulating. Voila - 8 sq ft of additional growing space. Could you hang additional fluorescents from the sawhorses, under your plywood? If you have a concrete floor (which is usually cool), you could put your seed-starting flats on top of upside-down empty flats. We all can use more growing space. :)
Cindy: what a wonderful idea! I have those metal funnel clip-on work lights I sometimes use with a grow bulb. They would work perfectly attached to the sawhorse supports. Right now my space is rectangular, but I have a little extra room where I can add one more saw horse and another piece of plywood to make it "L" shaped. My shop lights hang from the main floor rafters on adjustable chains, and like you, everything is plugged into extension cords into a timer plugged into the outlet. It wouldn't take much time to add a fourth light above the new extension.
Also, I have a new set-up planned for the unheated garage this winter. I have cacti that need a cold 40-50 degree period. In previous years I have wintered them in the basement, but it is not cool enough. I plan to use more metal funnel clip-on shop lights with grow bulbs in them, suspended from a tall wooden frame sitting on top my garden table, which is tucked into an inside corner of the garage, away from the door. Those bulbs plus the metal shade create quite a bit of heat and I am hoping they will generate enough heat to raise the temps (in the vicinity of the plants) to 40-45 degrees when it is really cold. I am going to insultate around the potted cacti, probably use a large container of garden soil with the cacti pots buried to the rims. What I have been thinking is this grow light frame is very large and my cacti will only use about half the space, so why couldn't I add some tropical mother plants that have been trimmed down and repotted, and try to over winter them in the garage, also? Several years ago I used the funnel clip-ons to overwinter a potted oleander. The plant survived that way over several winters. What I did was set the timer for the lights to be on from about 4 PM to 9 AM so the heat generate by the lights would be present during the coldest part of the day, the cold night when the temps drop, and not during the day when the temp inside the garage is in the 40s, 50s, or low 60s if we get a shot of warm weather for a few days.
I think I have a workable plan!
Gartenmeister can go down to 40 degrees. Wondering if you couldn't use a big deep plastic tub and fill it half way with garden soil and plop the pots down in there. The higher sides on the tub might keep out cold drafts and create a little micro climate (maybe). You could also wrap insulation around the outside of the tub as well to help keep that soil warmth constant.
Plastic tub or high-sided plastic storage box is what I was thinking of filling, and if that isn't enough to protect from cold drafts, I have XL boxes I can cut the bottoms/tops off and use as a sleeve. But I didn't think about insulating wrap. I have used bubble wrap, 2 layers with the bubbles inside to create an insulating air pocket, to line XL plastic pots to see if I could overwinter perennials in pots. Worked like a charm. I could use bubble wrap between the cardboard sleeve and plastic tub as insulation, or just around the plastic tub. I don't see why the same method wouldn't work for tropicals that can survive 40-50 degrees.
You really have helped me work this out. Thank you so much!
Glad I could be of help. I have a tall movable cold frame that I move onto the patio during the winter for keeping potted hardy perennials in over winter. It's got a double layer of heavy plastic with an air pocket in between and stuff usually comes out of there looking good and with a jump start on spring. I had read that for potted perennials, you need to protect them for 2 zones colder than the plants' actual hardiness. Wouldn't work for 'Gartenmeister' though - still too cold.
I was reading a Fuchsia book I picked up from the library yesterday, and when taking cuttings it said the best time of year is in the spring when the plant hormones are working at their best. Taking cuttings in summer and fall are acceptable, but the lost ratio rises the longer into the growing season you wait.
I am rethinking taking cuttings next month. I think I can successfully overwinter the mother plants in the garage, but if they start to show signs of decline, I can always set-up more grow lights in the basement and put them there.
If you have the right conditions, all described above, you should be able to grow fuchsia cuttings almost any time of year. I'd go ahead and experiment with a few cuttings now hummer_girl. You will probably need to prune your mother plants anyway, and a few rooted cuttings would be insurance against losing anyone completely.
One of the tricks I use, is the plastic containers so many fresh fruits come in nowadays in the produce section of the supermarket. They have air holes to allow the fruit to breath. They create the same exact conditions that rooting cuttings need! Sometimes they are big enough to fit the little pots inside or little six packs. Sometimes I just line the bottoms with cheesecloth and fill them halfway with potting soil and plant directly into them.
PC: I save those 4"-5" nursery pots I buy annuals or perennials in. If I clean them, can I reuse them for cuttings? They all have air holes at the bottom. I also have lattice trays that fit inside 10"x20" seedling trays (the kind a dome fits over). I can put a lot of 4"-5" pots in those lattice trays which makes it easy to water from the bottom and move around.
Sure, I re-use pots constantly! Unless you bought something with a desease or pest, I wouldn't even worry about how clean it is.
I read about watering from the bottom. I have never done that and I wouldn't do it. Unless I knew I'd be right back to take them out of the water and was certain they could drain well. I'd be too afraid they'd be so wet they'd rot.
I know some plants like African Violets, can't have water on their leaves, need water at room temperature, and are watered from the bottom. But even with them, you have to be careful to remove any excess water the soil hasn't absorbed within a short period of time. All of my indoor plants are in trays full of coarse gravel, so the water drains away and the bottoms of the pots are never in direct contact with the standing water.
Fuchsia cuttings love having their leaves misted. In a commercial setting, they are grown under automatic misting systems. So I just keep them covered with a light breathable material and I keep that moist. I've never, ever needed to use hormone powders. Which reminds me, a friend let me cut his Gartenmeister and I'd better go check on them! He thought it was dead this past winter because he lives where it gets very cold and it had dissappeared. Or so he thought! Early this spring, I showed him that it was already 8 inches high and coming back up under the leather ferns around it's base.
Knock on the head! I water seedlings from the bottom.
Plants I overwinter downstairs I put on an open frame over the floor drain when I water so all the excess goes down the drain and I don't make a mess. Putting the nursery pots in the lattice tray would make it easy to set the tray on the frame and water a group. All the water drains out of the lattice tray so no one is standing in water.
You don't use hormone powders on Fuchsia cuttings when you plant them? Why not?
It has never been necessary. Years ago, I did a test try with and without and couldn't see any difference in success rate or growth. Plus, I worked in a huge wholesale nursery. Speed was essential when you are doing things by the thousands. Pausing to dip each one into hormone powder was time consuming. And expensive. So I stopped using it and have never needed it since. It might be useful on more difficult items like Plumbago, and the lavenders which have a high loss rate because they grow slower and tend to rot before they can produce roots.
Meanwhile, I confess!
I don't like Gartenmeister Bonstedt and never wanted to grow it, but the clippings were a gift, so I did. Even so, I was bad and left them in the clear plastic shoe boxes I use to store cuttings overnight or for a few days, and by the time I went to plant them, most of the leaves had fallen off of my trimmed cuttings.
I felt very guilty and planted all of them anyway. Even the ones with no leaves!!!
Every single one of those little suckers is alive and kicking and putting out shoots!!
No wonder every one wants this fuchsia, it's tough as nails!
And today I went and bought a new roll of my secret breathable cloth just so I could tell you all what it's name is and where they make it.
Easy Gardener - Plant & Seed Blanket
Made by Easy Gardener, Inc. in Waco, Texas. And here is what the package says, which is all very, very true. I don't know what I'd do without this stuff.
"Speeds germination and growth, creates a greenhouse effect, blocks insects without chemicals, protects from light frost, etc." In my case, it prevents my cuttings from drying out inbetween mistings.
Here is a photo of my Gartenmeister cuttings after six weeks. The material you see beside them, is the blanket material I talked about.
Almost all of them are growing!
P.C.: you are a wealth of fuchsia information, and I thank you. I haven't taken any cuttings from my Gartenmeister, yet. They are having their second bloom right now and the hummers are enjoying their nectar. After the hummers leave in October I'll start taking cuttings for next year.
If you do your cuttings in October, you might also want to treat them and the soil with an anti-fungal agent. It is a bit dicey when the nights get cold and shorter. Even in a warm greenhouse (mine are out in the cold) the shorter days and moisture can cause mildew to grow and you can lose almost all of your cuttings. One day they look great, the next day, they are covered with blooming mildew.
It certainly doens't stop me from doing cuttings this time of year, I just know I could lose around half of them.
Here is a new photo of the Gartenmeisters from this morning. They just got moved out of the deep northern shade from where I keep my cuttings, into the full sun of the front porch. I don't know if you can tell, but there are fewer of them now, as some did not make it even though there were growing.
Now that they are in the light, they will really take off.
When I do my cuttings, I was going to put them in my basement under grow lights. My basement is dry, not moist, and cool right now. Will the grow lights be too much light? I use 1 warm, 1 cool fluorescent bulbs. Do fuchsia cuttings need a low light area to root?
I have never attempted to grow cuttings in artificial light! But I have thought about it allot. Your set up sound perfect. My only caution, because of the restricted air circulation, would to still use an anti-fungal agent. Years ago, I worked in a large commercial nursery and we had one long narrow greenhouse just for cuttings. It has an automatic misting system (you can get the mechanism for under $35) that went off about every 20 minutes (sometimes all you need is every 2 hours or so, depends on the conditions), and we'd spend a great deal of time sorting through them to pull out the dead and rotting ones. The soil had to be dumped out of the 2" pots, treated, and then re-used. It took me a long time to convince them they could save allot of money if they'd just treat for fungus and mold right from the beginning. Money for the time to make the cuttings, fill the pots, plant them, pull them out, and dump them! I used to joke that they could just pile money in the road and burn it instead. They were amazed at their success when they decided to take my advice.
Fuchsia cuttings don't necessary need low light to root, they just can't be in the direct sunshine at all until they have at least begun to root. So bright cool light is good.
I have a back room of the house I am considering trying to use for this later in the winter. But it has two windows, so there will be winter sunlight in there, along with flourescent grow light bulbs. When I was growing ferns commercially, the spore had to be in a sterile room, sterile soil, sterile water, etc. So there was no sunlight. We used a special kind of flourescent lightbulb called a Chroma50 because it mimicked real sunlight better than most. They worked great! I am not sure what you mean by a warm flourescent bulb. But it must have a full spectrum of light. I hope you take photos of your set up for us!
Anti-fungal? I have no idea what I would be looking for. Any brand names you might suggest?
Also, I have no idea what spectrum of light my fluorescents are rated for. The packaging was trashed last March. Up until last spring I used those specifically labeled plant grow light blue bulbs in those metal funnel clip-on work lights. Then I put up 48" shop lights last March over my downstairs propagation table. My choice of lights was based on a "Rebecca's Garden" DVD for setting up growing plants from seeds. All she said was to use a cool fluorescent and a warm fluorescent in each shop light, and that it wasn't necessary to spend more money on designated plant grow light fluorescent bulbs. When I went fluorescent bulb shopping I bought packages labeled warm and cool that could be used in my model shop light. Her suggestion worked find for my seedlings. I didn't lose any plants to dampening off. I think the warm label means the bulb gives off a certain amount of heat, whereas the cool bulb doesn't. But, then again, I might be completely mistaken. I think when I bought the bulbs the packaging listed them as being equivalent to daylight, but I'm not sure I'm remembering correctly.
If what you bought worked fine for seedlings and they didn't get thin and weak on you, then you've got the right stuff!
As for the anti-fungal there are a slew of products out there. They usually just use a generic reference and call them all plant diseases. Most will say they cure and prevent "plant diseases." And then if you read the label, you'll see a list of all kinds of stuff like rust, powdery mildew, black spot, leaf spot, petal blight...basically all mold and fungal conditions. Some claim to take care of a range of up to 50 problems. Insect and plant "diseases" combined.
So the code word here to look for is "plant diseases." You don't need one that also kills insects. Just mix up enough for a dedicated spray bottle and label it well. Mist the soil and cuttings before or after you plant them.
Mold, fungus, and mildew spores are in the air no matter where you are. Just like pollen, viruses, and bacteria. Whether or not they become a problem, depends on the conditions.
Still, warm, moist air is perfect for delicate molds and mildews to bloom in.
Here are the cuttings again one week later. As you can see, sometimes the hardest thing to do is move them out of their protected area and into the sunshine, most of them have not survived the transition.
But it does look like I will have two for certain, and maybe three. Not bad considering the condition they were in when I planted them.
How we suffer for our plants, and our plants suffer for us.
The larger seedling looks very healthy. Maybe the smaller one will eventually catch up.
This weekend the temps are supposed to drop to 41 degrees 2 nights in a row. I've been playing this mental game: should I put the Gartenmeiser in the garage, or not?
It's like my mind is set on repeat. The plants are in 14" terracotta pots, so they are heavy and I don't want to move them unless it is absolutely necessary.
The plants are still in full bloom, and though I think the regular hummers have left, I'm still seeing 1 about every other day, which makes me think I'm seeing migrating birds and the regulars have left. So I want to leave the blooming plants outside as long as possible.
This time of year its a day by day decision.
I know how you feel! It has been dropping down into the 40's here also. And there is no where to move all of my fuchsias to!! They either make it out there or they don't!
Unless you are concerned about freezing, I'd leave them out. Especially if you are going to have nice days where the temps still get up into the high 60's or even the low 70's. Have you considered a light covering? Something you can throw over them in the evenings and take off during the day? I have 15 new varieties I just transplanted and they are pretty small. Just tiny little 2" starts.
That is what I do for all of the younger ones this time of year.
Most garden centers have rolls of material I talked about, just for this purpose.
For me, the question is, when do I pack all the mulch around everyone and bring the bigger containers close together so I can stuff the gaps between them.
A wealth of information on this thread. : = )
I have successfully bottom watered the fuchia plants, but where I am, is very dry and hot in the summer. Have two that are doing well and will be left outside to overwinter in 5 gallon pots. If they survive the winter, they will be planted in the ground come February.
I have often used plain old cloth sheets to cover the frost sensitive plants/tropicals I have, really helps reduce the frost damage, but they have to be removed during the daytime.
I have some bare root seedlings I just rec'd. For right now, they will go into the gh.
Mostly because I have a pup who thinks it's great fun to fling around my plastic potted plants. He'll outgrow it. I hope.
Thanks for all the great propagation tips.
Walk In Beauty!
SingingWolf
Here we are at 10 weeks old. Looks like there is probably only one out of all of them that is a sure thing. Two more are sort of hanging on. But remember, this was not done in a greenhouse, the cuttings themselves were not treated properly in the first place, and I must have moved them out into the sun before the smaller ones could cope with it. So this is a worse case scenario. Even so, you can see what you can expect after 10 weeks from a good fuchsia cuttings. This is about the size of fuchsia starts I usually buy for my collection. And many of those are big bushes now. The only ones that aren't, are just the younger ones :-)
I will continue to take a photograph once a week, weather permitting. And we can all watch this guy grow!
Eleven weeks and not much changed, but it is after all, late October. It is doing fine though. Maybe this little guy would be a good candidate for my experiment in growing fuchsias as indoor blooming houseplants for the winter.
The squash are a fall front yard decoration. They are from seeds I saved last year, I knew they had cross pollinated with other winter squash in the yard, but I was a bit dissapointed to see that they had lost the splash of orange I had in them last year. I am going to carve a couple for Halloween anyway ;-)
LOL you guys slay ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi SingingWolf! Hope we are still DG friends = )
Hi hummer, Hi Pedrick ....... = )
Love this thread !
Xoxo xo xo
Sylvia
Twelve weeks old now. I probably won't post more photos until there is a maked increase in the growth. I am going to move it to a sunnier location over where it's close relative 'Billie Green' is thriving.
Willowwind2 sent me some beautiful cuttings and one rooted plant. I am going to add photos of those and their progress to the thread called 'How/When are you most successful at propagating fuchsias.'
Here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1033919/
My F. boliviana is in full bloom right now with those beautiful long red flowers. I've read this is the one with the berries they sell in the fruit markets of Brazil, so I am really looking forward to trying some!
Beautiful show of their greenhouse GGK! Can't wait to hear what you chose :-)
Another weekend working outside getting the beds ready for winter and bringing the tropicals inside the garage. I needed a coffee break and to warm up (about 50 degrees with overcast skies so it feels like 45), and decided to get onliine and tell GGK what a tease he is!!!!! Saw my fuchsias, indeed.
So what did you buy at Fry Nursery, GGK? From your great pic, their setup looks good.
And for the record, since we're in the propagating Gartenmeister thread, I took some cuttings the first weekend of November and they seem to be taking. I'm also moving a trimmed down mother plant inside the garage today. I'll try to remember to take pictures.
On November 1st I took three F. Gartenmeister cuttings. In the picture below (taken November 30th), you can see all three have new growth emerging and have rooted. Let me pause and pat myself on the back. This was my first attempt propagating fuchsias (and a variety of other plants) by taking cuttings. So far I have had a 99% success rate.
I mixed organic seed starter and perlite, equal amounts, moistened, and filled my inexpensive home-style propagating cups. The plastic cups are 3” wide x 4” deep and come in a large bag at Big Lots and cost about a dollar. You get a lot of cups for a dollar. I no longer have the packaging, but I think there were about three dozen (maybe more). I drilled holes in the bottom of the cups for drainage. I didn’t tightly pack my mix in the cups, but I did tap the cups on the table top to settle the mix. Even though I had put the cuttings in water when I took them and potted the same day, I gave each stem a fresh cut at the bottom, I also trimmed off all the leaves except the top two. I also used a razor blade to very slightly nick the nodes. Between the leaves and the bottom stem cut, there were two nodes on each stem where the plant could root itself. I wet the stems and dipped them in root hormone. Used a pencil to poke a hole in my mix, and inserted the stem. I then did another tap on the table so the mix could settle around the stem. In each cup I put two or three cuttings. I heavily misted my tray of cuttings when I was through, and each day for two weeks I heavily misted the tray at least three times a day. I did not cover my tray with plastic, didn’t have anything tall enough. So I took a chance I would be able to provide enough humidity. My tray of cuttings was under grow lights in my basement near the furnace and hot water heater. Toasty area. I have two 48” shop lights over my table, about 24” above the cuttings, T12 fluorescent, one cool bulb, one plant bulb. I have other plants on the table and put small trays of water around the table top to add humidity. About a week ago I read that when you do cuttings and have large leaves at the top of the stems, you can cut them in half so more energy is put into making new growth and less directed to the old growth. So my cuttings were full-leafed until about a week ago when I cut them (as seen in the pic). Once I determined my cuttings had rooted and the cups needed more than heavy misting, (about 20 days after planting), I top watered adding quarter strength 15-15-15 fertilizer and a couple drops of Superthrive to a gallon of water. In the last week the new growth has really become prominent. For the last week or so I heavily mist once a day, sometimes twice, but not always because I‘m top-watering when needed. These cups are semi-transparent and through the sides of the cups you can see the roots growing on some of the plants. Soon I’m going to need to pot up into 4” pots. At that time I will separate the multiple cuttings and put each new plant into their own pot where they will stay until next spring.
Here’s a picture of my F. Gartenmeister mother plant. Two plants were potted together last May in a 14” terracotta pot. I decide since my Gartenmeister cuttings were creating new plants, I would experiment with the mother plant. I lightly watered the pot on November 29th. On November 30th I moved the pot into the garage, deciding to leave the plant as is and not repot. I cut the plant back to about 6”; all foliage removed. The pot is too heavy to put on my gardening table in the garage, so it is on the floor with a plastic saucer underneath. Right now my garage temperature gauge reads 49 degrees during the middle of the day, and our high temp today is supposed to be in the mid to high 50s outside. I’m sure the cement floor is cooler. I have funnel shop lights with plant bulbs over my gardening table. This pot is placed at the very outer limit of the lighted area, its on the very fringe of the cast of light, where light bleeds into twilight then into deeper shadows. The lights are on a timer and run from 4 PM to 9 AM. In this experiment I’m trying to see if a semi-dormant state will occur and if the plant will put out new growth next spring. I don’t think the plant will require more than a little water each month, but I will check for moistness or dryness, digging several inches deep before deciding to water, or not.
Here is my surviving Gartenmeister from the cuttings I originally abused :-)
At first, as you could see by the photo I posted on September 19th, it looked like I had lots of happy campers. But sometimes, they can look great one week and then suddenly many die. Usually from a fungus.
This guy has been enjoying allot more sun that he was before, and I expect him to continue to do well now.
