Indoor Fuchsias

Before I began reading in the forums here at DavesGarden.com, and the notes people have posted in the Plant Files to particular varieties of fuchsias, I would have said that growing fuchsias indoors was not possible!
But now I am going to try it myself and I hope those of you who are doing so also, or have done so in the past, will join us here in discussing the how to's, the successes, and the difficulties of it.
To start off with, here as F. magellanica sent to me two weeks ago by Willowwind2. As you can see, it has already put out new growth!
These are in a sunny, southern facing window. Next to a window that gets afternoon and setting sun. It is the brightest spot on the house. It is joined by a Crown of Thorns and a hoya. As well as a selected variety of fuchsia starts, to see how they do.
I have gas heat, with no circulation system. So the heat just rises from the one heater. I keep it about 70 inside during the day and lower it to 60 at night.
There are a fair number of plants in other areas of the house, including orchids. Which contributes to the humidity in the house.

And here is the rest of the cart so far. I have brought in 'Ted Sweetman,' 'Pink Pearl,' 'Mood Indigo,' 'Iced Champagne,' 'Orange Crush,' and 'Amber Rose' as a bonsai I am starting.

I think I will bring in my mini-hardy and keep it in the jacuzzi room with all the other plants I over-winter in there.

I bet it is going to love it in there!
If you can keep a Rex begonia so happy, I think you're going to do fine.
And it looks like you have a huge and healthy fibrous can begonia sneaking into the photo. My Silver Mist and Tom Ment are still outside blooming. I usually over winter them in the sunny kitchen. But I am afraid to bring them in because the kittens were using them as jungle-jims :-(
So I might have to beg a friend down the road to take them for the winter.
The begonias, not the kittens :-)

I almost lost that rex last year, but it came back form the roots. Needs to be re-potted and I think I will seperatel all the good pieces from the old root and start a new pot full.

You probably already know that rex begonias can be started from leaf cuttings. If not, let me know. Of course, this would not be a good time to do it. But it would be an additional means of ensuring your plant continues. I love the dazzling silvers and colors on their leaves.

Yes I did know that and have rooted them that way. I also have a lot of african violets and they will do that also. Mostly I use a leaf and stem to start a new one.

I am a big fan of begonias and have always had at least one growing. My daughter gave me this one years ago. I forget where I got the large cane one. It gets so big and loves being outside in the summer.

Everyone is doing fine, including a baby fig I transplanted yesterday. I'll post an update photo on Wednesday.
My dream is to have a greenhouse full of all kinds of cane begonias. Back in my days at large commercial nursery, the stock plants were taller than me! Like a colorful bamboo jungle with huge bunches of fuchsia like flowers in all kinds of colors. And of course a few rex as well, tucked around their bases.

I use African Violet Schultz on all my flowering houseplants and they all bloom well. This big begonia is a pale pink, but very large. If you want a start just let me know.

Here is a new photo of the F. magellanica growing indoors. If you look close, you can see that there is an inch of new growth where I trimmed it to make cuttings! I can see that I am going to need a larger cart before this winter is over ;-)

And here is a photo of the newly transplanted Flash along with all the other little fuchsias that are participating in my experiment on growing fuchsias indoors.
If you've been following the thread on propagation, then you'll notice the Flash is the one from the flat that was in bloom. I actually put two into this pot, because I want a nice big bush by spring.

This message was edited Nov 18, 2009 12:37 PM

Everybody is doing great! And I realized very quickly that the little cart wasn't going to be able to hold them all as they got bigger. So I switched to a much larger and deeper container for them.
I had to keep my teenage cats in mind ;-)
If one of them decides to jump into this, the plants will have a better chance of surviving the incident! Plus, with this deep plastic tray, I don't have to worry about water getting onto the carpet.
I also need to mention a very, very, very important thing to do when growing any kind of plant indoors, and that is turning them constantly. Even in the big commercial nurseries, they have to keep turning the plants or they will grow lopsided towards the south.
So every time you notice your plant reaching for the light, turn it!!
Or they will not only grow lopside, but weak stemmed.
Isn't is amazing how much growth the F. magellanica has put on in just five weeks during the fall? Outdoors in the spring, magellanicas can put out new growth to rival the new canes any rose bush can put out.

This message was edited Dec 2, 2009 10:59 AM

I just stumbled upon this thread. I am a fuchsia enthusist but have never tried to grow any indoors. I have 52 fuchsias overwintering in my garden shack . Next year I am going to bring in a couple of the miniture ones and see how well they do. I'm also going to try starting bonsia out of a couple of the older ones this coming season and see what happens...

I thought Fuchsias needed a rest to be able to bloom profusely in the summer. Is that an old wifes tale?

Glad to see you found us, mstish!
Yes, that is an old wifes tale!! Many of mine bloom year round! It is probably too cold where you are, for them to do this, but I have never heard of that before and I've been growing them for 30 years. Probably the same people who think you have to remove the berries so they'll keep producing flowers. I never remove the berries and my bushes are always covered with flower buds, flowers, and berries all at once.

I am one of those people who was told to remove the berries, and I do. I'm going to try not removing them from a few next summer and see what happens. (Not that I don't believe you but my babies are very special to me).

We have had an unusual cold snap and I fear some of my babies have died I went to check on them in the shack this evening and a few of them had the dirt in their pots frozen. Didn't check to see how deep into the soil the freeze went. I strung a couple of 75 watt bulbs up to add a little heat.

I’m pretty sure the hardy ones will pull through but I doubt the tender ones will make it. I usually lose a few but I am not prepared emotionally to lose a lot of them.

Are your fuchsias hanging basket types? Have you seen the overwintering instructions on the Northwest Fuchsia Socities website? They are up north with you and have a test garden for winter hardy cultivars that should do fine in your zone.
It is freezing here tonight and it snowed on the mountains behind me last night. I didn't see any damage this morning, but I bought more frost protective cloth today and tried to cover everything I could.
I know how you feel about losing some. Last year I thought I had lost Trisha, Mood Indigo, Northway, Tennessee Waltz, and Pink Pearl.
All of them made it and grew big this summer. I had made a couple of cuttings of Pink Pearl for a friend and I kept one. That one little guy is one of the fuchsias I am growing indoors and the other day I noticed a big flower bud on it! I haven't seen this one bloom since before last winter!

Welcome to the Fuchsia Forum, Mstish!
I sure hope your lights will help your little ones! It sure is cold here.

Well, everyone looks okay this morning except the F. boliviana's..........
They are burned. Not totally though, just the upper few inches. So they get a blanket tonight!
Dang! They were in full bloom and I even had some berries on them I was looking forward to trying!

Here is my Pink Pearl, next to Flash, making a big flower bud indoors! Everyone is doing just great. If anyone had told me before, that I'd be trying to grow fuchsias indoors, I'd of told them it wasn't possible! I think I am going to have to transplant Willowwind2's magellanica into a larger pot soon. As well as Mood Indigo and Orange Crush. It has been a hard decision, whether or not to raise the blinds to let the sun it on days when it was freezing outside and the heater was cranking! I could feel the cold pouring in. But it is just this one window and I keep the top half of it well covered. It will be worth it.

Those are looking fantastic.

Fuchsia Jungle under lights in my basement, November 30th...26 plants.

Fuchsia Jungle December 16th...29 plants.

Looking good hummer_girl! Nice set up!!
I think we are all going to find ourselves needing to either transplant or cut our indoor fuchsias. Since my project is to also grow them as permanent indoor blooming houseplants, I will be transplanting mine this week.
Later on, I will post of photo of my F. magellanica forming flower buds, and the flower bud on Pink Pearl getting ready to pop open. I am very excited, because I haven't seen this one in bloom in over a year. Because, as I have mentioned, this is the one remaining cutting from a specimen plant that perished due to gophers.

Most of my fuchsias are in baskets. I have 52 overwintering in my shed and 4 planted in the garden. I pretty sure one of the garden ones won't make it and I have 6 tenders in the shed that I doubt will make it.
I am so mad at myself for not taking cuttings this year. I counted on it being a easy winter since last year was so bad. Where is global warming when you need it.

Our fuchsia nursery (Monnier's Country Garden) closed down for good in September. I need to find another place to get fuchsia starts from. I am hesitant to buy them through mail order. Sure hope the garden shows will have some.

HummerG
Nice Jungle!! They all look so happy
PC
Looking forward to seeing the blossoms. Sure happy to hear your Pink Pearl is a survivor for you. Those darn Underground varmints can really destroy things.

mstish
Monnier's collection of Fuchsias is now in the hands of
http://davesgarden.com/products/go/view/7577/
I know this maybe a drive for you but thought you would like to know.

PC, I'm so glad you started this thread. I moved my 5 little fucshias inside about 3 weeks ago & they're thriving. Now, you mentioned growing them as houseplants - brilliant! Something new to try. Now, I want to take cuttings & try to grow them inside, at least semi-permanently

I'm lucky, because my "sunroom" is has an entire wall & ceiling of glass & gets morning light, so it's very plant friendly. The challenge will be keeping them pest free. I've had to move most of my plants outside the past two summers due to bugs. I'm thinking of trying Bayer 3-in-1 on them this summer.

Thanks for the idea!

Wow! Thanks gardenguy. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't be able to get some of the rare and odd fuchsias I have been looking at.

Your Welcome
I know you said your not into Mail Order but PedricksCorner has a wonderful large collection also. I'm very confident with her knowledge and expertise that you will be getting healthy and properly named Fuchsias.

I was at Fry Nurs. last month and they will have plenty for us Fuchsia Fanatics next year!!

I also wanted to add this Mstish.
I think we all would love to see some of your Fuchsias. Please consider sharing them with us and also posting pictures in the PlantFiles. I hope you have photos to share with us...Do you?
GGK

Here is my Pink Pearl. The bud is just beginning to split open. I am so excited!

And here is Willowwind2's F. magellanica. If you look close, you can see each tip is forming new flower buds.

Very nice. You should see mine now, ugh!

LOL - I can't tell you how many people have been on my case to get a decent camera.

All of hangers on the trellace are fuchsias.

I finally broke down and bought myself one this fall.

More baskets.

I'm not much of a photographer but I am determined this coming season to document everything I can with the camera.

The sunnyside of my garden in bloom

mstish: I love your garden! And I love stone work borders. Absolutely beautiful. I am green with envy. Thanks for the pictures. Your plants look fantastic!

Great photos mstish! No one has started a thread about hanging baskets, maybe you could get that ball rolling! We will be looking forward to seeing them in bloom!

Thanks guys. I promise I will take pics this coming year. I have about 10 in pots and the rest hanging baskets (4 in the ground). My yard is mostly heavily dappled shade so it is perfect.
I am learning a lot about growing them in baskets. It isn't the same as the ground and pots. Gosh, and they all respond so differently.

I have been teaching myself Access this past 3 months. To practice I set up a database of all my plants. It is a great way to learn how to do something. I am continually updating what it can contain. I am going to add a place for pictures and hope to fill it with different stages of growth for each plant.

This is so good for keeping me busy and away from the on-line nurseries where I abuse my credit cards. This time of year when I am stuck inside and can’t get my hands dirty I am so weak. Some of you may have heard about my bulb debacle earlier this fall.

I found this. It’s from 08 but it shows more blooms.


This message was edited Dec 17, 2009 7:54 PM

mstish: I share your pain. I went a little crazy with online plant orders in September and October and now have about a hundred plants growing under lights, which I plan to take some cuttings from, if I ever get the time, which will increase the number of plants I have to take care of until next spring, which is what, 5 months before I can actually put anything outside. How it all gets so out of control always amazes me...after the fact.

Now the really important question: which plants attract hummingbirds to your yard?