Has there been a discussion of fuschias?

I'm looking for some large upright fuschias - found some mail order sources. But I wondered if anyone had any favorites. Sorry I realized that I spelled fuchsia wrong.

This message was edited Aug 7, 2005 6:01 PM

My cat Desiree has a favorite, although it isn't large. Actually, I just got this one at Emerisa Gardens and I don't know anything about it except that it's really pretty and it seems to appeal to cats. She came right over to sit next to it as soon as I brought it home.

It is beautiful - and great foliage. But the cat's the keeper. :-) I love everything about your Fuchsia. I'll have to look up Emerisa Gardens.

Thanks,

Dorothie

I love my Peppermint Stick - Now if I can only get ahead of the Fuchsia Mites!
If you want realllllllly big, I have a F. denticulata 'Strybing Peach' you can have. I think it grows to 30' in the wild. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54314/index.html

I have been looking at Peppermint Stick. You are ALWAYS so helpful about solving my landscaping problems. The front walk looks great by the way. I'll take a photo and post it on the other thread. I think that I would have some trouble keeping the Strybing Peach in bounds. It needs to stay under some windows. How much shade does it tolerate? Yumm, maybe I could put it somewhere else. I love that the sepals and Corrollas are closer in color to each other than the red and purple ones. And I've avoided fucshias because of the mites. But I give up. It's Bayer in this area. I can't live another year without some of the fancy ones. I also love the violet paint marks on the pink.

There is one at Annie's annuals that is wonderful too. It's only supposed to get to 5 feet.
http://www.anniesannuals.com/signs/list/parent_redirect.htm

I have a 16 foot space to fill and was going to fill it with all different cultivars - what do you think?

What do you think?

Dorothie



This message was edited Jul 23, 2005 6:30 PM

What are you trying to show at Annie's? Links to her individual listings DO NOT WORK - NO WAY - NO HOW. I have tried many variants. Otherwise she has a nice site.
I have both the denticulata and peppermint stick on a north wall, ergo only indirect light and both do well. They are with ferns, rhodies, camellia, hostas and snails. I am trying to make a standard at about 5 ft with the denticulata, but it wants to become a big bush. I think it just grows too fast for me to keep up with it.
The gall mite is a real problem, otherwise I would gladly give you cuttings from the Peppermint Stick - I even have some rooted cuttings (also infected.) I think I may need to use the blow torch!
Just north of Fort Bragg is Fuchsiarama, sort of like a candy store. There are other Fuchsia growers there too, but this is the most visited. Maybe I need an excuse to go up there to replace all the infected plants. Whatcha think?

I do I do think that you're traveling to Fort Bragg. It's too far for me - but I'll be happy thinking of you browsing. Now that would be a really fun trip. Is there a difference between Fuschia mite and gall mite? (I could look it up - but you already know?)

I think that in our neck of the woods the only thing that will work for fuschias is a systemic. I've avoided them for years because of it - well probably for 20 years. I just have to have a few. Your plant doesn't seem really gone to me - but then any good excuse for shopping for plants is good enough.

I'm sorry, the fuschia I was looking seeing at Annies is Fuchsia boliviana 'Alba'. Sure looks pretty. I have since seen a site that says that it's harder to grow than the hybrids. Not what I need.

Fuchsia Gall Mite would be the full thing. One person brings in one plant and voila, we all end up getting infected. Yes, systemic miticide is the only "cure," but I have trouble working on the neighbor's plants, from which the infection comes. Guess it is just something we will need to learn to live with. I just call the infected ones "Twisted Sisters."
I thought you might be referring to the Alba - sounds like it may grow to 5' AND BEYOND. I, too, think I will stick to be pretty little hybrids.
I grew up in Fort Bragg and will use any excuse to go back and visit. The Mendocino Botanical Gardens are wonderful, especially in the winter when the fog is gone.

Forgot to answer your email doss about the Fuchsia boliviana 'Alba'. I bought it a couple of months ago and overwatered it and it rotted. I just bought another yesterday as it is just too beautiful not to give another try. Annie's has several large specimans in display bed. I also bought one for another DG member that is going to be at the roundup. She said she lost hers after it reached about 4 ft.
East Bay Nursery had several large ones on display that we looked for but were told this wasn't the right time of year for many and they were out.

I looked at some sites and it turns out that boliviana Alba is much harder to grow than the cultivars. I have a list of others - I just need to get Fuchsia world to respond.

systemic miticide ?
does anyone have a brand name for this miracle stuff ?
the smallest container of Floramite at the Farm supply is $240.00
Fuchsia Gall mite is the biggest downside of this wonderful plant
i have been fighting it forever it seems
i get it licked on one plant & it pops up on another

Dick

Wrote a long note to Fuchsia World = and they told me that they couldn't choose fuchsias because it was so particular to the person. I've since made a list of functioning plants but it was a pain.

Here's a California safe-for-consumers product. It's doesn't say how to buy it or how much it costs though. A lot of the miticides say that they can increase mite egg-laying activity. You just can't win.

http://safergro.com/product3/pestout.htm#

Let me know what you think. I do have a friend in the landscaping business however. But maybe I'll do Azaleas.

I have used Ortho Systemic Insect Killer http://www.ortho.com/index.cfm/event/ProductGuide.product/documentId/72c90bb34e83ab40af12b25b1d77e798
Here is an article offering other suggestions http://www.weidners.com/fuchsia_gall_mite..htm
My guess is that the only way to keep the mites from returning is to continue to strip all of the flowers off, but then why have the plant. A real bummer - I would love to get my hands on the lady what brung it into the state. Grrrrr!

I lost my first fuchsia over 20 years ago. I'm not sure she's still alive. Maybe she's getting her pay off in heaven or maybe she's doing time somewhere else. :-) Better to leave it to Karma - maybe she's back as a fuschia mite already. Sorry hope I didn't offend anyone. Just silliness. And I feel like PotEmUP does. Then there are the killer bees and................

I know, Evil.

thank you George for the link to the ortho systemic
i need to try it in place of the sevin if nothing else but for a change
i have read the weidners page a doz times in the last cpl of years
but i'm still fighting this gall mite, hummingbirds spread it for one thing.
Doss the species types of fuchsia are resistant to the Fuchsia gall mite
& most of them are uprights & hardy

Dick

edited to change immune to resistant

This message was edited Jul 29, 2005 12:16 AM

Immune????
Do you mean resistant? I think none are immune.
http://ccfuchsia.net/ccfuchsia9.htm lists

Well, I wrote the fuchsia mail order place tonight. They don't even have the mite on their list of cultural issues. We'll see what they say.

I need upright hardy fuschias anyway. I've got a couple that do just fine but I was hoping to branch out into something a little more interesting. I think that the ones I have are Magellenica (sp) cultivars.
Hidcote Beauty and Chickadee are pretty - now to find them.

Well, sweet dreams one and all.

Well, the lady at Fucshia World gave me this link. It is apparently a matter of timing and repetition of the spraying in addition to the chemical because of the life cycle of the mite. It's worth a try anyway. This is the first thing I've read that makes real sense.
http://www.bonsaigarden.net/ftgallmite.asp

doss
that is just a copy of the weidners article that George gave above
http://www.weidners.com/fuchsia_gall_mite..htm
Dick

Ah well, nothing new under the sun. It makes me feel as if I could try it anyway.

D

The upright fucshia 'Display' has a great history. It is a very simple flower and grows like a weed. It has a wonderful story. Where I grew up there was a marvellous fucshia nursery called Stubb's that grew, bred and sold some of the most amazing flowers ever. Evelyn Weidner's advice comes from decades of experience and although her nursery uses incredibly toxic substances in order to keep certain pests at bay, they are used with care.

Anyone with chemical sensitivities should be cognizant of the fact that 'systemic' pesticides make the plant poison to insect pests. Plants under the influence of systemic pesticides can be a source of discomfort for those with such sensitivities and touching plants where systemics are working should be moved to a place where they cannot come into contact with skin,eyes,nose,dogs,cats...etc.

Some anecdotal research has been done with using pure worm castings and, or worm casting tea for the control of this pest. Apparently the enzyme 'chitinase' has a deleterious effect on the pest by dissolving/digesting the chitin that basically makes up the majority of the pest's tissue, including but not limited to the stomach and digestive tract of the insect.

If someone conducts real trials with this material on the fucshia mite, there could be a renewed interest in chitinase-rich materials such as crabshell or shimpshell meal.

It's important to note that whatever results are declared by the users/promoters of the wormcastings and the tea is not peer reviewed yet, or even scheduled for peer review at any lab or university of consequence. That doesn't mean it doesn't work, and the mechanics for success are there in the theory. If it does work, the pest will not be capable of developing any resistance to the enzyme chitinase unless a cataclysmic mutation occurs and the pest finds a way to be built of something other than chitin....lol.

best to all,
don

Thanks for the heads up on 'Display'. Hidecote Beauty is another resistant fucshia that I was thinking of. Joy Creek has both. Then maybe I'll risk something fun like 'Baghdad' or 'Checkers' and see how they do. I can get some worm castings easily enough. It will be a fun experiment anyway. Most everyone's fuchsias here are toast so hopefully the hummingbirds that wake me up everymorning with their "song" won't be causing me any problems. I'm off to order fuchsias and earthworm castings. Life is sweet.

OK, I threw caution to the wind. I bought (doubles) Double Otto, Voodoo, Baghdad, Pepperming Stick, Army Nurse. Then I bought "Heidi Ann" which is a semi double. Checkerboard, and Deltas Groom. We'll see what happens. I bought them mail order.

I decided that if I wanted my Grandmother's garden I should go for broke and do the experiment.

Go Girl Go!
They are all lovely and well worth the battle.

Thanks for the cheering section. It's always appreciated. And thanks for all of the help. :-)

I just got back from a brief trip up to San Francisco and Pam and I made some time to visit the Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park. I couldn't believe how beautiful their Fucshia boliviana were! It was my first time seeing them in captivity and they had three variants of the species, a white, a pink, and a red-orange. They were all spectacular and apparently available at the nursery or during the frequent plant sales they have there. Amazing upright plants with large foliage and I can't think of enough superlatives to describe the flowers.

Don, you can get them at Annie's Annuals by mail. Although they are supposed to be pretty tricky to grow as compared to the hybrids. I thought long and hard - but they get a little large for my space. Now you don't have that problem at all.

I put all of mine in yesterday - we'll see how they grow. Their planting mix is full of worm castings. Thanks again everyone.