Fuchsia x hybrida

I received a Fuchsia x hybrida for Mother's Day this year.....it had many flowers blooming and many buds ready to open. I hung it on the porch where it get sun only on one side so I turn it every couple of days......for some reason there are no new blooms but it still has many new buds that have not yet opened.

My husband has been watering the plants early in the morning. We didn't realize, the hanging basket has the 2 vents on the bottom....that let the overflow of water out....they were closed. Could he have overwatered it. (He didn't know to check the soil to see how moist it was before watering again.)

Von

It could be overwatering,but if the foliage isn't limp and droopy it's ok.Are there any small insects crawling or flying around the buds?
Actually,fuchsia grows well in shade,so if the buds on the sun side are drying up,it could be a light issue.If the buds are dried from the sun,just cut them off and the plant will keep blooming.If it's insects,you will need to spray with light dish soap water or use an insecticide.If you use soapy water,rinse them later so the foliage won't look spotted.Lynn

Thanks, I just told my husband I was gonna move it back in the shade. Also, I will check for insects now.

Von

You can remove the plant carefully from the hanging pot and make the holes for water drainage, then set the plant back into the pot, they dont like the roots to sit in water at any time, so you need some form of drainage, have you been dead heading the dying flowers, if not, the plant will make seeds from where the flowers were and this weekens the plants and stops them flowering more, as all plants want to flower, then make seeds for survival in the wild, we have to prevent the seeds forming, to trick the plant into forming more flowers, we dead head the old flowers, also for hanging Fuchsias, you need to keep pinching out the growing tips so that they form new little branches, this in turn makes even more flowers, in a small space like a hanging pot/basket, you will need to feed the plant every week or so as the roots use up all the nutrients in such a small amount of soil, so a feed will give it a boost, I either use a liquid tomato feed or feed for indoor plants as you dont want a strong feed or it could burn the roots being too rich. I also think like Ecrane that you need to give your plant more shade than it has just now, it should pick up again by giving it the right growing methods. By the way, the seed heads look like tiny green balls or mature, they turn into little red/purple cherry looking fruits, you need to pinch all those off or they will prevent more flowers forming. Good Luck. WeeNel.

Thanks for info WeeNel.....

It did have a lot of dead heads on it.....got them off.....I usually do that but I've been letting my husband take care of it and he didn't know to do that.....also got all of the little green pods off that I thought were new buds forming.

I don't know if this is a contributing factor, but one of the leaves was half way covered with a white thing on it like caterpillars make....felt the same too.

You can see I don't do much gardening, even though I love flowers and used to have flower and plant books and could tell you most of (indoor) plants names. I would love to have a small flower garden in my back yard. When I worked and cared for my mother, I didn't have the time....now that she has passed and I'm unemployed, I don't have the money.

Von

This message was edited Jun 21, 2008 9:47 PM

Hi Von, If you find any damaged leaves on your plant, just nip them off and destroy them, especially if you think there is a bug inside the leaves, these plants just grow more leaves, keep pinching out the growing tips of each stem and it will send out more stems to make your hanging basket even more bushy, they are quite forgivng plants so long as you feed and water them properly.
I am so sorry you lost your Mum, I lost both my parents just a few months apart so I know how you are feeling and being unemployed wont help you recover from your loss, but, you can start off your yard with packets of seeds, these dont cost too much and you can start to collect them as they first come into the shops, then you wont have too big an outlay, it sounds to me like you once enjoyed gardening, so you should give it a go again and let your imagination run riot along with our seeds, Good luck. WeeNel.

Von,
I'm sorry to hear about your mother.Maybe a little gardening would be therapeutic for you.Besides seeds,as WeeNel suggested,there are gardeners everywhere that don't mind sharing a cutting or some extra plants.Lynn

That's a great idea you guys....why is it the first thing newbies think of is buying half grown plants. My sister-in-law recently let me take cuttings from her Rose Of Sharon bush, they are taking root now in a pot. And a lady on here sent me a pkt of seeds from her Rose of Sharon bush. I think I'll start noticing the different plants people have that live near me and when it comes fall, I may just ask them for a cutting or some seeds from them. I may just have some photos in the next year or so of my backyard garden.

Sorry to here you lost your parents recently WeeNel, we just can't imagine them not always being there.

Von

Von, your so right about our parents, as we grow, we always assume they will be around for ever, but after they are gone a while and you start to recover from the loss, you begin to remember all the good things you shared and the funny stuff too and it stops being so painful, there is never a day goes by I dont think about my Dad when I am working in the garden and I give a little smile at how pleased he would be with my gardening efforts now I am all grown up, or, my Mum telling him off when I was small as she wanted a nice girly girl from me, instead she got a Tom Boy who was always dirty from helping my Dad out in the garden, so for me, my garden is my refuge or as my daughter says, my sanatorium as it keeps me sane, ha, ha, ha, and very therapeutic, best wishes, WeeNel.