Sierra, they are beautiful!
I'm so envious because mine are bare dead twigs. I bought 2 huge bushy baskets from Wal-Mart on MotherÂs Day on sale, however they must of got some kind of fungi disease and gave in. At least I got two nice plastic hanging baskets out of it ;)

Sharon

Sharon,

I see this quite often with fuchsias around here as well. My fuchsias are about the only thing that gets a little extra TLC here.

Did you water from the top? Did you get water on the leaves if you did? How much sun did they get?

These are some of the major problems with fuchsias. They should be soaked from the bottom ......I have pails that I fill with water and then set the entire fuchsia pot in. Let it soak for a couple of hours...do this hmmmm about twice a week..depending on the weather of course. Let them dry out slightly before the next watering. They also are heavy feeders....fertilize once or twice a week...like you do your petunias. Don't get the foliage wet or it will turn lime green, yellow or/and get brown spots...then the leaves will fall off. Sun can also cause the leaves to do this and fall off.

Some varieties of fuchsia also have very sensitive roots...'Marshmellow' is one....that has to be really watched closely....to much water or to little and it pouts and droops.

They will stand a bit of early morning sun, or late evening sun.......but I have found they do best in shade no sun.

Aphids can also be a problem....I just go through when deadheading and squish them...it seems to keep the populations down to reasonable numbers so they don't really bother the plants.

The one thing I do when I buy them.....I move them to bigger pots. They are usually planted in straight peat.....I just move the entire root ball undisturbed and fill the rest of the larger pot with promix. This helps hold water better and gives them a bit more room to grow.

Try again next year.
Sierra

Sierra, they are gorgeous! I've had a few nice ones every now and again, but didn't get any for myself this year(got one for my mil though).

Those are great tips too. I didn't know that they preferred to be watered from below and don't like water on the leaves. That explains why mine were hit and miss ;^)

Thanks Sierra for those tips. The only time they got watered on top is when it rained and they only received morning sun. I think I'll try again and repot them as you suggested. Maybe I'll grow them in the greenhouse next year, in there it would be considered part shade since the panels are not clear glass.

Do you overwinter yours?

Thanks again!
Sharon

Hi Sharon,

I tried growing them in a glass greenhouse/selarium in the shade....several years ago....It wasn't a good idea, those poor plants looked so sad....I finally took them out and they did much better. So that might not be such a good idea....they like lots of breezy air. But hey, your experience could be different...if you try it let us know how it goes.

Yes I tried over wintering them....but they got aphids really bad.......so I just don't be bothered anymore. I think Syreeta is going to try overwintering these ones this year...but not sure yet. So maybe she has some ideas on this.

Sierra

I have over-wintered mine for several years now without too much insect problem. However for some reason this year mine has grown to a healthy looking mound with no flowers. I'm only starting to get buds now. What's up with that? So now I'm wondering if it's worth keeping. But it's huge.

North53,

A couple of things come to mind....first how did you over winter them....did you give them a rest period and if you did when did you take them out and get them going again?

And second....what are you using for fertilizer and how often. If you use 20 20 20 or 15 30 15 once or twice a week....they should be covered with flowers. Are you using a fertilizer that produces beautiful greens and no flowers? Fuchsias grow really fast and get huge.

Sierra

Sierra, I didn't give it a rest period as such, just kept it barely watered and growing in the basement with pretty adequate light. In other years I've had it in cool bedroom window, but the plant is now too large for that spot.
I fertilize with 15-30-15, but I'm not very diligent about it. I also used one of those time release fertilizers. One thing I've wondered about it is that I didn't repot it this year when I put it outside. That might be a factor.