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I've broken the main stem of my fuchsia standard help!
Hello all I am hooping you can kindly help me, I purchased a fuchsia standard from the rhs show in Cardiff a few days ago, I managed to plant it out in the ground but after just a few days it has broken at the main stem due to heavy wind. Is there any way I can save it I feel dreadful after all the effort that would gone into looking after it to get it to the standard it was ive brought it home and seem to have completely ruined it. Any help would be most appreciated It has just happened today.
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Did it break all the way through with no bark still connected?
Yes I'm afraid so, there was a very thin bit which i think was still connected when it got damaged but my dad came across it first and he broke it off when he couldn't think of anything else to do and put it in water to try to save it ( he doesn't have green fingers I'm afraid)
If you have some stem left it will probably shoot again. Make sure that you put a clean cut where the damage was.
It is far too early to plant a Fuchsia out in the garden.
We live just North of Cardiff and had a frost last night.
Most standard ones are the more exotic, tender, big flowered ones that have probably been brought into leaf and flower extremely early by growing them in a heated greenhouse.
It has probably not been hardened off.
Only hardy Fuchsias will survive outside when we are still getting cold nights.
I would not risk it outside until end of May.
It will definitely need to kept in a frost free place over winter.
Well, sadly it sounds as if it's not going to be a standard any more - did it have a stake?
And has been said - too early to put standard fuchsias outside, but we live and we learn, especially in gardening.
If you give it some shelter and tlc it will shoot again from the base and you will have a bush fuchsia. And I would take lots of cuttings from the top piece and then you can grow your own standard, and think how proud you will be
But keep your standards staked and in pots so you can move them into shelter in the winter without digging them up.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Take a cutting and start over again,Fuchsias grow very quickly.As the plant grows pick out all side shoots but leave the leaves on, dont let the plant flower until it has reached the required height. Pick lower leaves off as plant strengthens.
Hello all and thank you for your advice, it is most appreciated. I will dig up the base and put it back in the pot and bring it inside I feel a bit better knowing I haven't fully killed it and with some tlc it can be brought to (maybe half) of it's former glory.
Dovefromabove yes it did have a stake I was told by the lady at the rhs that it was okay to take it outside but keep it away from wind and direct sunlight, but as silver surfer mentioned it is probably still too cold for it...
I've never taken a cutting from a plant before is there a guide on how to do it correctly on here?
Hi Reena goggle Lockyer Fuchsias and you will see video clips in how to take cuttings and grow a standard fuchsia plus many more things about this great plant good luck.
Is this is a grafted fuschia, I had assumed it was? This is just two different, closely related, plants which are joined - a method most commonly used with apple trees so that they're not so big. If so the rooting section will be a different plant and taking cuttings from the top growth is essential to get a clone with the same flowers.
To find out look below at the main head of growth where it joins the upright stem, somewhere around there there will be a gnarly bulge,(see photo below) some thin wax maybe, and possibly a change in bark colour. If you can't see any signs of this then your roots will hopefully produce the same plant, just not a standard.
Good luck.
Oh, and when it re-grows, if it gets big then stake it if you live in a very windy position. Put a long chunky piece of wood in the planting hole beside the roots, knock it in firmly, put the soil back, and tie the plant to the stake - ideally this should be long enough to reach just below the first shoots so that it doesn't block/damage the plant's growth - put a piece of string/rope/rubber around the stem, cross it over like an 8 and then tie the ends around the stake, should be about 3-4" below the top of the stake. Tie firmly enough to support the plant but not enough to damage and cut into the bark. Oh, and the stake should be on the windward side, about 2-3" from the plant.