Fuchsia From Cuttings

You need to start the cuttings process in early March. You need a fuchsia to take the cuttings from, and that means you need to buy this fuchsia about four weeks before hand. At this time of year, fuchsias will not be available in most general purpose garden centres, so you may need to visit a specialist nursery - have a look on the internet, the Royal Horticultural Society (www.rhs.org.uk) site is great for locating a nursery near you. The earlier you can buy the plants the more cuttings you will be able to take.

An average timetable would look something like this - it assumes you will be growing the cuttings on a windowsill, although a heated greenhouse or fluorescent light system would be the same, possibly 4 weeks earlier:

early March	Buy fuchsia, dilute feed once a week
mid-March	Take first cuttings (two or three)
late March	Take more cuttings (one or two)
6 weeks after cuttings	Pot up into 15cm (6in) pots
4 weeks after potting up	Begin to harden off plants
2 weeks later - no earlier than lateMay in your area	Plant outside in borders, tubs or hanging baskets

Let GardenAction walk you through the six step process to take fuchsia cuttings, illustrated with pictures.

Choose plants with:

good green leaves from green (not brown and woody) stems
good root system
several shoots from the lower part of the main stem

Avoid plants with:

uneven growth
aphids, white fly or rust - beware most of all of rust
incorrect pot size - roughly 40% pot, 60% visible plant
signs of lack of water

A good example for cuttings

goodbuy

It's best to pot each individual cutting into it's own 7cm (2.75in) pot. Fill the pot nearly to the top with potting compost.

Place the pot in some water to ensure the compost is fully moist. You could water from the top with a watering can, but watering from the bottom ensures that all the compost is moist.

The top left shoot is ideal for use as a cutting - it looks healthy. The cut on the stem needs to be made above a set of leaves, leaving three sets of leaves above the cut.

The arrow in the picture shows where the cut should be made. Use a sharp knife to make the cutting - this will prevent damage to the stem which could introduce disease into the cutting or the plant itself.

The cut to separate the cutting from the main plant should be made above a leaf node (the point at which two or more leaves sprout from the stem) - see above picture. Three sets of leaves should be above the cut, as illustrated in the photo on the right.

During the process of taking the cutting, be careful not to damage the stem - wherever possible, handle the cutting by the leaves.

Trim the cutting to immediately below the third set of leaves (as shown in photo to the right).

Then, carefully trim off the lower set of leaves with a sharp knife, including any small shoots at the leaf nodes

Use a pencil or dibber to make a hole in the compost and place the cutting in the hole to just below the first set of leaves - position the cutting so that the leaves are not touching the soil. Gently firm around the cutting.

Cover the cutting with a plastic bag, or better still a large clear plastic bottle with the bottom cut out. Alternatively it can be placed in a propagator with a clear plastic lid.

Place the cutting in a light position but definitely out of direct sunlight. A temperature of around 20C (68F) is ideal. In two weeks the cutting will have rooted and will look something like the photo on the left.

Three to four weeks after taking the cutting, pinch out the growing tip of the cutting, leaving two sets of leaves below the pinching point. This will encourage the plant to bush out. Further pinching out should should occur later as described previously.