March Meeting 2016 - Fuchsias My Way

Fuchsia My Stacey - bred by our speaker
Derek Dexter and named for his daughter.
Photo courtesy of the New Forest Fuchsia Society.

In March, in a talk entitled "Fuchsias - My Way" we were treated to a talk and practical demonstration that was even more entertaining than a concert by Ole Blue Eyes himself, from Derek Dexter.  Derek regaled us with tales of his fuchsia growing triumphs (of which there were many), as well as his disasters (fortunately, far fewer!).

Originally, Derek was a vegetable grower on his allotment, but the demands of a young family forced him to turn his horticultural attention to a site closer to home, and he started to grow fuchsias.  He uses a large greenhouse in his rear garden, but gave us a useful tip to reduce costs - he erects a small 7' by 5' polythene greenhouse inside the larger one (small? That's basically the size of my whole greenhouse - Ed), and it is this smaller greenhouse which is heated and controlled by a thermostat to overwinter the less hardy varieties in his collection.  As well as being cheaper to heat than the larger building, the polythene "insert" is well insulated by the larger greenhouse and suffers much less heat loss.

Fuchsia Gillian Anthea.
Photo courtesy of fuchsiamagic.com

Derek begins the fuchsia year in January (What?  It's far too cold outside for me, I'm in front of a fire until March; dedication has its limits - Ed) by pruning the roots, re-potting them in fresh compost and spraying them with tepid water to encourage them to shoot.  Once this happens, he takes lots of small cuttings composed of just the top bud and a leaf or two.  These root very quickly with or without rooting powder.  After approximately three weeks, he stops the growing tips to produce bushy plants.  After this, it takes about 60 days for a single fuchsia to flower, 70 for semi-doubles, and 80 days for a double variety.  This seems to be a technique that is common to many "proper" exhibitors, rather than just us ordinary gardeners at our own show, as you may remember that Ted Riches uses a similar process for his dahlias, exhibiting only the new cuttings and not using the mother plant from year to year.  He has also bred a fuchsia called My Stacey, after his daughter (available on the internet), and particularly recommended the fuchsia Gillian Althea.



Another image of Fuchsia Gall Mite, not to
be confused with leaf curl.



Fuchsia Gall Mite - closeup.

As well as regaling us with tales (I particularly liked the time his wife flooded the greenhouse - Ed), he provided us with lots of general as well as specific tips; his views on compost from the local recycling depot was particularly illuminating.  Apparently, we are now beginning to struggle with a bug called Fuchsia Gall Mite (no, I hadn't heard of it either - maybe it isn't quite in our part of the South East yet? - Ed), which thrives in hot environments, meaning that it is not killed of in the heat of even a large council compost heap.  Therefore, any council-sourced compost could potentially spread this nasty  bug.  Although this is of less concern to us as our Green Waste system in Surrey does not sell the resulting compost, using it instead for council facilities instead, it will be interesting to see if the local municipal fuchsias start to suffer. (Incidentally, I think that the other localish green waste site in Sundridge - technically in Kent - does sell compost from the green waste, so beware.  Mind you, I tend not to buy it as, frankly, I know what I've put in it, and I don't want it back! I'm a bad, bad person - Ed).  The Gall Mite can devastate areas of fuchsias, with symptoms that can be mistaken for leaf curl, and at the moment can be controlled only through total destruction of the affected plants.  It is thought that a chicken mite spray might also be effective, but there is as yet no conclusive evidence to verify this.  If you have any concerns, the British Fuchsia Society have a leaflet that may be downloaded by clicking here.  Fortunately, this is no longer a notifiable pest if found in a private garden.  (I did wonder about my much-loved diatomaceous earth which seems to be helping with mealy bug in a conservatory - more about this in a later post - Ed). 


Using a 2 litre lemonade bottle as a cheap propagator.

Derek also showed us a tip for plant labels; the large ones so beloved by garden centres (and by us myopic gardeners), can block out large amounts of sun reaching the plant if they are positioned carelessly; he suggested sticking the plant label on the pot itself rather than in the soil.  Hanging basket filler was another useful tip; Derek is a big fan of sphagnum moss, which I have used mainly to grow sarracenias; we will be carrying out a trial this year to see if it stops the baskets drying out as much.  He then showed us a trick with an old lemonade bottle to grow cuttings, in which you leave the cap on the bottle and then cut a section from the side to make a "lid" - put a small cuttings tray inside, complete with cuttings, and then replace the lid section, to make a cheap and easy propagator.  Finally, he very kindly gave us an example cuttings bottle to raffle, as well as some other plants.