Topic: standard fuchsia

[jock_edin]

hi all I wonder if anyone can tell me please, I got two standards earlier this year and they flowered to an extent, they are about 70 cm. just over 2ft in old money, Ive put them in the cold greenhouse over winter is that enough or do they require covering also. What about keeping the roots damp? thanks if you look in and many thanks if you can let me know. jock.

[silly billy]

I used to water them very sparingly but make sure you do as some dry out and die. As your greenhouse is unheated you need to protect them as much as possible.You could use fleece or old window nets and it might be worth covering the stems with some pipe lagging.

[calendula]

what variety are they as this will determine whether they are hardy or not - if not then a cold g/h might not be enough through the winter

[silly billy]

Does it matter what variety they are? I have always had to keep all my standards frost free even though some are hardy because if they do get frosted the will not produce new shoots from the head just from the base.

[veggie perin]

when a fuchsia is grown into a standard, the head of the plant will not be hardy, (whether it is a hardy variety or not), frost will still kill the head, but it will
regenerate from the base of the plant in springtime, thus losing the standard effect. if kept in a cold greenhouse; cut about one third of the head back to tidy it up and make it more managable, I then remove any remaining leaves ( they will eventually drop off) but it prevents pests and diseases.
next either drape net curtain or fleece over the head or tape old newspapers
over it.The stem can be protected with newspaper or pipe lagging and as an extra precaution wrap some protection around the pot. Do not let plant completely dry out as this is the biggest cause of losing overwintered fuchsias, if it is damp to start with ,you will only require a small amout of water to keep it alive, when temps rise and daylight improves in late spring , you can remove protection during the day and increase watering and your new buds should start appearing, if you decide to keep it in a coolgreenhouse, i.e min 5degrees c, then it will continue to grow slowly over winter and the foilage will not need to be removed...hope this has helped a little...regardsVeggie