Whether they are part of your potted patio display, hardy kinds in your borders or a hedge, or cascading from baskets, fuchsias are a well-loved component of our summer garden. Their flowers can be dainty or spectacular and whether elegant singles or blowsy doubles, the plants bloom through most of summer, often reaching a peak as the weather cools in autumn. Fuchsias are native to South America, often at high altitudes and they prefer mild temperatures and often struggle in hot, sunny conditions. Your plants may be looking less than their best after the recent hot weather but they will get a new lease of life as the weather cools.
Tired plants in pots
If your plants are not making good growth and look tired they may have dried out or they need feeding. Fuchsias are most lush in light shade and they do not appreciate dry, hot conditions. Make sure your plants are always moist and never allowed to dry out. When the compost is moist give them liquid fertiliser. It is generally advised that fuchsias are given high-potash fertiliser such as as tomato fertiliser to promote flowers but if plants look tired it is best to give a more general fertiliser such as MiracleGro or liquid growmore which contain more nitrogen and will boost growth.
Loss of leaves
If leaves are dropping off plants, especially in the centre of the plants, after turning yellow, the plants probably have fuchsia rust. This is most likely on plants that have dense foliage and it tends to strike if the leaves are constantly wet. It is usually only a problem in prolonged wet weather and in autumn but if you tend to water by sprinkling water over the plants rather than direct water at the roots you may encourage it. Willowherb weeds, which are related to fuchsias, also suffer from the same disease so if you have lots of willowherb in your garden you will have trouble beating fuchsia rust.
Lack of flowers
If plants are not growing well they won’t flower either. And if plants are allowed to dry out frequently it will cause flower buds to drop. But another reason for lack of flowers can be because fruits are forming. Most fuchsias drop their old flowers but the seed pods remain and these will develop into dark red, edible fruits. As these grow and ripen the plants will take a break from flowering. So if you want continual flowering you need to remove the small seed pods as soon as the flowers drop off. This is not practical in the garden or on varieties with masses of small blooms but not too tiresome on hanging baskets where the flowers are easily reached.
Chewed leaves
If young leaves and shoots are chewed or have large areas removed it may be snails or caterpillars. Some hawkmoth caterpillars like the taste of fuchsias so tolerate it as much as possible.
Holes in flowers
You may notice holes in the tubes of fuchsia blooms, especially hardy kinds with small, slim blooms. These holes are caused by bumblebees. In the wild fuchsias are usually pollinated by nectar-eating birds, such as hummingbirds and the flower tube is often too long for our bees to reach the nectar. Some bees learn that they can chew a hole in the tube and they regularly visit the same flowers to collect nectar as the flower ‘refills’.
Tatty, lacy leaves
If the upper leaves of fuchsias are ragged and look like lace the culprits are capsid bugs. These fast-moving insects puncture the young leaves to feed and this causes cells to die so the leaves become lacy as they expand. It is usually only a problem in very hot weather. Phygelius and caryopteris are also frequently affected.
Distorted growth
The most serious and the latest pest to affect fuchsias is fuchsia gall mite. It is common in the Surrey area and is spreading across the country. The microscopic mites live in the shoot tips and as they feed they cause the growth to become very distorted. In severe cases the growth is transformed into moss-like growth. Not all varieties are affected but most are. The mites like warmth and are killed by severe frost so hardy fuchsias should not be affected but, in practice, they are. If you find the pest on your plants you can cut back all the growth and dispose of it. The new shoots from the base may be free of the pest. If you overwinter fuchsias in a greenhouse these are the conditions the mite prefers so be very vigilant and dispose of affected plants. Never accept plants that you suspect are affected or it will spread through your garden or fuchsia collection.
