The vast majority of 12,000 fuchsia cultivars are not hardy north of the Alps. For many years of untroubled blooms, you should trim the colorful ornamental shrubs regularly during the season and overwinter them behind glass. Read these instructions to find out which cut care motivates fuchsias to perform at their best.
Fuchsias benefit from intermittent pruning
Cutting at 4 week intervals
The bushier the branching, the more lavishly the summery flower fairy tale unfolds. Fuchsias thrive as pruning-tolerant shrubs and cooperate well with continuous pruning throughout the season. How to properly prune a fuchsia:
- Pinch shoots every 4 weeks
- Grab the tip of the shoot with your index finger and thumb and snap off
- Clean up faded spots as soon as possible
- Cut off dried flowers just before the next bud
Fuchsias tend to take a hiatus from flowering in the middle of the summertime. Use the short break for a revitalizing care cut. To do this, shorten long and awkwardly positioned branches. Place the scissors just above a swelling bud that is facing outwards.
Cut back before clearing
If the meteorologists announce the first frosty nights, please put your fuchsias away. Ideally, the summer beauties spend the winter bright and cool with temperatures between three and eight degrees Celsius. Before moving to the winter quarters, a pruning is on the care plan. How to prepare fuchsias for wintering:
- Cut off kinked, weak and lifeless shoots at the base
- Cut back the remaining branches by a third
- Remove flower remains and diseased leaves with pest infestation
Please make sure that no dead or infected plant parts get into the winter quarters. If fuchsias overwinter in the dark, all shoots are defoliated to prevent disease.
Prune horny shoots before overwintering
Under the influence of lack of light in winter quarters, they can form long, thin shoots. These so-called Geiltriebe impair vital budding in spring. Before clearing out, cut back overly long, thin tendrils by up to three quarters.
Cut as a flower trellis - that's how it works
With a trellis of bamboo sticks in the back, you give your fuchsias an opulent and flowery form. For this purpose, tie the young, herbaceous shoots to the sticks with hose ties. Within two to three years, the flowering shrubs will grow into a feast for the eyes. The key to success is this cut care:
- Prune fuchsias on a trellis from April to October
- Cut off the shoot tips every 4 to 6 weeks for a bushy branching
- Place sharp, sanitized scissors over a bud or pair of leaves
- Cut off disturbing, cross-growing and stunted shoots
Tie regrowing fuchsia shoots continuously to the trellis, without the binding material cutting into the sensitive bark.
tips
Pruning fuchsias gives you numerous cuttings for propagation at no cost in early summer. Cut off semi-lignified, non-flowering shoot tips below the third pair of leaves. Pluck off the two lower leaves. Then dip each cutting in rooting powder. Plant the top cuttings in pairs in pots with potting soil, water them with a fine spray and put a glass hood over them.