In February you start the season by cleaning your plants after the winter storage, check the earth and cut them if some unwanted shoots has been growing in the winter which they are not supposed to, but sometimes they do it anyway. Then the plants need to have a little water together with a little NPK manure. Around end March or start April (off course all after the weather) the plants can be placed outside for some hours in the middle at the day or you can leave the greenhouse door open. At this point you cut the plants until the point at the stem where they break – doing this will give the plant a much more beautiful shape and from this point I gradual increase the amount of the manure – still NPK manure. If the weather is good late April the plants can stay outside all day and nights now. Some of the first Fuchsia that will start blooming in my garden is Walz Jubelteen, Tamworth, Snowstorm and Beacon.

Now I start to use NPK manure containing extra Potash. The compound is 100-g. pure Potash to 250-g. NPK manure, mix it together in 5 litre warm water. Each time I water I use 3 dl. of this special manure in 10 litre water.

I use this compound until July where I change to use manure that contains many different nutrients – a good one to use is Hornum manure. This manure can be bought ready for use, but it’s cheaper to make it your self. It’s very easy because to make it, at least in Denmark you can buy a package in which there’s all the materials used for making the manure, the only thing one has do is to compound it with water in several steps. Another good manure form is to bye manure stick, using those you only have to change them once og twice for the whole season, so that an easy way to manure - the plants takes what the need and nothing more.

July month is the month where all you have to do is to remove dead flowers, water and pinch a little and give yourself the time to enjoy your Fuchsia.

In August you can make a compound with some sodium sulphate in the water to avoid the ugly yellow leaves which we all at some points have seen at our Fuchsia.

When September comes it’s time to stop with the manure– and late September I start to dig up the Fuschsia that was planted in the earth for the summer period. When digging up the plants it is not easy to prevent to damage the roots and therefore it’s important to dig the Fuchsia up early enough so that they can have the time to starting up some new roots before they must be prepared for winter storage.

As a fundamental rule for manure I use to say:

Spring: Use manure with high nitrogen content (N-value must be high).

Summer: Use manure with a high K value

Fuchsia absorb approx. 30 % of it’s nourishment through the foliage and I have found out that they enjoy getting sprayed with the manure (evening work – because the sun will burn the foliage if it’s done in the sun) one or two times weekly.

A compound that also suites Fuchsia well are: 10-litre water – 100-g Urea and 100 –g magnesium sulphate, by spraying this on the foliage (evening work) will make the plants green and strong. This compound can be used together with insecticide and a working process is saved…

Off course Fuchsia need water to grow and thrive, but they must bot be over water with a drowning accident as result.

It’s also clear that they need a worm to thrive, but as it is with water: to little and too much both is not good for the plants - Fuchsia don’t like to much heat.

When the temperature reach 30 degrees, a lot of plants gets a chock if it’s also had too much manure.

A nice worm summer day is something we all like, and there are some little tips that can help your Fuchsia dealing with the heat:

When the temperatures reach 27 degrees the evaporation on the leaf be higher than the roots can deal with, the plant will then try to protect itself by closing the pits trying to reduce the water loss, this makes the leaves loosen and hanging. And from here the plant will go from the growing level to the survival level. In this phase it’s not possible for the plant to take up kuldioxid neither is it possible for the plant to evaporate the water. And then all the circulation for the plant is in disorder – therefore please don’t water your Fuchsia when the temperature is over 27 degrees. If you do it, you will see that the earth is over watery and heavy and no air will be allowed in the pot, and therefore the root will die by rotting up and then the Fuchsia is gone for ever.

Instead of watering, you can sprinkle the plants once or twice in the middle of the day - or move the plant to a shadowed place. Can’t you move the plants right away then give them some shadow by placing a shadow net over the plant, the same net as we uses for filter light.

At a high temperature the salt contents in the earth will increase. This will make the plant more open for diseases as mildew e.c., and then the plant can also die because the roots will be damage, so therefore: don’t use manure when the temperature is high because the plant can’t use it.

A black plastic pot placed in the sun will quickly reach a inner temperature on 40 degrees and when that happens the fine roots on the plant that reach the pot will be burned of. When there´s high temperature you must help the plant with as much shadow as possible. If you have the possibility to do it – sprinkle the plant a couple of times during the day with a atomizer on hot days and then remember to feel inside the pot before watering the plnt next time.

In order to lower the temperature in the pot it’s important that the earth is blended so that the surplus water can come out. Therefore mix the soil with coarse sand, granulated clay or something like that. Another possibility is to use two pots. One bigger that the other, then there’s space for air between them, and that will help cooling down the roots.

If you prefers to use white pots you must choose the best quality because they are light- proof which means that there will not be formed green alga on the inner site of the pot, Fuchsia don’t like green alga´s.

Some places the black plastic pots in concrete pipes, this is advantageous in two ways – it’s cooling down the temperature and furthermore it’s a much more stabile placement for the Fuchsia.

The best way to try to reach a good result is to invest in stoneware pots, because they are more stabile and cooler for Fuchsia and it’s much easier to control the watering – but be sure that there’s enough holes in the button to drain.