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Another symptom of the ‘Fuchsia Bug' is the taking of cuttings and this is something that stays with you whilst ever you are growing fuchsias. We as fuchsia growers are fortunate in the fact that ours must surely be one of the easiest plants to reproduce from vegetative propagation (cuttings). You can root them in virtually any medium - water, sand, peat, 50% sand 50% peat, perlite, vermiculite, peat/perlite, peat/vermiculite and Jiffy 7’s, the choice is yours. Jiffy 7’s are small compressed peat pellets about 1¾” (4.3cm) which are in a net and when placed in water they are-hydrate and become a self contained medium and pot. The main thing with any type of cutting is to get a good root system forming. I find that although most growers say otherwise, a compost containing food does not harm the new cuttings, however I accept that it is probably wiser to test the compost that you intend using first to assess this. Remember what I said earlier regarding not taking everyone’s words as the only way. HOW TO TAKE A CUTTING The most popular form of cutting taken in the early spring to the middle of the summer consists of the soft growing tip and two pairs of leaves.
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| Cut above where the leaves join the stem (node) |
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Choose a suitable shoot, one preferably without flower buds, with leaves of as near equal size as possible, from a plant that is showing or has shown symmetrical growth. Do not worry if you cannot find these qualities in your cutting, you can always root from these cuttings later and try to re-dress the fault. Once a shoot has been selected, the growing tip plus two pairs of leaves should be carefully removed, above the node (the node is where the leaves join the stem) that you are leaving on the plant. This will ensure that you are not leaving a short stem on tile parent plant that could allow infection and disease to enter and cause die-back. Just a note of caution, the cutting must be severed from the parent plant with a very sharp blade or knife as this clean cut will assist in the healing process of the wound made.
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| Remove the piece of stem below the node |
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The next stage is to take the cutting to the pot/tray or whatever container you intend using. If you are taking a lot of cuttings at once, you can place these in a plastic bag to help them retain moisture until such time as you can get them into the rooting medium. Beware though - do not make the fatal mistake of not labelling each variety individually. It is surprising how much alike the cuttings look in plastic bags and the memory itself is very fickle.
You now have in front of you a container of the selected medium plus a fuchsia cutting. You should now remove the little bit of stem under the leaves, this time being very careful not to damage the swelling at the node. The next step is to remove the leaves at the bottom, again being careful not to cut too close to the stem and damage what will eventually form the cutting's roots. This will leave you with a growing tip, one pair of leaves and a short stem with a small swelling (node) at the base.
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| Carefully remove the lower leaves |
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Using a dibber or sharp stick make a small hole in the compost, if you are placing more than one cutting in the container you should space these out in the container approximately 1.5" (38mm) apart. If you are only taking one cutting the container should be small and the cutting placed in the middle. The hole made in the compost must only be deep enough to take the length of stem with the bottom pair of leaves resting on the surface, not above or below, but on the surface. You must make sure that the stem base is in contact with the compost and not resting in an air pocket. When inserting the cutting, hold it gently by a leaf and insert straight into the hole, ensuring that you have the correct depth before finally using the dibber to gently firm the compost back around the stem to make sure that the contact is made between compost and stem. Don’t forget the label… (continued on next page)
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