Free Fuschia Plants from Cuttings
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You will need:
Fuschia plants
Sharp scissor or secateurs
Container for water and cuttings, a glass works well. (I used a set designed to keep my cuttings separated so that I know which ones came from which plants)
Water
Multi-purpose compost and small plant pots
Step 1: Cut some shoots
Cut some growing shoots from your fuschia plants. Make sure that you select young healthy growing shoots that do not have any flowers or flower buds on them. Cut about 10cm (4 inches) lengths off. Place them in a plastic bag as you cut them off to prevent them drying out.
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Shoot
Step 2: Remove lower leaves
Take each cutting in turn and remove all the lower leaves, leaving very few at the top of the shoot. This prevents the cutting from losing too much moisture through its leaves.
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Cutting -
Lower leaves removed
Step 3: Keep in water
Place the cutting into the water. If you want to know what plant it is from make sure that you label your water container. I have numbered my cuttings and produced a sheet with a photo of each flower and a short description next to the relevant number. I do not know the names of the varieties but I know what they look like and their growing habit. Leave the container in a light place but not direct sunlight. Roots should start to appear on the stems quite quickly (in about a week or two).
Step 4: Pot up cutting
Once your cutting has a reasonable amount of root on it you can plant it up in some multi-purpose compost.
Fill a small plant pot with multi-purpose compost and make a small hole in the top using a dibber (or in my case a pencil).
Place the fuschia cutting in the hole and firm it in. Repeat with your other cuttings. Then keep the young plants watered and frost free over winter. In spring you will have many new healthy plants ready for your containers and baskets for free!
These are the four fuschias that I have taken cuttings from. You can see why I want to make sure I keep them and have more plants next year.
Summary:
In summary it is easy to take cuttings. Give it a try with a few different plants. Not all your cuttings will take but as they are free you can take plenty and not worry about a few failures.
Another inexpensive way to produce many garden plants is to grow your own plants from seed as shown in my earlier article ‘Sowing Seeds for Success’.
Let me know how you get on and which plants you have successfully reproduced from a cutting.
Remember to pin this article on Pinterest so that you can find it later.
