Saving Wilting Gartenmeister Transplants?

17 years ago

I bought this pretty dark green, red underneath leaf fuschia which I believe is "Gartenmeister" from a lady who dug it up from her yard. She said it spreads by stolons. I've never heard that before. But sure enough, when dug up, it was connected to the mother plant.

At any rate, I failed to pot it up until the next day (I squirted it with a sprayer the first night) & leaves had begun to wilt before I potted it up. The next morning it had gotten a bit of sun and wilted further. Today was hot & dry, so I watered it again. Now the soil is soggy & one pot is glazed--am I suffocating it? If the single set of leaves at the top of the two plants completely dies, does the plant with a root have a chance of recovering? I've also have a single stem cutting that appears to be doing slightly better. So far I've cut back the leaves & used vitamin B for transplant shock. I just place the three smaller "cuttings" in plastic bags, but I'm afraid to put the largest one in the glazed pot, under plastic because I'm afraid it will rot. I'm not sure what to do with wilting stems attached to stolons.

I'm open to any suggestions. I'm also thinking of calling her up and asking for fresh cuttings & using the regular method for propagation. My other idea is to rip off the leaves & stick the roots where my japanese anenome, another stolon grower, was growing wildly. Although that got more sun on the South side of the house.

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Comments (2)

atash
16 years ago
Unfortunately, two extremes don't make a happy medium. Yes, the glazed pot was probably a bad idea, and soggy soil doesn't sound good either. I think you need to raise humidity but keep the rooting medium aerated.

Fuchsias don't have stolons. Phygelius, which are often mistaken for Fuchsias, do. Fuchsias do root so readily that low-growing branches often take root; that is fairly normal; I don't think that counts as a true "stolon" tho. I'm not sure but I think they are capable of root-suckering too. I've had vegetative offsets mysteriously show up next to other plants, usually from broken branches but sometimes I suspect from me digging around the roots.

Unless you are close to the Pacific (especially if you are in southern California) this does not seem like a good time of year to start Fuchsias, except possibly the heat-loving triphylla types like Gartenmeister Bonstedt (that's "Gartenmeister's" full name). Try to find as cool a spot as you can. If it is G. Bonstedt, try it again if she doesn't mind. One possibility are gel rooting mediums. Those are supposed to work well with Fuchsias (and apparently not so much other things), and they'll keep it hydrated. Oddly enough, gels or for that matter straight water are better aerated than soggy soil! Make sure the starts are kept in a SHADY location, like the north side of the house, and because California's humidity is generally quite low I think you'll need something like a coldframe or other form of protection to raise humidity.

To answer your question your start isn't necessarily beyond hope. I always worry when they lose their only leaves but I've certainly had bare twigs root! Fuchsias WANT to root.

Good luck and I hope it works out one way or another.
luvplants
Original Author
16 years ago
Atash,
Thanks for responding. I looked up Phygelius & it's not it. It's flowers are hanging not on a stem & the leaves aren't veined red & red underneath like tlhis plant is. The cuttings are looking like they might be recovering & I've moved them into full shade (one is inside). I think this may have just been a really bad week to try to do cuttings. We're having very dry "Santa Ana" winds so it's much hotter & drier than usual. I'll have to look into the gel rooting mediums. It's encouraging to learn that fuchsias want to root!
I'll let you know how it works out.
Traci
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Saving Wilting Gartenmeister Transplants?

Comments (2)

atash

luvplants
Original Author

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Saving Wilting Gartenmeister Transplants?

Comments (2)

atash

luvplantsOriginal Author

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luvplants
Original Author