The larger holes/damage in the small leaf you're holding look like mechanical injury - what would be akin to a bruise to a human. The spots on the underside of the leaf are oedema. I've written about that & I'll leave something about it at the end of my post. Usually the driving cause behind its occurrence is over-watering, but there are several cultural contributes that can also cause or exacerbate the malady. Using a "tell" to tell you when it's time to water will help you determine what moisture conditions are deeper in the pot. I'll also leave something about that, below. If you have interest, there are some other things that can help alleviate the impact of excess water, which causes a dearth of air in the soil, which causes limited root function and poor root health. Just ask if you have interest. FWIW, I'd guess that over-watering is directly or indirectly responsible for the overwhelming % of requests for help on all fora with strong connections to container growing. Oedema Oedema is a physiological disorder that can affect all plants. It occurs when the plant takes up more water than it can rid itself of via the process of transpiration. The word itself means 'swelling', which is usually the first symptom, and comes in the form of pale blisters or water-filled bumps on foliage. Under a variety of circumstances/cultural conditions, a plant's internal water pressure (turgidity) can become so high that some leaf cells rupture and leak their contents into inter-cellular spaces in leaf tissue, creating wet or weepy areas. Symptoms vary by plant, but as the malady progresses, areas of the leaf turn yellow, brown, brown with reddish overtones or even black, with older damage appearing as corky/ scaly/ ridged patches, or wart/gall-like bumpy growth. Symptoms are seen more frequently in plants that are fleshy, are usually more pronounced on the underside of leaves, and older/lower leaves are more likely to be affected than younger/upper leaves. Oedema is most common in houseplants during the winter/early spring months, is driven primarily by excessive water retention in the soil, and can be intensified via several additional cultural influences. Cool temperatures, high humidity levels, low light conditions, or partial defoliation can individually or collectively act to intensify the problem, as can anything else that slows transpiration. Nutritional deficiencies of Ca and Mg are also known contributors to the malady. Some things that can help you prevent oedema: * Increase light levels and temperature * Monitor water needs carefully – avoid over-watering. I'd heartily recommend a soil with drainage so sharp (fast) that when you to water to beyond the saturation point you needn't worry about prolonged periods of soil saturation wrecking root health/function. Your soil choice should be a key that unlocks the solutions to many potential problems. * Avoid misting or getting water on foliage. It slows transpiration and increases turgidity. * Water as soon as you get up in the AM. When stomata close in preparation for the dark cycle, turgidity builds. If you water early in the day, it gives the plant an opportunity to remove (for its own needs) some of the excess water in the soil. * Put a fan in the room or otherwise increase air flow/circulation. Avoid over-crowding your plants. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al

Hi Ian, Thank you very much for replying to my question! I just inspected the plant all over again and there were no snails, and even last night I took a look at the plant, everything seems to be fine. Also, there are no damages on the leaves or stems at all. My fuchsia plants are placed at the windowsill as I do not have a balcony or a garden, so I do not know how the snails could have gotten in, if there was any lurking around. I also have other plants beside the fuchsia plants and none of them have been affected. Are there any other possibilities that can explain this problem? Because only the buds are attacked, open or unopen ones. I had luck with a few buds on the Euro Princess that bloomed but some petals were discolored and the bloom looks a bit distorted and they simply dried up after 1-2 days and fall off. Could it be overwatering? underwatering? not feeding enough? Wrong place? Too high temperature? Do you think cutting down all the blooms away and making the plant shorter overall can help it become stronger and perhaps overcome this problem? Thank you very much!!

You can used the faucet (especially if you have a set-up with a hand sprayer). Make sure the water temp is well below body temp, which is too warm. If you suspect the soil has been adulterated with something phytotoxic, you have little choice other than to flush the soil and then try to mitigate any subsequent tendency of the soil to retain too much water. Look at B and E to see how much excess water you can remove by tipping the pot and using a wick. Also, if the pot is a 7" pot, you can hold it over the sink and move it down then sharply upward to rid the soil of virtually ALL excess water. Think of what you do after pouring pasta in a colander - after it stops draining. You grab the colander and move it up and down to remove LOT of additional water. Do that with your little plant. If more growers applied that technique they would help their plants realize significantly more of their genetic potential. The pot should be detached from the reservoir, and the plant should never rest in the effluent that exits the drain holes. The purpose of flushing the soil when we water is to rid the soil of an increasing level of mineral salts from tap water and fertilizer solution. If the plant rests in its effluent, the level of salts very quickly reaches a state of isotonicity (balance in the salt levels between the water in the collection saucer and the soil solution), which in the end is like the soil was never flushed at all. Al

There are inherent limitations in a soil that takes 2 weeks to dry down to the point the grower feels it's safe to water again. We have to allow too, that since you haven't been monitoring moisture levels, the plant might be capable of going much longer between waterings, which would tend to increase the level of limitations associated with too much water in the soil. Given the size of the plant and the size of the container, the only way that can occur is by virtue of the fact the soil holds a lot of excess water. The soils I use require watering every 1-4 days, depending on the pot size and weather or indoor conditions. Keep in mind that most of my plantings are bonsai, so the ratio of plant mass to soil volume is very different than growing in a container as large as yours. I do have many dozens of plants growing on for bonsai in containers the size of the one you pictured and much larger, however. I think plantings that actually DO require watering every 2-3 days probably represent the best opportunity for plants to realize as much of their genetic potential as possible, but you'll need to decide weather or not you're willing to work toward getting to that point and subsequently making the effort it takes to water that frequently. Since we might never know what caused the leaf drop, it's probably best to confront the issue on several cultural fronts. My plan for the plant in the short term would be to take steps to significantly reduce the volume of excess water your planting can hold. That can be done in a variety/combination of ways. I'd see what I could do about getting it more light and maintaining a constant temp of about 70* or warmer. I'd flush the soil at regular intervals and fertilize regularly. Unless there are other potential limiting factors we don't know about, these suggestions should allow your plant to recover. Because the above doesn't go into a lot of detail doesn't mean I can't. If you're up for making the effort, you'll get all the help you need, a good part of it in the form of homework I'll link you to. After you read it, ask about anything it leaves you wondering about. Al