You can keep doing what you are doing and let it grow out some and then prune again. It should sprout on one or both sides of the cut to produce new growth that you can allow to grow out. Since these bloom on new growth, your pruning will be to shape it for the early summer blooms. At some point, you would need to cease pruning and let the new growth harden off to bloom. How often you prune, will depend on how quickly the growth is occurring and what shape you want the plant to take. I think I remember reading somewhere that they will start to bloom about 6 weeks, give or take, after the last pruning.

Hi Colpup

Over wintering is not an exact science and we all have to put up with the vagaries of the weather, I have been growing for nearly 25 years and no two years have been alike.

Apart from ensuring that your plants do not become affected by frost you need to try to maintain the Âlight-heat ratio. It is better to keep the plants cool and in good light than over warm and in poor light. The former will keep the plants squat and short jointed while the latter will cause the new growth to be elongated and weak.

There is no need to feed at the moment as the plant will obtain any food it requires from the new Âsoil that you have added, provided this is a proprietary product. Carry on watering very sparingly, the plant is not using a lot of water so there is no need to water often, just make sure it doesnÂt dry out completely.

With regards to how long a fuchsia plant needs to rest, my plants have about a fortnight and then they are brought back into growth, admittedly they are then grown under glass with protection against frost (no heat  just horticultural fleece) and they start growing again albeit very very slowly until the temperature rises. There is no need to Âpinch out the new growing tips unless they are becoming long and straggly, then you can take them back to one or two nodes from the ÂbreakÂ, however if I was you I would leave them for a few weeks.

There are many threads on the Forum regarding starting plants up after winter and I am sure that there will be more soon.

I hope this helps

Tight .....

Tight - whereever colpup has the fuchsia, it is certainly not outside (I am from the same state and approx 2 zones warmer being on the other side of the state). Sounds like it was kept in either a cold basement (or root cellar or equivalent), or a cold room. There is a possibility of it being in an unheated shed or garage, although it might have been a bit too cold a few times in December during a brief but brutal cold snap, afterwhich there was a warm up the first 2 weeks of January, which if it was located in such a place, would have been when it woke up. Anytime after that has been frigid in PA - well below 0° C, ie., in the -10° C -> -15° C range and barely reaching 0° C the past couple weeks.

I put fushia to bed in a closet that is on an outside wall of an unheated room. I knew it would not freeze there. I keep my summer bulbs stored there as well and they have always done fine. Fushia is now hanging in the front bedroom that has windows on 3 sides so it is getting all the light possible and only morning sun (when we get any). The new growth looks good. It's the right color green and the stems seem healthy. I'm not sure that I understand this pruning thing. Is there a link somewhere or a picture or two I can see? I grow fushias for the hummers that take over my porch each year. The only bird I have ever seen that could put my chow chow in his place immediately. He is scared to death of them. It's hysterical

Hi Colpup,
If you trimmed the stems back to approx. 6 inches before you put it in the cupboard, you don't have to prune those back again now. Let the new growth/stems grow until you have 2 or 3 pairs of leaves on a new stem, then pinch out the growing tip. This procedure will give you a 'bushier' plant instead of the stems growing long and straight up. You can continue to do this as long as you like. Remember every time you pinch out a growing tip it will delay flowering as below.
Single flowering varieties by approx. 6 weeks.
Double flowering varieties by approx. 8 weeks.
Triphylla flowering varieties by approx. 10-12 weeks.

This is only approximate as different positions and climates make a difference. Kath:)

Jenny

I am not sure where the inference regarding the plant being outdoors came from, unless you misconstrued the reference to frost as me thinking the plant was outside?

Tight....

Tight - when you mentioned "weather" and "frost", I couldn't imagine any frost that could come from a location where the plant could have been stored if not inside, unless it was perhaps in a window well, or some location that could get some heat during the day that might reach "frost" temps at some point. That's why I brought it up. Not a problem. :-)

Jenny - On a side note, I have a question for you. Do you know of any places in the area that sell nice fuchsias? The only place I found fuchsia plants at last spring/summer was at The Village Flower Shoppe, in Peddler's Village, Lahaska.

Sarah

Sarah - yikes! Sorry I missed your message! Most of the fuchsias I've seen have been at places like Lowes and Home Depot, but most of the regular nurseries that I frequent like Styers, Waterloo, Primex, etc., usually have some in their greenhouses. I actually got a small F. magellanica that was for outdoor planting, at Laurel Hill nursery in Chestnut Hill in Philly.