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aphids - take cuttings or not?

Posted by watchmefly z7 PacificNW (My Page) on
Tue, Jan 30, 07 at 17:47

Hi,

I have a fuschia "Marinka" that I have grown each year. At the end of the season I take cuttings which I grow indoors, and allow the plant to die. This year it was flourishing so much I just had to bring it inside. (Technically it is 4 plants from cuttings in one pot). It has done well, but not blooming. I have been meaning to take cuttings, and usually the approaching frosts force me to hurry up and do it. But this year with it inside I have been lazy and haven't taken them yet.

I just recently read about them needing a "rest" so I plan to take the cuttings from this one and then cut it back, pot it down or down-pot it or whatever it's called, and put it to bed for a while.

I have everything ready today and realised there are aphids on the leaves (Light green no wings that I have seen). Ugh! Finally I got around to doing this and looks like I may not be able to yet.

Now I'm not sure what to do.

  • I could wash off the branches I intend to take cuttings from and go ahead and take cuttings.
  • I could do the same but treat the cuttings after wards (sounds risky)
  • I could treat the whole plant and take cuttings later (and hope plant does ok) If I do that could I still go ahead and pot-down the plant now? Or should I wait and do that after the cuttings.
  • Or maybe there is another option.

I saw the alcohol based spray in the faqs area; I have an indoor houseplant systemic insect control 2% Di-Syston Brand name "Bonide"; yellow sticky traps; and a range of products I use on outdoor plants like insecticidal soap, horticultural oil, neem... I could rinse off with water but could easily miss some.

Do any of you who are more experienced have any suggestions on how I might proceed from here?

Thank you,

Susan


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: aphids - take cuttings or not?

I am certainly not a fuchsia expert, but I had to deal with the aphids this fall as well. I took any affected plants outside for a quick spray (with the hose)to wash off the aphids. I then sprayed them with a pyrethrin, and kept them isolated until I was sure the aphids were eradicated (I had to repeat the process a few times). If the plants are still healthy enough, I would take the cuttings, spray them thoroughly to insure there are no aphids on them and keep the cuttings in a separate area from the infected plants. They need to be checked daily because the aphids ability to reproduce asexually means even one aphid will quickly turn into many aphids. However, since the aphids love the tender new growth, they may have already damaged the tips of your plants. If so you may have to treat the plants first, depending on what you find. Hope this helps.


 
 

 

 


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