I have had an upright fuschia growing in my dining room for the entire winter. It defoliated and went dormant for awhile, but then starting getting lots of new growth. Then a bunch of the new growth dried up and died, but I think that was my fault for watering too little. For awhile there has been a few healthy, new shoots of growth. For some reason today one of the main ones wilted and is bent over. I watered it a few days ago and it is still fairly damp an inch down in the soil. I am suspicious of some kind of bug or virus. I did see a few of its leaves drying around around the edges not too long ago. It was almost like the slow effects of spider mites, but no mites. I checked it closely for spider mites (which I have had and defeated before). I also have a hibiscus plant near by that had some aphids and some clear sap-like substance on some of the leaves. I'm wondering if it the same thing on a small scale. I've heard of this sappy problem before, but what is it and how do I get rid of it? Does anyone have an idea of what might be happening to this plant? I would really like to keep this plant alive. I'm hoping it will get some new growth as well. It has some thicker brown branches that are alive, but dont have any foliage. I fertilized it for the first time this winter last week. I gave it a miracle grow stick.

Thanks!

-DR

Sarah

Sorry to hear of your problems, it seems that you have covered most of the things that could have gone wrong yourself, but I have a few suggestions for you;

Feeding any plant that is 'sickly' is not recommended, you need to identify the problem first.

You say that one stem wilted, this needs cutting back to soil level if you haven't already done so.

Knock the plant out of its container and check on the root ball, primarily you are checking to see if there are any new white roots being formed, if there are then at least you know the plant is coming back to life.

While the plant is out of the container check the condition of the soil, it may be too wet or too dry, both these conditions can have a devestating effect on plants.

If you find that there are old brown roots you need to remove these and repot, if there is very little root left then you must assume that something is eating the roots and you need to delve into the soil and roots to see what the problem is.

With regards to the 'sappy problem' I would be inclined to 'dunk' the plant in a bucket of hand hot water (make sure that the water is not too hot though) and count to ten slowly while the plant is submerged. This usually cleans up any pests that may be there, including red spider mites and is wholly environmentally friendly. Make sure that you only ‘dunk’ the plant to the soil level and not the whole pot.

I would also be tempted AFTER this treatment to take cuttings from any available material and then trim the rest of the growth back by at least half.

Let us know how you get on and what you find when you knock the plant out of the container…………

Tight…..