If it's no worse than the pictures, yes, it can be saved, but watch out for hot weather. Their tolerances for temperature are narrower than those of typical landscaping plants of New York.

It looks kinda bare in the middle. Has it been dropping a lot of leaves?

>>a few days ago I noticed that the water is just running right through the pot and coming out the bottom.

Do you mean that it was running down the sides of the pot and not soaking in?

If that's the case you might try a surfactant to get it to soak into the soil. One drop of liquid dish detergent mixed into the water will do the trick.

You do want the pot to drain freely; otherwise the roots might rot from anaerobic conditions.

Daily watering is probably necessary in hot weather.

I'll let someone else chime in regarding what else to try--you are growing a plant that does not do well in climates that have hot summers and cold winters.

Yes, apparently it has been dropping leaves, which I didn't notice until I took it down from the tree. It looks so sparse! :-(

The water was going into the pot and coming right out the hole in the bottom. DH thinks I was overwatering it???

I've taken it down from the tree and am moving it around on my deck, trying to keep it in a bright area without direct sun, then moving it into the shade in the afternoon. It doesn't look any better yet, but it doesn't look any worse.... I guess that's progress!

Any advice or opinions as to why it is dropping leaves?

Thanks!

Hi

You probably have been over watering what we term in the UK a 'hanging pot'. As this pot has very little in the way of leaves, there is nowhere for the water that you have been putting in to go (the water is usually taken up and transpired through the leaves). To help in saving the pot I would suggest that you knock the whole root ball out of the pot and completely wrap this in absorbent towel (kitchen towel) replacing this as necessary until most of the moisture has been taken up.

When you are satisfied that most of the excess water has been removed (less on the towel), place it back into the 'hanging pot' and spray the foliage with plain water a couple of times a day for a few days to make sure that the foliage remains turgid.

Thereafter until the plants recover, watering should be minimal and after a couple of weeks new growth should start appearing.

Wateringing is the hardest skill to learn and growing baskets and pots can test even the best of growers. I have even been out watering baskets and pots this week in the rain!!

Hope this helps

Tight....

Hi, as another fuchsia grower from the UK may I suggest another possible remedy as well as those mentioned above? Ok, this may sound drastic, but if it were mine and you have the courage to do this, I would prune the long branches by at least half, back to a node/leaf joint. This would reduce the stress that it is already showing and will encourage more side branches to form. Yes, you will loose the flowers, but given around 6 weeks and you should have loads more to enjoy....and a better plant too! I would follow this with a top dressing of good quality compost and feed once a week with liquid fertiliser which will all go to boost new strong growth.
Fuchsias like relatively shady/cooler conditions, like plenty of water but don't appreciate waterlogged soils, the compost should be open enough to drain freely but also be able to hold onto the nutrients well enough...get it right and they are spectacular.
All is definately NOT lost so don't give up please? Let us know what you decide to do and it's progress? Good luck with whichever way you chose.
Gill.

Thanks to all who responded! I cut off the dead stems and trimmed the straggliest ones back -- couldn't quite bring myself to cut them all as much as greenclaws suggested, but it's had a decent pruning.

Then I took it out off the pot and discovered that the soil was absolutely sodden. Now, I haven't watered it in a couple of days, and I don't think DH has, either. The soil was very heavy at the bottom, and there was some green slime on the sides of the pot. Methinks it was waaaay too wet in there!

I'm assuming I need to lighten it up and provide better drainage.... would putting some gravel at the bottom of the pot, then mixing in some peat moss and compost help?

Thanks!

Rebecca