Bought Fuchsia starts by mail..They Look Awful!!!!

16 years ago

I bought 2 aubergine fuchsia starts by mail and the box was damaged when I recieved them. The potting soil was falling out of the box when I picked it up and it looked dry. I took them out and they looked severly stressed and droopy.The leaves were so soft and the next day they were even worse,started to dry up and shrivel. I gave them one more day then I took all the leaves off and now they are just bare. I hope they can be saved.Oh, by the way,they are Delta's night fuchsia's.Can anyone give some advice as to what to do for them???Thanks, Twyla

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Comments (3)

aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
16 years ago
With mail order fuchsias quite often leaves suffer or are lost during shipping. A lot depends how long they were in the mail. They need time to recuperate.
I usually put Fuchsias I receive by mail in a shaded area with good air circulation. If the potting medium is moist I don't water again until they are almost dry.
I don't remove any leaves for a couple of days, if after a couple of days the leaves are looking ratty I have cut the damaged portions off with scissors that have been disinfected.
If all your leaves are off and the potting medium that they are in is dry give them a drink, if they are moist take it easy on the watering and just mist them a couple of times a day.
Keep them in a shaded area until they show signs of new growth. I have revived some that I thought were goners by removing all the potting medium then planted them in chicken grit, I treated them as if they were cuttings, in the grit they had excellent drainage and soon formed new roots. Hope this of some help.

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twyla3
Original Author
16 years ago
Ok,thank you..They still look dead but I'm hanging in there..Oh Yeah,what is chicken grit? I hate to ask that question since I am from the South..lol Thanks for your help..TD
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aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
16 years ago
I buy chicken grit from a feed store, It is a little coarser than sand and I have had really good results rooting Fuchsia cuttings in it. One of the systems I use for rooting cuttings that works really well for me.....I use one of those plastic trays that has the taller domed clear plastic lid, an insert of styrofoam that my DH has cut one and three quarter inch holes in, 32 in all. I buy those little clear measuring cups for meds at the drugstore, they come a tube of 50. After placing the cups in the holes, filling the cups with grit, soaking the grit with water, I insert my cuttings pushing labels with names between cup and styrofoam, then put the dome on. I have rooted cuttings in a week to ten days using this method. If I suspect a plant is having root problems I take the plant out of the pot to inspect the roots, if they look brown, no healthy white roots showing, I carefully wash the soil off, remove most of the dead roots, rinse the root ball and plant in moist chicken grit, keep it moist and under a cloche until I see signs of new growth. I've saved quite a few plants this way, of course I've lost some too.

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