How do I propagate Fuchsia boliviana?

16 years ago

Now I need help. F. boliviana has fat stems and soft wood. Not a lot of nodes.

I suspect it is not too hard to propagate (since mine started life as cuttings themselves) but I don't know how much to take.

I need "insurance" on these as cold weather is coming and they are possibly my most tender Fuchsia.

Comments (2)

aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
16 years ago
Hi Atash, I'm no expert, just a fly by the seat of my pants gardener. I have found Boliviana very easy from seed but you want to take cuttings so, if it were me I'd be taking some tip cuttings one to two inches long or as short as you can take them. Boliviana has pretty big leaves so I'd cut at least half of each leaf off.
The shorter the cutting the easier they root, at least for me. I have some cuttings rooting right now in plain old chicken grit which is kept moist. This time of year I do use a bit of no.1 rooting hormone. These are all under florescent lights, with a clear plastic dome over them. A heating mat would probably make them root faster.
If you are only rooting one or two... I've rooted them in 2" pots of soil-less mix, the pots I have enclosed in a clear plastic container and placed in good light, window sill in my case.
Others could probably tell you better ways to root Fuchsias, especially cuttings from Fuchsias that have been planted out, I've heard they can be a little stubborn.
The seed you sent me has started to germinate :o), Regia has 7 up, Magellenica is slow only one up so far. Patience is the name of the game.

A......
atash
Original Author
16 years ago
>>The seed you sent me has started to germinate

More will be heading up shortly. The berries have been SLOW to ripen this year.

I do have berries from one of the bolivianas. Not quite ripe and having trouble finishing.

I might as well use cuttings as the tops are absolutely certain to freeze back. They are rather tender compared to any other Fuchsia I have except maybe Billy Green which is a Triphylla hybrid (probably not pure, and has a bit of something hardier in it, because it can survive as a freezeback which most of its kind can not do). When I compare them to others, they are one of only 2 types that have large, matte-textured leaves--in their case, coarsely rugose. The other one is xspeciosa, which looks tender but isn't. I would guess that the unusual leaves are a symptom of coming from unusually low elevations for a tropical Fuchsia.

F. boliviana var alba luxuriens (I didn't name it) is just starting to bloom. We're racing the clock here against frost!
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