We be waiting and a watching..

Don't forget the tweezers............Yawn!
T.

Hi Thalian

I am interested to know what you use the tweezers for?

Tightathome

HiTight,
I use a pair of bent nose tweezers for pinching out. They are also useful for removing those 'hard to get at' bits of rubbish or leaf litter from plants, especialy at this time of the year. I see that Dave Clark has also mentioned them on his Web-site.
T.

Hi Thalian

I know Dave quite well, the problem with using tweezers is that when pinching out you can damage the embryo buds which inevtitably causes the 'stop' to break from only one side of the leaf axil. You would only use this method to obtain more breaks early in the seasons (I suspect that you intend to show these plants?). It is much better to make sure the plants are well watered and 'turgid' then they will 'snap' off the plant with a slight sidewards movement.

As for removing rubbish, turn your plants upside down and give them a good shake, over a white cloth is helpful as you will see if there are any 'beasties' lurking in there.

The only time I use a pair of long nosed tweezers is when I am preparing a plant for show and I need to remove a yellowing leave from inside the plant.

Tight....

Hi Tight,
So I lose bud or two. I grow for interest, colour and to fill 50 or 60 pots on the patio, and have no thoughts about showing. I spend my time with my orchids in the Winter, then fuchsias in the Spring and Summer.
The main problem I have found is to make sure the plants are well hardened off, before they go out in the Spring. I lose more branches and buds to the wind than I would ever lose to tweezers.
T.

Hi Thalian

Yes making sure your plants are hardened off can be a problem I tend to grow my plants hard anyway so I donÂt have the problem of hardening them off, only on the coldest days are the greenhouse doors and vents kept closed.

I grow quite a few plants in pots but I overcame the problem of them blowing around years ago by either keeping the pots in concrete pot holders or in the trays that they are displayed in at the garden centres  not much point in nurturing them through the winter only for them to loose all their shape and branches in the first strong wind. I live only a couple of miles from the highest airport in the UK so we suffer from the wind.

I grow every plant as if it is going to be a show winner, that way the standard of my plants remains quite high, hard work but very rewarding.

It would be interesting to see your plants.

Tight....

Nice photo. Is that Janice Perry with the light foliage?
For the amount of time I can spend, it has to be quantity rather than quality.
I haven't any photos of the plants from this year, only of a few odd flowers, taken for identification. I lost a lot of pics in a recent hard-drive burn out. Now your going to tell me about backing up data ;-)
T.

Hi T.

Yes backing up is a good idea, especially when it comes to fuchsia photos... a simple CD holds a lot of pics.

The plant in question is actually a quarter standard of 'Golden Treasure', I grew two last year and gave both away, not my sort of plant unfortunately. Although what you can see in the photograph look quite large plants my favourites are the small pot classes and therefore the smaller blooms. I am always on the lookout for new cultivars that meet the criteria of being short jointed, small flowered and floriferous so if you have any suggestions....

Hope you are coping with the weather down your part of the country, cold but bright here in the north.

Tight....

Hi Tight,
The only small flowered variety I have grown is Walz Jubelteen. These may not be to your liking, but a couple that did make a good show in a 5 inch pot this year, were 'Peggy' and 'Violette' from the Shadow Dancer Collection. They could be kept small and will produce a large amount of bloom. I think they may be in the T&M List.
Weather wet and windy with a little local frost at times........................must be Winter!
T.

Hi T.

The cultivars that you mention are usually the types that are sold by the garden centre as opposed to the fuchsia nurseries. I tend to get my cuttings from the specialist growers as I find that the garden centres are very limited in what they have to offer. I am fortunate in that I have a good friend who runs his own fuchsia nursery and I pay him a visit early in the season to see what is new or what he is recommending for the new season.

This was taken at the nursery, a place where I can spend hours with the camera and I always end up taking more home than I need..... who doesn't...

I also use a mail order company (see link below) they have a nice selection of the smaller types of plant and flowers that I like and a quite extensive collection of other cultivars, Triphylla and Species, well worth a look, and the quality has been excellent too.

We have had a few cold days here and the weather forecast is for a White Christmas so the cuttings are put on hold until the weather conditions improve.

Tight

Here is a link that might be useful: Blackwells Fuchsias

Hi Tight,
I have Blackwells catalogue by the side of my chair at this moment. I ordered their 10 mixed upright/trailing last Spring, and was very pleased with the selection they dispatched. I will be more selctive this year, so I've 'ticked' about 70 .......... but will have to cut that down to a manageable number ;-)
Daniel Reynolds looks interesting, as do several others of the Reynolds range. Have you grown many of his cultivars.
T.

Hi T.

I have over the past couple of years grown a few of Gordon Reynolds raisings, these are the ones I have grown and some comments on them;

BECKY REYNOLDS  nice short jointed plant  grown free (only a couple of stops) last season, this plant will need stopping three or four times to make a good bushy plant.

GRUMPY GORD Â not as tight as I would like it to be, I might have to stop every pair of leaves to get a good small pot for exhibition.

JACK SIVERNS Â will make a good 5" pot, not tight enough for me to grow as a small pot.

JESSICA REYNOLDS Â again not my type of plant for a small pot, not keeping this one.

KATIE REYNOLDS Â a nice plant which needs a bit more stopping than some others to make a good 5" pot.

LOVELY LES  I have grown this as a half standard in its first year  it flowered well last year but didnÂt make it to any shows (my fault). It is growing nicely already and is just about ready for itÂs first stop as soon as the weather picks up a little. I can't praise this plant enough - well worth growing.

MARGARET JENKINSON  a superb plant in the second year. Full of flower and a really easy to shape plant  I would recommend this to anyone.

MY LITTLE CRACKER Â another nice short jointed plant ÂI also grew this freely last season it will need stopping three or four times early in the season to make a good bushy plant.

SAMANTHA REYNOLDS Â made a good plant grown freely, again this will need as many early stops as possible to get a good short jointed floriferous plant.

SHARON LESLIE Â a really nice flower on this, it will need a few more stops than I gave it last year though to make a nice plant for exhibition.

SIR JACK  not sure on this one  the jury is out, I think I will not be keeping it.

None of plants are more than 2 seasons old, I lost all my plants when I was seriously ill for a year or so and I had to restock completely. I would highly recommend it, not the being ill bit, but the restocking of your plants every few years.

I think I will be ordering a few more from BlackwellÂs this year and Daniel Reynolds and Jennifer Ann Porter will definitely be on my list.

Tight....