With reference to growing plants in 2 pots, I actually use this method myself, purely to keep the roots cool in the summer months, there is no compost in between the pots so it is nothing like growing plants on a ‘ring culture’ method (something that is frowned upon in the exhibitors world), this is merely a larger pot (in the case of the photograph an 8 inch pot) with the plant ‘Insulinde’ growing inside this in a 7inch pot. I must say the reason that the pot is on the stand is simply to provide stability, it is a cheap and simple pot stand.

Insulinde grew this way throughout the season and I will post some more pictures to show this.

I see no reason why the space between the pots should not have some form of filler to insulate the roots and keep them cool as I said with regards to growing fuchsias in hot climates if gravel or pea shingle was used this could be watered to keep the roots cool. Perhaps even perlite or vermiculite could be used if a plant stand was employed as this would give the stability at the expense of the weight.

Anyway it provides as little food for thought

Tight....

Anyone with any suggestions, jump on in here. The books I have read so far did not go into this part of growing fuchsia. (Or I missed it) bob in Kansas

I am not sure what the light level/temperature is where you live?

This is really the all important factor at any time of year keeping them both at a level where the plants are growing at a rate that allows you to get as many ‘stops’ in as you can without the plant becoming too ‘leggy’ and looking for light or too ‘soft’ with enough light and too much heat. That all sounds a bit complicated but really what you need is a balance.

Your starts are what we call over here ‘cuttings’ and I am looking through the fuchsia nurseries on the web to see which I will be getting to try for the new season. However I don’t really want mine until March time here as I have enough material to take the few cuttings I will need, I have been through the taking cuttings for the sake of it routine many times over many years and I came to the conclusion many years ago that I really didn’t need 30 plants of ‘Nellie Nuttal’ or whatever.

The ‘starts/cuttings’ that I receive usually arrive through the post and look like this.

When your starts arrive you need (depending on how they look and how big they are) to pot them up into the nearest pot size you can to fit the rootball of the start (the choice of compost is up to you (see website for my book for details on compost)). Keep the starts somewhere light and warm but not in direct sunshine for a couple of days, this helps them to them recover from any ‘check’ received during transit. You can if you need to, spray them with ‘tepid water’ but try and do this as early in the day as possible so that there is no moisture hanging around overnight.

Keep a careful watch on the starts and after a couple of days you can move them to a light airy position where the light/heat balance is achieved. Probably after 2 weeks you can take the growing tips out and start producing from these starts .... but that’s for another thread.

Tight....